Do the Word

I have to admit that of all the objections to Transformational Giving, this one vexes me the second most. (The objection that vexes me the most is the one we’ll be covering tomorrow. Stay tuned.)

I think the reason why some people assume Transformational Giving takes longer to produce results than traditional/transactional giving is because of Misconception 1, which we dealt with yesterday; namely, the idea that in Transformational Giving we don’t talk about money.

It’s definitely true that if you don’t talk about money, you’re typically going to be waiting an awful long time to see the champion grow in their giving in relation to the cause. As we shared yesterday, we talk plenty about money in TG, perhaps even more than in traditional/transaction fundraising.

(As often as we write it, we need an abbreviation for traditional/transactional fundraising. How about ttf?)

Where TG differs from ttf when it comes to talking about money is that in TG the relationship and the conversations within it are not driven by–nor initiated because of–the intersection of our funding need and the champion’s comfort level.

Instead, the relationship is:

• a mutual accountability relationship
• with an individual in our sphere of influence
• in which together we seek out the fullness of what the Scripture calls us toward in relation to the cause
• and we hold each other accountable to take specific and comprehensive growth steps toward that fullness.

Contrast that with ttf, where we’re dealing with:

• building a ‘friendraising’ relationship (think golf/fishing/birthday cards)
• with a total stranger (aka a ‘qualified prospect’–after all, we wouldn’t dare pull this on people we’re actually friends with)
• in which we make appeals for funds based on us convincing the ‘prospect’ that what we ourselves consider important should actually now be important enough to him or her to hand us money
• and, if he or she does respond, we offer profuse thanks (as if we’ve just been done a big favor)…and we begin the process of asking for a bigger gift.

Explain to me again how TG takes longer to see results?

Today we begin a five-part series designed to dispel the most popular misconceptions that cling to Transformational Giving. We begin with the most common misconception of all, which goes something like this.

Wow! I’m so glad I came to this Transformational Giving seminar! It validates what I’ve always believed, which is that I don’t need to ask people for money.

It’s understandable how that misconception arises. After all, Transformational Giving principle 8 says:

Giving is not the process but rather one vital result of the process of a champion being comprehensively coached to share the cause effectively within his or her sphere of influence.

That almost sounds like, ‘Don’t worry about talking about money. People will give money if you talk about everything else.’ But that notion is dispelled by Transformational Giving principle 9, which says:

Giving is learned, not latent.

So let’s spend a few minutes talking about how and when and why we talk about money in Transformational Giving.

The place to begin is Ephesians 4:7-13, from whence Transformational Giving draws its charter. That passage shows a giving progression that goes as follows:

• God gives leaders to His people
• Those leaders prepare God’s people for works of service
• The Body of Christ, having been built up by these leaders, attains the full maturity and measure of Christ and renders its full harvest to God

This is a complete inversion of traditional/transactional Christian fundraising, which has the arrows running in the opposite direction:

• God gives gifts to His people
• God’s people support leaders by giving those gifts to them
• Leaders render the work unto God

In that latter scenario, the result is completed work. In the former scenario, the result is a completed church. Guess which one God is after? (Note that it’s possible to accomplish the first without the second, but it’s not possible to accomplish the second without also accomplishing the first in the process.)

That’s why TG  9 says that giving is not the process but is the result of the process. Giving–fundraising–is just not a big enough word to describe the process. The process is sanctification–growing in Christian maturity in relation to the cause. Generosity is one of the fruits of that process.

So if generosity is a fruit of the process, won’t it just happen automatically if we work on everything else?

Answer: No.

Reason:

Sanctification is a Holy Spirit process. We can’t make it happen; however, there are a couple of things that we can do and that as Christian leaders we are called to do in support of and collaboration with the Holy Spirit:

• We can help the individual we’re coaching search the Scriptures in order to understand what God has in mind for all Christians (and thus for them) in relation to the cause–the general will of God, or ‘What God has in mind for all Christians in relation to this cause’.
• We can serve as a platform or gymnasium in which the individual carries out that general will of God in relation to the cause.
• We can mentor the person in relation to the cause, encouraging them to imitate us as we carry out our calling related to the cause.
• We can serve as mutual accountability partners in (1) helping each other know and carry out God’s general will for us in relation to the cause; and (2) discerning what God has for us specifically in relation to the cause–our ‘calling’.

So the question remains: Can all of the above be done–can the person be coached to full maturity in Christ in relation to the cause–without talking to the individual about his or her giving to the cause?

I would be absolutely flummoxed if anyone could straight-facedly answer that question in the affirmative.

It would be like saying, ‘I think an individual could grow to fullness in Christ in the cause in the area of prayer without us working through some specific prayer disciplines.’

Or, ‘I think an individual could grow to fullness in Christ in the cause in the area of their actions without us working through some specific projects or involvement opportunities.’

Giving, in other words, has to be an intentional area of growth in which we openly coach each champion. They don’t naturally become more giving people as we work on everything else. Giving isn’t latent inside them. And even though generosity is a fruit of Christian maturity, fruit grows from a seed, and that seed has to have a field where it can be planted.

In other words, the Holy Spirit brings the growth. Prayerfully and scripturally we seek to supply the opportunity and the coaching, not with our own needs at the forefront but with a clear sense of where the champion currently is and what giving opportunities are next steps the Holy Spirit can use.

That’s why talking to a champion about giving is different than simply asking them for money for what we need.

When we talk to them about giving we are helping them to understand the general will of God in relation to the cause and then discern the specific will of God related to their part in it. So we can (and need to) help them understand that they’re called to give in relation to the cause, but we can’t presume to know that they’re called to give to this specific project for which we’re raising funds. We can, however, say, ‘This project seems like a good fit based on the goals we set together. What do you think?’

Sum it up and say:

What drives the giving process in Transformational Giving is not our organization’s need or the champion’s comfort level, but what Scripture calls them to do generally and what the Holy Spirit is calling them to do specifically. As leaders, we’re called to help each champion walk in the works God has prepared for them. That requires open and honest conversation, even–and often especially–in the area of giving.

And, as God would have it, not infrequently an area of need for us turns out to be the perfect giving opportunity to challenge a champion and bring them growth in relation to the cause.

As with all things related to Transformational Giving, trust in God that this will be the case is what enables us to set aside concerns we have about whether He’ll supply. Scarcity concerns should never drive our conversations with champions. Instead, we should be driven by a commitment to help every champion grow to the fullness of Christ in relation to the cause we share. When we’re talking to them in this way, rather than out of self-interest–when we’re talking about God’s call for the champion to give rather than about our need to receive–it’s s amazing how our own need always gets met.

Tomorrow’s misconception: ‘Transformational Giving takes a long time to get results compared to traditional/transaction fundraising.’

Unless we can come to grips with the idea that a monthly giver might be a lapsed champion, we’ll never understand Transformational Giving.

It’s a crazy idea. But as many crazy ideas are, it’s a biblical one. Check out these words of Jesus from Revelation 2:1-5:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

When do champions lapse? Not only when their activity ceases. And certainly not only when their giving ceases.

Champions lapse first and foremost when they forsake their first love.

In relation to nonprofitministrydom (did I just write that?), that happens when they stop seeking to walk in the works God has prepared for them to walk in in relation to the cause you both share. Those works are not for their salvation. They’re works designed to grow the champion into the full stature of Christ in relation to the cause He’s given you to coach them in (in collaboration with their local church).

When that happens, the good shepherd will do something more than send a letter that begins:

It’s been a year since you sent me a check and, frankly, I’m concerned about you.

OK, actually I’m more concerned about the check that you are not sending and the fact that my ministry’s finances are going down the hopper. I’ve heard the easiest way to remedy that is to send a letter to the folks who got annoyed the most recently and  stopped responding to all this mail I keep sending even though they haven’t asked me to send them anything at all.

Or something like that.

It’s possible to state what a lapsed champion program looks like in just a few bullet points:

1. Ask, ‘What does the Bible call the cause for which God has called me to coach and disciple His people?’ The Bible doesn’t use words like ‘homeless shelter’ or ‘crisis pregnancy’, but it does have an awful lot to say about every cause to which we ministries are called by Him. Once we identify what the Bible calls the cause to which we’ve been called, we can ask:
2. ‘What does the Bible call every Christian to do in relation to this cause?’ It’s not about earning salvation. It’s about being shaped in the image of Christ. That means God is going to take us through certain experiences, many of which we won’t like or feel passionate about. What are those experiences in relation to your cause?
3. We then ask, ‘What are the roadblocks to champions doing what the Scripture calls for in relation to the cause?’ Once we identify those we can ask:
4. ‘What can our organization do with the champion to remove those roadblacks and enable the champion to grow one step a time closer and closer to the fullness of what God has for them to walk in in relation to this cause?’
5. A champion map developed with each champion then enables us to create with a personalized annual plan to break off and tackle different pieces of that challenge every year.
6. Lapsing happens–or, better yet, losing a sheep happens–not only when the champion stops working the plan, but also when they keep working the plan after losing their first love. In other words, it’s just work then. They give…under compulsion or out of habit. They volunteer…out of guilt. They act…because it’s easier than not acting.

How do you measure a condition of the heart?

A good place to start is with the approach pioneered by World Vision’s Atul Tandon. You can read more about it here. If you are truly, deadly, deeply, madly serious about regularly taking the pulse of your champions and noting it individually, not just en masse, you’ll have no problem detecting a flatline.

Sum up the whole week and say:

Lapsing is a condition of the heart.

It takes more than running a transactional query on giving recency to determine who has lapsed. It may be true that a person who once gave regularly but who stopped giving has lapsed. But in Transformational Giving, it’s only trivially true.

Lapsing happens when the champion, having created a specific champion map with you, based on your mutual discernment of what the Bible calls every Christian to do in relation to the cause you share, begins falling away from the cause in his or her heart, even while their activity may be continuing unabated.

When that happens, what do you do?

You heard Jesus, friend. Yank the lampstand and conk them over the head with it. Mutual accountability, remember?

Don’t miss this month’s Mission Increase Foundation workshops on lapsed champions for more info on this topic. Or if you already have, watch for the DVD of me teaching this workshop from earlier this month in Colorado Springs. Should be available in the MIF Store by mid-summer 2009.

Hope you enjoyed the topic this week. Shepherd, go fetch your sheep!