How Two Minutes in a Church Service Can Increase Giving
The pastor works hard on the sermon. The band rehearses the songs. At least, I hope both of those things are true in your church.
But there’s another important element in your church service that rarely gets attention, preparation or intentional thought. It’s the giving talk.
A giving talk is a 60-second or two-minute talk from a pastor, staff member or volunteer, that sets up the offering, connects the dots for participants, and gets everyone ready for what’s coming next. It’s an intentional, planned moment of explanation in your church service followed by a call to action.
Do any of these statements resonate with you?
* I preached a whole financial series and nothing really changed in our church.
* We talked about online giving, but people seem to prefer the plate.
* We offered a financial class, but only a few people signed up.
* I sent an email to everyone to describe the situation, but only a few people did anything.
We’ve worked with more than 500 churches in the area of finances, and we’ve seen it over and over. Pastors and church leaders feel like they have clearly communicated, but people don’t take action because they don’t know what to do.
You might say: “We already receive an offering every week.”
You and I both know that passing the plate, bucket or whatever doesn’t mean people are putting anything in it. Giving people the opportunity to give isn’t clearly asking them to participate. You’ve got to learn how to make a clear ask (you can do this without offending people).
One of the best ways to do that is to plan what we call a “giving talk.” This is a 1-2 minute explanation of the offering that happens every week. Giving Rocket Core Coaching Customers get a brand new Giving Talk sent to them each week. Check out this feedback we got from a new Giving Rocket Customer who started using Giving Talks.
When you get intentional and clear with your offering talk (and in all of your financial communication), you will see an increase in giving.