Psssst, your church staff aren’t faithfully giving…

Last week, we did a live training called 3 Keys To Explosive Church Giving In 2015 and a fantastic question was raised during the Q and A time: “how do I check, and address, staff giving in a healthy way?”

Great question!

When consulting with churches, we are stunned to hear a senior pastor state that he believes all of the staff/team are giving back to the church consistently. There is an easy way to know for sure—check staff giving records.

Hold on before you immediately stop reading this post, and hear me out.

Some people may think this is not the right thing to do, but experience has led us to believe that many staff members don’t give back to the church where they serve. This is a big deal!

Jesus was very clear that we will put our money on what we value (Matthew 6:21). In addition, your staff can’t lead people where they aren’t willing to go themselves.

3 Ways To Check Staff Giving In A Healthy Way

1. Tell Them Your Expectations

When you hire someone, tell them that you will check their giving records annually. DO NOT assume they will know their expectation. If you haven’t told them you are going to do this, set a new expectation for the entire staff in your next staff meeting and tell them you will begin checking giving records in three months.

2. Set Reminders On Your Calendar

Set up a reminder in your calendar to check staff giving records on the first week of January. Look for consistent and generous giving. You can’t clearly see if the staff’s family is giving a tithe but you can certainly tell if the staff member is giving 10 percent.

3. Take Action

Have a plan prepared for a staff member who is not giving so that you can help them start. DO NOT beat them up. Listen to them and see what their issue is. You will learn a lot about what has led to the lack of giving from this conversation.

If they’re having financial trouble, provide some type of coaching or training (i.e. Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial Ministries) and offer to help them.

If staff members are giving faithfully, thank them sincerely for their faithfulness. We would suggest giving raises only to people who faithfully give.