by Steve Youngblood at Faith Teams
Many churches run impactful giving campaigns at the end of each year. These build excitement at their churches at the perfect time of year, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
My church here in Georgia, North Point Community Church, also has such a campaign. It’s called “Be Rich” and focuses on mobilizing church members to serve the community through acts of generosity. It started with asking church goers to give “$39.95”, a simple gift with 100% going to known local charities. It has now grown to also providing service opportunities to members.
There are also many other churches that also have special year-end giving campaigns. Here are a few:
Saddleback Church’s “PEACE Plan“: This initiative by Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church encourages congregants to engage in local and global outreach, focusing on helping under-resourced communities and addressing issues like poverty, disease, and illiteracy. The PEACE Plan highlights personal involvement in service and missions, including fundraising drives for those causes.
The Rock Church’s “Toys for Joy“: This annual campaign is focused on collecting toys, food, and clothing for families in need during the Christmas season. The Rock Church, based in San Diego, also leverages this campaign to engage thousands of volunteers to distribute donations and share the gospel with the community.
Johns Creek Baptist has “Christmas for Kids: Christmas for Kids is an opportunity for every member of JCBC to participate in sharing the love of Christ with families in need in a meaningful way. Giving includes adopting identified families in need, financial donations, articles donations and volunteering.
There are several ways you can create a campaign that is not only exciting but is awaited each year. Here are some of the ways you too can create a community-leading, yearly giving campaign:
- Name it. Just as with Be Rich, you too can create a brand that is recognized by your people and by the community at large. With Be Rich, North Point also reserved a domain name (berich.org) that is easy to remember and has a web site associated with the giving campaign.
- Find organizations in need. Just about everywhere there are those organizations that help so many people. They serve Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. They provide blankets on cold nights. They provide presents for children who may not receive any at Christmas. Make these your partners such that they too can participate in helping those in need.
- Let everyone know. Let everyone know who the campaign beneficiaries are. My church posts the campaign’s non-profit beneficiaries online for all to see. Be Rich Beneficiaries.
- Celebrate community success. No matter how small or large the campaign is, giving should be celebrated, at a group level. You can also let everyone know the results of the campaign. Here is North Point’s online impact report from 2023. Click here.
Be bold this time of year. Even the smallest church can have a huge impact on a community whether it’s in a 3 square mile area or across the globe.
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Steve
Faith Teams
