Five Tips for your Congregation

After 24 years as Director of Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College, Fred W. Martin has a wealth of experience in encouraging generosity and strengthening community support for ministry. At the 2026 MCEC Annual Church Gathering, he presented a workshop titled Faith and Fundraising: How Our Spiritual Heritage Could Help Us Meet the Budget. Fred offers the following tips from his presentation. 

Cultivating generosity is about more than meeting a budget. It is an invitation to participate in God’s mission and to join in the work God is doing through the church.  

By connecting financial stewardship to ministry, purpose and community, congregations can nurture a culture of joyful giving. Fred shares practical insights on inspiring generous stewardship within congregations. 

Grace

At its core the Christian life is about receiving and giving grace. Remember to live in God‘s love and be conscious of this all embracing love that surrounds us. While this involves personal spirituality, this is reflected collectively in the culture of your congregation. Being filled with grace spills over into acts of generosity. We are motivated by God‘s universal and unconditional love, not by guilt, judgment or obligation.   

Grounding

Remember and celebrate our heritage and roots as a people. The Anabaptists were a persecuted minority, but developed a strong community and identity by supporting and helping each other in times of terrible persecution. Mennonite history is filled with stories of supporting immigrants, and of deacons supporting physical and financial needs within the congregation. In the 20th century, Mennonites created a plethora of social agencies, nursing homes, schools and camps to support those in need and to nurture faith.  Congregational support for these institutions provides an avenue to impact the broader community. MCEC’s budget includes collective support for many partner agencies.  

Generosity

Model generosity in congregational life. Highlight volunteer opportunities and celebrate those who give their time. Giving of our time and money needs to be taught and modelled in congregational life. Stewardship education should be a topical focus in small group discussions, Sunday school lessons, seminars, workshops or retreats. These are ways to teach youth and young families to be engaged in financial planning for their households, while ensuring charitable giving is included. 

Giving from the Heart 

Ensure that offering is a central and regular part of your worship service. It may not be passing the plates anymore, but it needs a prayerful and consistent place in your worship.  Anabaptists and other traditional Mennonite groups used alms boxes in the back of worship space to collect offerings. Voices Together has some good litanies and prayers that are easy to use. Ensure that giving is tactile and celebratory. Some churches have a loose change offering that the children collect.  Some collect cans for food bank offerings and others collect mittens, hats and grocery cards for charities at Christmas.  

Joy

Joy: “The Lord loves a ‘hilarious’ giver”. This is a closer transliteration of the familiar verse from 2 Corinthians - so be enthusiastic and carefree in your generosity. I saw firsthand the joy of a granddaughter bidding up a quilt her grandfather made at the MCC auction. Plan creative fundraising events, inject some excitement in your fundraising campaigns. Recently we planned a congregational concert as a way to generate support for our kitchen renovation at Waterloo North Mennonite Church. Updates from the treasurer should be engaging and underscore the amazing things you do with your offerings.