Resource Mobilisation: A Mark Of A Good Leader

Bill Hybels, in his book “Courageous Leadership” asserts that the local church is the hope of the world. The world today is going through troubled times and although there are man-made systems in place to attempt to make the world function, they cannot get to the heart of the matter where the real transformation needs to happen, which is the human heart. Transformation of the human heart can only be brought about by a revelation of the love of Jesus Christ. The responsibility of revealing this love to the world has been entrusted to the church. There is an abundance of gifts within the church that could more than meet the world’s needs but without proper leadership, the church will remain powerless at best or become obsolete. For the church to rise to the challenge, it is mandatory for those within the church who are blessed with the spiritual gift of leadership to build this gift up to the greatest level possible. Bill goes on to describe various aspects of church leadership but the one that I related to the most is the Resource Challenge.

It is of utmost importance for church leaders to have gigantic, awe-inspiring visions, but the reach and impact of the church will only go as far as its resources allow. As a member of the leadership team at one of Worship Harvest’s thirteen locations, I have experienced this first hand. We have a long list of great things we must achieve, people to reach, serve and impact but we do not have the monetary resources to match. It is frustrating and disheartening. The task of resource mobilisation falls chiefly on the church leader(s), in our case the location leader and leadership team.

There is an uncomfortable but necessary learning curve to the mobilisation of resources for the work of ministry. The trying times when the ministry is one giving away from closing down increases my reliance on God and helps me experience first-hand His faithfulness. It helps me grow deeper roots, to learn extravagant generosity and to become a better steward. It also brings out the creative side as I think of creative ways to raise the much needed resources.

Instead of giving in to the temptation to give up, I need to learn some fundamental truths about kingdom resources. The first of these is: God is the ultimate resource supplier. I can rest in the assurance that God wants the church resourced even more than I do. Keeping this at the forefront will keep me from using manipulative ways to get people to give, and increases my dependence and faith in God. The second truth is that people are willing to give under the right circumstances. This truth guides me against coercing people into giving, but rather towards instructing people in the grace of giving as well as the knowledge of financial management, which will make them better stewards of the resources God has given them and also more cheerful givers. The third truth is that funding ministry proves the character of a leader like no other challenge. I have to work at overcoming the resource challenge to the best of my ability, knowing that its success or failure reflects on my character.

Bill Hybels also gives a few principles that he believes leaders can use to raise and allocate resources for the purpose of ministry.

Just like in the secular world, within the church there is very little teaching about money. A number of leaders work on the assumption that people inherently know about giving in church, which is not the case. With this assumption, we admonish the congregations for their perceived lack of generosity, or come up with manipulative ways in which to wrench the much needed resources out of their “sticky fingers”. The correct way to go about this is to first of all educate the congregation on what the scriptures say about money. People need to know that in itself, money is not evil and that the blessing of God usually has a manifestation of monetary increase. They also need to know that money, like all else, is a resource from God of which we are simply stewards; we are expected to manage this resource in ways that benefit the world around us, which includes giving towards the local church that resources us. Teachings around tithe, offertory, first fruits and other kinds of giving need to be scheduled and taught with properly interpreted scriptural backing.

Secondly, we leaders may assume the congregation is stingy and not willing to give, yet it is simply a case of being uninformed about the needs of the church. As said earlier, people love to give under the right circumstances and one way of ensuring the right circumstances is by being completely transparent about the church cash flows. This includes money collected during worship services and other avenues, and expenditures that the church has. If money is constantly being collected, and more is always being asked for without telling people how much has been collected and where it has gone, it leads to suspicion which quickly dries up the resource tap. People want to know, if simply to rest assured that they have not become unscrupulous individual’s income stream; they deserve to know, since they work for this money and have a myriad of needs and wants they could spend it on; and they can't help unless they know the extent of the need within the church.

However, as we work at feeding back to the congregation the income and expenditure of the church, we should keep it as simple as possible. Too much information can overwhelm the recipients, and the resultant confusion can also fuel suspicion, resulting in reduced giving. Information given should be easily understood by the least knowledgeable, with an encouragement and an avenue to seek detail for those that might want to. In this I appreciate Worship Harvest’s insistence on tithe numbers and open book policy for accounts.

Another resource principle worth mastering is that of Strategic Discipling. In every congregation there are certain individuals who are more affluent and potentially a greater channel of resources towards the church. Many church leaders are unsure how to approach these people both generally and specifically in regards to giving. We either steer clear of them to shield our own insecurities, avoid them in order to “maintain impartiality between the haves and have-nots” or suck up to them in a bid to benefit, first for ourselves then for the church. Bill advises meeting these people and challenging them to join in the work of building God’s kingdom. Just like with any other individual, they should be led to Christ, helped to grow spiritually, encouraged to join a small group and helped to discover their spiritual gift so that they are fully plugged into the local church. While all this is ongoing, they should be reminded of Jesus’ admonition that “to whom much is given, much is required.” Like the spiritual gift of leadership, there is a spiritual gift of giving and if these affluent individuals are gifted that way, they should be encouraged to exercise that gift fully by earning as much as they can and managing it well so as to have as much as possible to give towards God’s work. It is our responsibility to have this conversation with these people, but also to stay faithful to our own gifting as an encouragement to them to do the same.

The last resource principle is about vision. Simply put, people want to give towards a grand vision of world transformation, not simply to everyday mundane activities. It is our responsibility to passionately paint an inspiring picture that will stir people to give willingly towards what they believe is causing significant impact. That means it is our responsibility to have this grand vision in the first place. Through our vision, we must remind people that they are giving to something bigger than themselves, with far reaching eternal significance.

Bill stated: The church will never reach her full redemptive potential until a river of financial resources starts flowing in her direction. It is my responsibility as a member of the leadership team of a church to create this river and manage it accordingly. I need to grow in my ability to mobilise and manage huge amounts of resources for the huge task we have of reaching the world with the message of the redemptive love of Jesus.