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INSPIRE YOUR CHURCH!
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Dick Towner, executive director of the Good $ense Movement for the Willow Creek Association, says that the creation of a giving church rests on three foundational principles:
#1. There must be trust.
#2. There must be a compelling vision.
#3. There must be both teaching (the what and the why) and training (the how to) so people have a clear biblical perspective on their relationship to God and how they steward God’s money.
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People in your church won’t be inspired to give because you’re behind on the church budget. But they will give to God’s vision for your church. As you find out what God is doing, and then seek to join God in His work, perhaps you could summarize that vision with a Big Holy Audacious Goal (B.H.A.G.). Here are some B.H.A.G. examples your church might want to consider:
• By December 31, 2011, we will triple our giving to the poor, so that in Calendar Year 2011, we will give $_________.
• As Phase 1 of our 10-year “Love the World Campaign,” we want to enable at least 25 percent of our church members to engage in a short-term missions experience outside of the United States.
• By December 31, 2010, in order to plug “The Hole in Our Gospel,” our church will cultivate, recruit, and engage a team of at least 10 “Dollar-a-Year” men and women to join our church staff as full-fledged part-time or full-time staff members (with full authority and responsibility). Their primary roles will be to create a new culture and action-oriented programs so our people (children, youth and adults) will care more deeply about the global issues of poverty and injustice.
• In the next five years, by this date, ___________, our church will send 10,000 wheelchairs to the poorest of the poor in five selected countries.
• To ensure that our senior pastor understands and experiences the huge issues of global poverty, we will lower his (or her) salary by ten percent each year. (JUST KIDDING!!!)
• Within 18 months, we will launch a Team World Vision event or marathon in our city (or state) and engage a minimum of 1,000 sponsored people. As a result, we will raise a minimum of $_______ to help children in the poorest countries of the world. (Click here for information on Team World Vision.)
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Good News! Ventura Missionary Church, Ventura, Calif., created a B.H.A.G. to build a New Testament reproducing church on the African continent. God has led them to also provide the written Gospel to this one unique people group. The entire missions project (including travel by their short-term teams) will take about $1 million and they hope to complete this B.H.A.G. in the next 10 to 20 years.
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Good News! In 2009, Doug Yonamine and 244 other marathoners from all of the Willow Creek Community Church campuses ran in the Chicago Marathon as part of Team World Vision. Yonamine, the team captain for the Willow South Barrington and McHenry campuses, ran in his third marathon and raised over $5,000 personally for World Vision.
All combined the runners have raised over $180,000 this year. Click here to check out Doug’s Team World Vision progress. What could your church do?
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