Recurring Giving
Pastor Jacob Armstrong leads Providence United Methodist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Just a few weeks into the Coronavirus outbreak and social distancing, he released a short video to his church that had a dramatic impact on his church’s adoption of online recurring giving. Four things Pastor Jacob's video accomplished:
- Pastor Jacob communicated how the church had mobilized for ministry during social distancing. Don’t assume your people know all the activity taking place right now, and don’t be afraid to tell others all the ministry that you are doing in your community.
- The video clearly shows how to make a recurring online gift.This simple visual example demonstrated how easy it is to make an online gift. Pastor Jacob encouraged making giving automatically recurring by stating this is how he and his wife give.
- The church provided a name and contact information of someone to contact with any financial questions or to facilitate any special giving needs. When you’re not sure what to do or have a question you want answered, communicating with a person rather than a faceless “info@yourchurch.org” account matters.
- The video was distributed to the church via email and social media. It’s so important to utilize digital communications and social media to stay connected between gatherings. Your people already have a device in their pocket that they watch videos on regularly. While this may be new for your church, it’s not new for most of your people.
Don Smith, Sr. Vice President at Horizons Stewardship, recently had a chance to interview Pastor Jacob to learn more about what prompted him to create the video and what impact it has had on recurring giving activity and overall ministry funding since its release.
Watch the Interview Now
Leading Through the Coronavirus Outbreak
Pastor Jacob is doing a wonderful job leading his church through a difficult season. There are many great points he makes during his interview with Don. Here a few key observations from the interview that are worth noting that specifically relate to online recurring giving:
- Online recurring giving went up 16% during the first week, and many families used online giving for the first time. Pastor Jacob recognized the need to not just make people aware of the option but show them how to do it. That’s why the video was so important.
- Giving remains strong—even through social distancing. In fact, Pastor Jacob notes that giving (at the time of the interview) was ahead of last year. Online recurring giving has helped make this true.
- Pastor Jacob talks to the church more regularly about budget and giving matters. Transparency is sustaining levels of trust even while the church isn’t meeting regularly.
- The church is being more intentional about connecting dollars with impact. Pastor Jacob believes this is what is driving people to continue to be generous, even when they might be uncertain about their economic future.
In this season of ministry, don’t miss the Gospel opportunities happening all around you. That means you need a plan to fully fund your ministry impact. Online recurring giving can help you do just that.
Next Steps:
To learn more about how you can use online recurring giving to support ministry funding during social distancing, please visit Giving365, a free, on-demand library of resources designed to help you make disciples and fund ministry. It won’t cost you anything, and you can download as much content as you’d like. In fact, you may even find it helpful for your finance and generosity team members to get their own account. You’ll find resources on a variety of topics—especially about how to promote online recurring giving in your church. And if you’d like to talk with someone specifically to guide your church through the evaluation and adoption process, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re ready to help!