The Four Rhythms of Generosity
“Please give more money so our church won’t die!” is not a great generosity motivator.
How do we do creative ministry in congregations with withering finances? How do pastors serve congregation that cannot actually afford a clergy person and still feed our families? How do we start incarnational expressions from the base of the inherited church with no start-up money?
Indeed, the nail in the coffin of most congregational closures comes down to when the seemingly ever-lighter offering plates finally return empty.
However, trying to increase generosity to stop a congregation from closing is the wrong motivation. Perhaps we need to ask deeper questions about how we got here to begin with.
While no congregation needs to close, every congregation needs to die (Jn. 12:24).
In The Four Rhythms of Generosity, I sought to offer a practical reimagining of generosity that synthesizes giving and spiritual growth. It is a framework we have used in revitalization congregations for over a decade to help them go on a journey of death and resurrection, so they don’t have to close. It’s also a way to help those who are new to the faith integrate their material and spiritual lives.
As Christians, we participate in a generous movement of love that flows from God to others. Theologians describe this as the overflow of God’s Trinitarian communion. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit invite us to participate in that divine dance of relationship.
Life could be described as a movement of love that has four rhythms, a cycle of receiving, co-creating, simplifying, and sharing. Through Christ, we become a channel of God’s love into the world. When any of these four rhythms get clogged or disrupted, it leads to a life of fragmentation and scarcity.
There’s an old cliché that is profoundly true: money follows mission. When we set our feet on the path to do God’s will, God will provide. When people believe in the vision of a church enough, when they see how it’s making an impact in the world, they will joyfully give.
Yet in many churches, the struggle is actually what we are giving to. Are we giving to staff salaries, building projects, light shows and smoke machines? Or are we doing what Jesus calls us to do in Matthew 25:31-46? Are we feeding the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the stranger, visiting the sick and incarcerated? That’s a church people get excited to give through!
In the 21st century, it’s not enough that our giving simply goes to fund the institutional church machine. People want to see impact. They want to make the world a better place through their giving.
For the four rhythms of generosity to really flourish, it requires congregations making an impact beyond their own internal life. It requires us to join into God’s healing activity in the world. We live in an age of isolation amid an epidemic of loneliness. The church has a gift that can heal a lonely world: communal life in Jesus. Generosity is about creating little pockets of God’s healing presence in the world. That is the outflow of God’s own generosity—a God who “so loved the world” (Jn. 3:16).
In the kingdom, death is a movement in the rhythm of resurrection—closure is not. At this critical moment we need healthy churches on every corner, and unleashing the spirit of generosity in congregations is of critical importance.
The eBook is designed as a four-week study for teams to work through together. Additionally, it could serve as the outline for a four-week sermon series that concludes with the congregation submitting the downloadable commitment cards provided. Following each chapter are suggested exercises and guides for team discussions. If you're interested in learning more, check out Four Rhythms here!