Hundreds of you joined me last week for my series of “How to Plan and Conduct a Christmas Offering” Webinars and even more have downloaded the new Christmas Offering report that I released a couple of weeks ago.

In spite of my best efforts however, there are still a few questions that I didn’t clearly address.  I’m writing this post today in an effort to answer all of those unanswered Christmas Offering questions from the webinars and from your emails.

Here they are:

Q: If we really push a Christmas Offering, won’t that negatively impact our regular budget offering?

A: No.  In most cases, if you carefully and prayerfully determine the causes you are going to raise money for, there will not be a negative impact on your regular tithes and offerings.

However, you will need to clearly and repeatedly remind your people that the Christmas Offering is above and beyond their regular giving.

Remember, that’s one of the biggest reasons for doing a Christmas Offering: to help your people grow by giving sacrificially.

Q: We just kicked off a new capital campaign – should we conduct a Christmas Offering or wait until next year?

A: With a new capital campaign, I would say it’s probably best to wait until next year.  So much energy and effort goes into launching a campaign like that, that the Christmas Offering would likely be too much.

I’ll say this though: If you’re in a capital campaign (just not at the beginning of one), you can still run a successful Christmas Offering.  Just keep that in mind when you set your goal.

Q: If two of our causes are giving to US/World Missions and Church Planting, should we present them separately or just list them in the same category?

A: That really depends on a couple of different factors.

1) Are both of these causes at the heart of your church’s culture? In other words, will your people be more prone to support the offering if you present each cause separately?  If so, then I would definitely separate them out and promote them individually.

2) How many overall causes are you promoting?  Keep in mind that 3-4 causes are enough for most churches.  Many more than that and you run the risk of people tuning out because of too much information.

Hopefully you’re getting ready to roll-out your Christmas Offering, but it’s not too late!

I’ll be back next week with another post to answer the rest of your questions…

P.S. If you missed the Christmas Offering Webinar, you can listen to a replay of the audio by CLICKING HERE.

And you can also still download your “How to Plan & Conduct a Christmas Offering” Report by CLICKING HERE.

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.