The Impact of Missional Integrity on Charitable Giving in Churches

In 2020 alone, at least 4000 churches were predicted to shutter their doors.[1] The rise of the “nones” (those unaffiliated with any religion or without any religious background) has been on the increase in recent years and has caused a decline in church attendance.[2] Church scandals by mega-church pastors have caused many of the unchurched to be skeptical of the church as a whole. Financial stability in churches is also being affected by generational changes. The Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers were steady tithers giving nearly 50% of their charitable giving to churches, where churches do not make the top three of places where Gen Xers and the Millennial generation give their charitable contributions.[3] These are just a few of the cultural changes that are affecting church finances today. This essay was written as a case study to suggest that charitable giving will be higher in churches where there is missional integrity, financial transparency, and authentic Christian living.

Missional Integrity 

Many churches have great mission statements but are not great at executing the mission. In other words, there is no missional integrity. Missions that are communicated but not executed prove organizations hypocritical at best and dishonest at the worst. Integrity by definition is a strict adherence to a set of moral values. Missional integrity as it relates to organizations such as a church is strict adherence to the mission of the organization. Put simply, it is practicing what you preach. For the church, this means “being the body of Christ in everyday practice.”[4] The mission is not something that is just printed on a brochure or advertisement. It is lived out by the people and practiced daily in the operations of the organization. In the private sector, but even more so in churches it seems, “most mission statements have neither inspired people to change the world nor provided them with an accurate description of what an organization actually does for a living.”[5] The lack of organizational clarity around a purpose affects churches as badly as it does businesses, especially in regard to financial stability. One of the questions that healthy organizations ask according to Patrick Lencioni is, “What is most important, right now?”[6]

Financial guru Peter Drucker was famous for asking two questions of business: “What is our main business?” and “How is business.”[7] The mission of the global church is to spread the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth. However, the local church uses different means of showing and communicating that good news within its own cultural context. Church leaders that engage in an honest, continual evaluation of how a church uses its resources, utilizes its staffing, and deploys its volunteers for the sake of the gospel is crucial to having and maintaining missional integrity. Churches with missional integrity “invite members to discover their gifts and passion, expects their committed involvement in the mission, nurtures and prays for them, and grants the ministry’s serious autonomy” all while celebrating what God is accomplishing in the life of the church and “reinforcing the idea in a hundred ways that” simply “attending church” is not normal Christianity.[8] It may be time to step back and review if “the original vision, objectives, and story that once drove the church and its people to season of significant local achievement” have waned and the church has drifted from its original mission.[9] 

Financial Transparency 

Financial transparency is also related to higher levels of charitable giving. Financial transparency is being open about where money is being used or spent within an organization. Church scandals in recent years by various mega-church pastors, denominations, and institutions have caused many to distrust religion and see religious organizations as only out for money. It is critical for churches to be financially transparent, especially among the seekers who attend churches. Financial transparency is also critical if churches plan to reach the largest population group in the U.S. currently, the Millennial generation. Millennials as a cohort want to talk about money openly, understand the “why” behind an organization’s existence, and make generosity a part of their lifestyle.[10]

In developing successful and trustworthy relationships with donors, nonprofit organizations must be able to communicate and identify benefits to their stakeholders.[11] One of the best ways to promote financial transparency and identify benefits to donors in a church is by celebrating how church funds were used to impact the community during corporate gatherings. Pictures, testimonials, and videos are great ways of celebrating missional impact and they produce the net benefit of validating charitable giving through the celebration. Millennials are particularly motivated to give when they see the impact of their giving as they “want to be a part of something that has a clear vision, a vision that changes the world for the better.”[12] The church holds in the gospel the key to changing the world for the better. Celebrations of how the church is changing the world through the gospel are crucial in fostering financial growth and financial transparency.

Authentic Christian Living

With the toll the Covid 19 pandemic took on people physically, mentally, and spiritually, authentic Christian living by those who attend church has the potential to impact non-believers now more than ever. Authentic Christian living is not just believers attending a church, it is believers being the church. Churches where believers are actively living, loving, and ministering to others like Christ are acting as a real church; “a ‘called out’ people of God whom the Lord shapes into an ‘apostolate’ – the ‘sent out’ people of God.”[13] Authentic Christian living is a life of servanthood and stewardship to Jesus Christ that gave his all to save humanity. Churches with higher percentages of authentic Christians will enjoy higher levels of giving as stewardship is a part of authentic Christian living. This dynamic is seen clearly in the Bible in the Acts 4 church. Acts 4 believers were “united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had” (Acts 4:32, NLT). The Acts 4 also had “no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need” (Acts 4:34-35, NLT).

An organization’s purpose for existing has to be completely idealistic.[14] The idealistic vision for all churches is to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). However, the mission of a church is an active concept, and it explains what the church is dedicated to, the service it offers, and the public image it presents.[15] Churches that live out their mission in front of the world are seen as having missional integrity. Both missional integrity and authentic Christian living squelch concerns about financial transparency.

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[1] Jay W. Moon, “Alternative Financial Models for Churches and Church Plants: When Tithes and Offerings Are Not Enough.” Great Commission Research Journal 12 (2020): 19–42.

[2] Grace Duddy Pomroy, “Stewardship: What the Church Can Learn from Millennials.” Currents in Theology and Mission 45 (2019): 11.

[3] Ann Fritschel, “Beyond the Mission Trip: Millennials, Financial Stewardship, and the Congregation.” Currents in Theology and Mission 45 (2018): 17.

[4] Wim Dreyer, “Church, Mission and Ethics. Being Church with Integrity.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 72 (2016): 5.

[5] Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012), 75.

[6] Ibid, 77.

[7] George G. Hunter, “What Is Your Main Business?” Great Commission Research Journal 6 (2015): 178.

[8] Ibid, 185.

[9] Ibid, 182.

[10] Grace Duddy Pomroy, “Stewardship: What the Church Can Learn from Millennials.” Currents in Theology and Mission 45 (2018): 11–15.

[11] Beverly T. Venable, Gregory M. Rose, Victoria D. Bush, and Faye W. Gilbert. "The Role of Brand Personality in Charitable Giving: An Assessment and Validation." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 33, no. 3 (2005): 295-312.

[12] Ann Fritschel, “Beyond the Mission Trip: Millennials, Financial Stewardship, and the Congregation.” Currents in Theology and Mission 45 (2018): 16–20.

[13] George G. Hunter, “What Is Your Main Business?” Great Commission Research Journal 6 (2015): 181.

[14] Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012), 82.

[15] Samuel Cueva, “Inspiring Others with a Vision, Mission, and Values.” International Bulletin of Mission Research 44 (2020): 141–51.