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August 30, 2007
4 Creative Uses of Offering Envelopes
A pastor told his congregation one morning that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that the church had all the money it needed. The bad news was that is was still in the pockets of the people.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, offering envelopes have consistently provided a vehicle for the church to generate the contributions it needs to accomplish the ministry God has placed on its heart and mind. The difficult job is keeping offering envelopes exciting for church leaders and the people in the pew.
So, here are some creative ways that offering envelopes can be used to multiply your ministry opportunities.
1. Add personal information. Stock offering envelopes are convenient. You can walk into almost any Christian Supply Store or Christian Bookstore and buy them right off the shelf. It’s easy. But it’s also what everyone else does. Adding your personal information to your offering envelopes ensures that the information directly reflects your church. It has your name on it along with the funds that are important to your church—not just any church.
But that’s just the first step. Adding information that’s important to you helps you communicate the ministry God is already doing in and through your church. It offers visitors a way to see what’s important to you. It also reminds the membership how God is working through the congregation.
Consider this. A teenage girl visits your church this Sunday because she just found out she was pregnant. She’s not sure what to do or where to go for help. But she knows that she can’t tell her parents. She looks at your offering envelopes in the pew that have a special Scripture about the love of God along with designated funds for a community crisis pregnancy center that the church helps support. She realizes that she has found someone who can help her along with a hint of hope.
All this because you took one extra step to add your personal information to your offering envelopes.
2. Implement a color system. In addition to your standard white envelopes that are used for weekly contributions, throw some color into the mix. For example, let’s say your church is currently in the middle of a capital campaign. You’ve added a new line on your standard envelopes for your members to designate funds for capital improvements. But you’re not seeing the results you had hoped for.
Instead, pick a different color envelope for the capital improvement fund. Customize the content to match your church’s campaign title and goal. It’ll be much easier to remember to place “the pink envelope” in the offering plate than to designate funds to a specific line on your standard envelope.
Everyone will notice as pink envelopes are placed in the offering plate during the worship service. The use of the pink envelope will serve as a silent reminder to those present that this fund is just as important as the general fund.
3. Enroll in a mail program. Many churches have purchased boxed sets of standard envelopes for years. Each January they distribute these boxes to their membership and hope (yes, hope) that they don’t misplace or accidentally dispose of these envelopes before the end of the year. If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s difficult for anyone to keep up with anything for an entire year—especially offering envelopes.
A mail program allows you to mail your offering envelopes directly to your membership monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. This provides a way for the church to maintain accurate mailing information and serves as a reminder to church members to be faithful givers.
A mail program has consistently proven itself to be one of the most effective methods you can employ to increase per capita membership contribution.
There is another advantage a mail program offers. If you’re already mailing offering envelopes on a regular basis, why not add additional communication pieces to the mailing? These communication pieces can say what you want to say and look like you want them to look. What a great opportunity to communicate the vision and activities of your church to your membership on a regular basis! At the same time, it reinforces the church’s need for regular contributions.
4. Customize per age group. The discipline of Stewardship should begin early. The earlier a child learns that giving back to God a portion of what he or she is given, the more likely they will become life-long givers. But children like colors and pictures. Not boring black and white envelopes. So make it easy for children to get excited about giving. Add Bible verses, graphics, trivia questions, etc. to your offering envelopes for children. The content on the envelope is only limited by your imagination. Maybe you could even let your children design their own envelope for the entire Children’s Ministry to use?
This same concept can be applied to youth, young adults, married couples, senior citizens, etc. When you make giving fun and interesting, you’ll see participation in the giving process grow.
Giving is as much as a stewardship discipline as it is a discipleship process. These are just four creative ways to use offering envelopes in your church. I would encourage you to include and apply at least one of these in your church’s annual stewardship strategy plan. Then, watch as your membership contributions grow.
Offering envelopes are more than a piece of paper used to seal a member’s contribution; they are vehicles for discipleship and ministry.
Posted by bstroup at August 30, 2007 4:37 AM
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