If your church waits until a few weeks before pledges are due to start talking about stewardship, they’ve missed a year of opportunity to prep the ask.

Two examples I like to share about “making the ask.” The first comes from my first job selling men’s clothing at JC Penney. This was in the late 1970s, when those retailers still had people working the sales floor and took time to train them in the merchandise.

I was just in high school, and my first few weeks were spent wandering the department, asking people if they needed help and then hearing the repeated responses of “no, we’re just looking…” and then I’d walk away.

Then one day the department manager took me under his wing. He taught me to stop asking if I could help them, and instead inform customers of current sales or new merchandise that just came in. He said if I could get the person to tell me their size pants or suit, that was the first step. The next was getting them into the dressing room to try on something.

The biggest hurdle, though, was asking for the sale. It ended up being a lot like asking a girl out on a date – the worst she could say was no, but it took a bunch of “nos” to understand that. Asking if the customer would like to pay using cash or a credit card moved them closer to the point of purchase. And, the worst they could say was “no thanks.”

The other example I use is from my public relations background in a large public school system of 20,000 students. It was a fast-growing area, which meant that about every four years we’d have a bond measure on the ballot, typically over $100 million. But by the time that bond measure caught public attention, most people already knew which way they’d vote. It was too late to start touting academic improvements or new facility maintenance plans.

What I learned was, we had to share the good news every week of every year, building community understanding and appreciation for the school system’s achievements. And, when things didn’t go well, we had to own up to those mistakes and missteps, accept responsibility, tell how we’d avoid the same mistake next time, and move forward.

In this way, when the community went to the polling stations on the bond referendum, most already knew the challenges the school system faced, how the bond money would address those issues, and how we would continue to tell the story of how their tax dollars were spent. We had “pre-sold” the issue.

Annual stewardship campaigns in our churches are similar. If we keep all the good news under a bushel until the campaign starts, it takes a lot of catching up for church members to understand the need and the why – especially in these days of streaming TV, social media and extremely short attention spans.

A better approach is to work into each week’s messaging some element of the church’s achievements or challenges. This can be in the Sunday sermon, or the church newsletter or email, or a short video posted to the website and social media. Consistency is the key. Not everyone will be exposed to every message – but some of the messaging will hit most people a few times. Topics can include:

• What community services does the church provide, and what’s going on with the cold-weather or hot weather shelters, the food drives, the after-school tutoring or community gardens?
• If the church supports any mission work, can you get a “slice of life” story from them that helps your congregation better understand the work and its impact?
• Does the church host youth groups, Scouts, or other local groups – and what have they been doing lately?
• What are the youth groups doing at the church, and why? What are they learning and how does that apply to their lives? Ideally, have a few youth tell their stories.

The result? A membership that feels connected to the church and appreciates the need for giving through stewardship, be it time, talent or treasures.

Take this opportunity to share the stories during your typical stewardship time, but don’t let it stop there. After all, stewardship is a year-round effort, and there are stories to be told throughout the entire calendar year.