Creating Congregations of Generous People

by Michael Durall

Book Overview

Asking parishioners for money is very different from creating congregations of generous people. In this provocative book, stewardship consultant Michael Durall argues convincingly that annual pledge... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566992206
• ISBN13: 9781566992206
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Creating Congregations of Generous People

I ordered a copy of Michael Durell's book for a quick peruse to see if there were ideas I could inject into our congregation's upcoming canvass. After a first read, I ordered four more copies the next day, and handed them around to the Canvass Committee members. Michael lays out a renewed vision of generosity with which to appraoch the perennial problem of raising the church budget fromthe faithful. His observation that this process is no less about growing souls than any other area part of church life, and that the object is to cultivate a generous spirit, sat well with my congregation this year. We used his book in our planning and our process. The result? The book was a part of a positive canvass, pledges are up and people are feeling good about their generous participation in the life of the congregation.

ITS THE PEOPLE AS MUCH AS THE MONEY

Mike Durall's slim but succulent guide to increasing and stimulating congregational giving is a welcome tonic when fundraising bibles seem to focus more on technique and need than motivation and virtue. Durall encourages us to aim to create congregations of generous people not as a ruse to open wallets but because - as he illustrates and explains well - only generous people in spirit and ethos will ever fill the plate. And it is more than his homespun wisdom as supported by his distilation of current reasearch and thinking from leaders in the field. Durall's emphasis on giving as the sharing of gifts with which we have been blessed is inspirational as well as practical. Give a copy to your minister as well as to every fundraiser you know!

I Wish I Had Had This Book When I Ran The Pledge Drive

Many of the lessons that Michael Durall outlines in this book would have saved me a lot of pain when I ran the pledge drive for a three-year period in my church. He has lots of tips here, yet the part I liked the most was his whole new way of looking at raising money. Rather than something to be dreaded like some sort of congregational root canal, he presents giving as an affirmation of one's life and the embodiment of the hopes of a group of people. He combines realistic techniques with a sense of inspiration. If I were running the pledge drive again, I'd give a copy of this book to everyone on the committee.

A Long Overdue Book

Every pastor, canvass chair and church treasurer should buy this book. If you have any interest in inspiring generosity within your church community, this book is for you. As a stewardship consultant, I have long seen the need for religious people to cultivate generosity for its own sake. Giving is a religious practice, the benefits of which are beyond counting. Mike Durall places our stewardship activities in the spiritual dimension, while sharing practical and realistic advice. Having put in his time on canvass committees and having assisted many congregations, he therefore speaks with the authority of experience. If you take this book seriously your stewardship committee will no longer be comprised of anyone you could talk into taking the job. Instead the fund drive committee will be the most exciting, religously challenging group in your church. This is a book that will change how you view stewardship. I only wish he'd written it ten years ago!

A Pledge Committee Bible

In the 99-page goldmine of Michael Durall's book "Creating Congregations of Generous People" he presents a wealth of practical instructions that some member or committee of every congregation can use this year. Written in Layman's language, it will change a dreaded task into one with great purpose and satisfaction in completing a task we are called to do. It seems that Durall has stepped up to the (collection) plate and hit a high hard one into a crowd that has been waiting to catch it.