It’s Not Transformational if No One is Giving

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Todd Eckhardt is the Director of Partner and Champion Development at World Gospel Mission in Marion, IN. More than that, he’s one of my favorite Transformational Giving minds because he’s working both in the trenches and at the frontier of TG thought. I asked for his permission to post here a recent email he wrote to World Gospel Mission missionaries and development staff. The two key points that he makes that I love are the difference between a tip and a gift (answer: it’s all in the involvement) and the reason why money is still one important measure of success in Transformational Giving (answer: because if people don’t give it means their involvement is superficial, not comprehensive). Great post. By the way, “CMS” stands for “Champion Migration Strategy”, World Gospel Mission’s custom formulation of Transformational Giving practices. Heeeeere’s Todd!

Money is not the end-all gauge to successful CMS, but it is a big part of it.  After all, since a guiding principle of CMS is Transformational Giving, then finances must be a portion of the measurement for success. If giving is not happening, then finances are part of the reflection on your successful run at CMS.

In the magazine, Outcomes, David Willis discusses what he calls a Vision for Generosity.  In this issue he distinguishes between what he calls ‘tipping’ and giving.  Tipping happens when we simply exchange information (what we have taught in the workshops as transactional giving). So tipping is the equivalent of an offering for you after a service.  Then you leave the church and that is all you ever hear from the church and their members. The offering sometimes is just a ‘tip’ for coming.  The tip is based on your ‘service’. (Pun intended.) Good service good tip, bad service bad tip.  Tough way to fund a ministry, huh?

Giving is more than this.  Giving happens when participation and engagement occur. Giving goes far beyond the dollar.  The dollar is part of it but it goes further.  It is action-based, not spectator-based.  It is relational.  We are developing people, not accounts. Your account is a portion of the fruit but not all (i.e., Transformational Giving). Remember, works produce fruit, not fruits produce work.

So is it good CMS if funding goals are not reached?  Not if giving is part of the transformation. Since giving is learned not latent and CMS is a teaching tool used to teach how giving is part of spiritual formation, the bottom line of an account can be one of several bench-marks for CMS being successfully implemented.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What is .W Anyway?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Pastor Foley

My interview with Sharefaith‘s Daniel Threlfall helped me realize that I’ve never mentioned the philosophy of .W, the organization which I co-founded and through which I consult, on this site. Quel oversight!, as the French say. Here’s the relevant excerpt from the interview.

Many of our readers may not know you. Tell us, briefly, who you are and what you do.

My name is Eric Foley. My wife, Hyun Sook, and I founded Seoul USA ten years ago.

Seoul USA serves as a bridge between the Korean church (both North and South) and the church in the rest of the world. We bring the gifts of the Korean church to the church in the West and the gifts of the church in the West to the Korean church. We have a particular focus on mobilizing the church around the world to support the underground church of North Korea.

I am one-third of the ministry’s Executive Team, overseeing its .W division.

.W stands for Doers Of The Word. Through .W we consult churches and Christian NGOs on comprehensive discipleship as a robust biblical alternative to secular fundraising practices.

We believe secular fundraising practices weaken the generosity of the church and its members and also keep them from reaching full maturity in Christ. This creates dependence on specialized Christian NGOs to fulfill the eternal mission God intends to be undertaken by average Joe Christians in average Joe churches.

This is actually bad for Christian NGOs as well, since it completely obscures their invaluable role as a church renewal movement raised up to support the church to grow to full maturity in Christ in all of the causes Christian NGOs serve.

Over the past twenty years we’ve consulted and trained roughly 1,500 churches and Christian NGOs in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What is the Best Resource for Advice on Giving?

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Daniel Threlfall asked me this question as a part of an interview that will be published soon at Sharefaith. Here is his question in full, along with my reply.

What are some of the best resources you know of for giving advice, help, and instruction in giving?

Is it superfluous to say the Bible?

We need to start there—and stay there, really, daily—in order to learn and learn again that we don’t have a need for new tools, techniques, and strategies. God doesn’t permit those to penetrate deeply or permanently in the human heart. Instead, we need to become more consciously and deeply aware of the philanthropy God pours into us daily. That gives us the joyful confidence to become philanthropists ourselves.

We give comprehensively because giving is a means of grace by which we come to know him more fully and by which others can catch a glimpse of him through us. For now it’s a dim mirror. But the joy will be that when we see him, we’ll have no difficulty recognizing him from what we were permitted to see.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment