Setting Goals
February is still early in the year and is one of the best times of the year to set goals for STL & BGMC in your ministries. Last year at this time, Frank Sarvabui, the Children’s Pastor at Christian Center of Salem set a goal for BGMC to go from giving zero dollars to BGMC in 2008 to over $2,000 in 2009. At the end of last Frank’s church ended up being the most improved giving church for BGMC in 2009. Here is his story in his own words.
When I first came to Christian Center of Salem the kids really were not doing anything for BGMC. So we started by talking about BGMC and how it helps missionaries with what they need. We had a BGMC Sunday that focused on this and then we challenged the kids that if they gave $1,000; I would shave my beard in Kids Church. Plus, if they gave $2,000 I would paint my hair pink for two Sundays and two Wednesday nights.
By September we went over $1,000.00 so I shaved the beard and the kids loved it. We didn’t stop there, we challenged them to go beyond and give more. When we hit $2,000 I went pink and because they went over $2,000 I also wore a pink Barbie shirt along with the pink hair (see attached photo).
Here are a few things we did to make our strategy such a success.
• We not only got the kids involved but also the parents to help the kids.
• We talked about missions every week
• We encouraged kids to give what they could each Sunday.
• We also celebrated every time we hit our goals throughout the year.
The big thing we found is keeping the vision and goal before the kids each week.
Presently, we are using the current BGMC campaign, March Madness. Our Pastor is letting us go to the congregation and ask everyone to help us reach our March Madness goal for BGMC. As an incentive this year I and some of our kids’ staff will spend three days on the church roof for BGMC. Our 2010 goal for BGMC is $2,500 but I know we’ll surpass that!
Pastor / Workers my recommendation for you is to have your kids and youth set short term goals, maybe 6 to 12 weeks at a time. Do these two or three times a year, rather then one year long goal that they forget about over the year. I have learned you can use this approach and still set a year-long strategy for missions giving. The key like Frank said is to keep the cause in front of the people. If you need help with your missions giving strategy please give me a call so I can help.
