Funding Your Ministry: An In-Depth, Biblical Guide for Successfully Raising Personal Support
Funding Your Ministry: An In-Depth, Biblical Guide for Successfully Raising Personal Support
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781631461729 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The Navigators |
| Publication date: | 02/27/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 54 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
SCOTT MORTON serves with The Navigators as Vice President of Development for U.S. ministries and is a member of the National Leadership Team. He graduated from Iowa State University in technical journalism and worked in newspaper advertising before joining the Navigator staff in 1970. Previous assignments include Columbia, Missouri; Iowa City, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and short-term ministries in Asia and Europe. He has served in Development since 1985 and has been on the National Leadership Team since 2004.
Scott and Alma met the Lord in The Navigators ministry at Iowa State. They have been married since 1964 and have two married daughters, one married son and four grandchildren.
The Mortons enjoy baseball (Scott was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins), bird-watching, antiquing and helping people grow in their spiritual journeys through small group Bible studies and one-on-one mentoring. Scott also enjoys writing, having published Funding Your Ministry (Whether You’re Gifted or Not), a book to help missionaries raise financial support, Down to Earth Discipling, a realistic approach to sharing one’s faith with others and Tired of Do-List Christianity? which helps debunk the misconceptions that hold back spiritual growth and steal our joy.
Read an Excerpt
Funding Your Ministry
A Field Guide for Raising Personal Support
By Scott Morton
Tyndale House Publishers
Copyright © 2017 Scott MortonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63146-684-7
CHAPTER 1
HALF-TRUTHS I BELIEVED
My Total Fundraising Makeover
My fundraising adventure began the day I took my boss to lunch at Lum's Restaurant. I confidently told Carl I would soon quit my well-paying job at the newspaper to go into full-time Christian service. How I looked forward to it! No more hassles with the accounting department. No more criticism from penny-pinching shopkeepers. No more office politics.
Carl didn't seem impressed. "How are you going to support yourself?" he asked.
"Not to worry," I said. "The Lord will provide!" I knew that was the "right" answer, but little did I know how much I would be tested about it.
Pause. Long pause.
A skeptic, I mused. I'll show him. Nothing could deter me. After all, the old adage "Where He guides, He provides" was surely true, wasn't it?
Two weeks later, the office gang sponsored a going-away party and presented me with a huge penny in the shape of a plaque. The inscription read, "In God we trust. All others strictly cash."
And so it began.
My first fundraising appointment was at the home of two elderly, blue-haired ladies from the church my wife and I attended during our university days. As I knocked on the door, I noticed the dilapidated front porch and wondered whether I had the right house.
After a few pleasantries, I asked whether I could tell them about our ministry. They eagerly rearranged the chairs so they could see the pictures in my presentation notebook. They were beaming. Expectations were high. But as I turned the pages, I couldn't help noticing the worn furniture and the bare spots in the carpet.
My mind raced ahead to the financial appeal on the last page. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't remember whether I had mentioned finances when I phoned to make the appointment. A voice inside me said: Scott, you cant ask these ladies for money. Look at that worn carpet. Look at that old sofa. Look at this dilapidated house! You're better off than they are.
I retorted: No, I've quit my job. I'm in God's work now. These ladies are glad I've come. Go ahead, turn to the money page.
Back and forth the mind game raged as I flipped pages and answered questions, smiling on the outside but sweating on the inside. Should I ask or not?
Just as I arrived at the money page, a Scripture came to mind: Jesus saying to the Pharisees, "You devour widows' houses" (Matthew 23:14). There was my answer! Scripture memory saved the day.
I quickly closed the book without mentioning financial support. I asked the ladies to pray for our ministry. They asked me if I wanted cookies. And I drove home wondering if I should try to get my job back at the newspaper. What would Carl say now?
I repeated this "no-ask" scene several times. I wanted to ask for financial support, but I felt guilty doing it. Sometimes I hinted, but nobody took the bait.
Nevertheless, I had confidence that someday, somehow, people would generously give.
A couple of friends volunteered support out of sympathy, but that was it. The months were slipping by. The mailbox was empty.
During this time I received suggestions. One missionary told me, "Money follows ministry." The people to whom we were ministering should support us. He quoted Galatians 6:6: "The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches." But our ministry was start-up evangelism. I couldn't make financial appeals to a few new believers and nonbelievers.
What about friends from Bible studies I had been part of in the past? I assumed they were supporting other missionaries. I felt guilty asking them.
A pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said, "Scott, don't ask people to give; just ask them to pray. They will catch on." The osmosis method. That didn't work either.
Another adviser said, "Bible study materials. Sell materials to supplement your income." Another suggested, "Christian businesspeople, they've got money." Fine, except the businesspeople from my newspaper days didn't seem interested. And I was scared to ask them anyway. A business friend at church promised to give from the sale of an apartment building, but it didn't sell.
Some people said they'd support us but never did. And sometimes large gifts came from strangers. But we were always well under budget. It made no sense.
In the back of my mind, I was counting on our mailing list. I sent a letter to 150 friends asking them to pray about our finances. Nothing came in. Not one response. Maybe they did pray — that's what I asked them to do!
Most of the time I felt secular trying to raise money. I criticized myself, wondering why I couldn't be like those great missionaries of the 1800s — George Mueller or Hudson Taylor — who saw money pour in by telling only God in prayer. But for me, "Where He guides, He provides" wasn't working. What was I missing?
In the midst of this frustration, God was abundantly blessing our ministry. Nonbelievers were coming to Christ and growing in discipleship. This was the "real" ministry. Fundraising was a necessary evil — ministry's icky-tasting medicine. I gladly gravitated toward discipling and away from money matters.
Once a month, I decided to do something about our funding — the day we got our below-budget paycheck. But my motivation faded as I got busy again with ministry.
I had told Carl at the newspaper that the Lord would provide. Did He? Yes. We didn't starve. We had a roof over our heads. My wife, Alma, heroically stretched our meager funds for food and kids' clothing. But I overdrew our ministry account a little each month, thinking, Next month the money will come in ... next month. We were in deficit to our mission agency, with little hope of repaying.
I was in denial. Alma paid the bills and handled our finances. She was good at it, but she felt most of the pressure. I felt little. I hated bills arriving in the mail. When donors skipped a month, I criticized their spirituality.
Giving? We gave some, but not consistently. In filing our income taxes, we had only seven receipts from a mission to which we pledged monthly. We should have had twelve.
Finally, out of desperation, I turned to my Bible concordance and searched for the word fundraising. Nothing. I was on my own! But I was confident the Bible would help me. Soon I stumbled upon Philippians 4. That day was the turning point. Over several months, one verse led to another as I searched the Scriptures.
I had hoped to find a quick and painless technique for funding, but through my Bible study I discovered that my original opinions about fundraising needed a total makeover. The funding aspect of ministry forced me to look deep within myself, and I didn't like what I saw. God pointed out deeper issues — such as my sour attitude. I finally understood that I was unbiblical in my view of money. The Word of God clearly pointed out my errors, and the Word of God enabled me to do something about it.
I come to you as a fellow traveler in the adventure of raising personal support. Through the Scriptures, God has brought me from resenting fundraising to enjoying it.
Since those early days, I find I still need makeovers. I've experienced frustration, and I'm still learning. I still get butterflies when I pick up the phone to make an appointment — just as I get butterflies before an evangelistic Bible study. But I've come to see fundraising as a ministry rather than a burden.
And I have also seen that when the biblical guidelines are conscientiously applied, full funding can be achieved — for anyone, of any background, in any part of the world. Resist the temptation to say, "It won't work!"
Let's get started! The first step? Identify the icebergs in your shipping lanes — your personal obstacles to raising support.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Funding Your Ministry by Scott Morton. Copyright © 2017 Scott Morton. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Section 1 As You Begin
1 Half-Truths I Believed: My Total Fundraising Makeover 3
2 Obstacles: Know What's Holding You Back 7
3 Questions of Conscience: Understanding the Biblical Basis for Raising Support 13
4 Ten Crucial Attitudes You Must Not Neglect 57
Section 2 Developing Your Strategy
5 Six Bad Assumptions 59
6 Three Benchmarks for an Effective Strategy 65
7 Social Media and Email in Fundraising: Cake or Frosting? 73
8 How to Set Your Fundraising Strategy 81
Section 3 Effectively and Respectfully Asking
9 How to Ask 91
10 Phoning: Setting Up a Fundraising Appointment 97
11 How to Make a Face-to-Face Appeal 103
12 How to Appeal to Major Donors 111
13 Appealing to Churches 119
14 How to Write Appeals for Cash: Print and Electronic 125
Section 4 Ministering to Your Giving Partners
15 Donor Ministry: Bringing Your Givers Closer to You and to the Lord 137
16 Write Newsletters People Love to Read 149
Section 5 Especially for You
17 Especially for Organizational Leaders 161
18 Especially for Pastors and Missions Committees 167
19 Especially for Overseas Missionaries 171
20 Especially for Short-Termers 177
21 Especially for Single Women Missionaries and Their Supervisors 183
22 Especially for Gospel-Workers of Color and Their Supervisors 189
Section 6 Biblical Financial Management for Gospel-Workers
23 Money: Kingdom View or Cultural View? Six Benchmarks Reveal Your Financial Values 203
24 Money Management: Four Money Words You Must Know Well 213
25 Lessons from Fundraising History 231
26 Stories from Others 241
Introduction to the Online Appendix 245
Notes 247
What People are Saying About This
This is more than a book on fundraising. It’s a book on biblical thinking about money and ministry, and it’s filled with intensely practical guidelines on how to involve people in your ministry through giving and praying. I’m impressed with this guide. It works and has been tested in the fire of experience with hundreds of our Navigator staff. This is the best resource I have seen—a must for those who raise financial support.
This thoroughly revised edition of Funding Your Ministry by Scott Morton provides even more helpful, hopeful guidance for those in ministry fundraising. Expanded in cross-cultural, universal application while deeply rooted in timeless biblical truth, Scott’s book provides encouragement and hands-on practical application for those just starting out as well as for the long-termers who may have become weary and disillusioned.
Scott Morton has produced one of the most practical and needful books that I have ever seen for self-supported foreign missionaries. This is a must-read book for an itinerant missionary. I highly recommend it.
Whether seeking personal or institutional funding, principles such as face-to-face solicitation and the importance of writing a plan are totally interchangeable. Morton has done all of us in resource development a favor by writing this book. Crafted in a light, airy way, it takes the mystery out of fundraising without taking out the teeth. I intend to refer to it repeatedly in presentations. It has great crossover appeal and application.
Scott Morton is one of the best nonprofit development professionals I have ever been associated with. He has trained more faith-based nonprofit individuals in personal fundraising than anyone.
If you raise support, then Funding Your Ministry is a must-read. Scott Morton’s biblical and practical insights hit the bull’s-eye on the issues that Christian workers and missionaries wrestle with in raising up financial partners.