As a leader — whether at home, at work, at church, wherever I am — I’ve got one job that’s more important that any other. I need to replace myself.

No one likes to talk about money. Even fewer people like to ask people for money. But as church leaders, it comes with the territory. A church that doesn’t need financial support is a church that isn’t moving forward in ministry. It’s time to rethink what we, in error, tend to view as ‘sacrifices’ and remember that it is an honor to support a growing church with our finances, especially when that growth is changing lives.

With the end of the year approaching, both your church and your congregation are looking at budgets and finances and preparing for the new year. This can be a hectic time for your church — but it’s also a time with unparalleled potential for cultivating generosity, not just around this one season, but forward into the next year and beyond. It’s just a matter of knowing how.

Technology has made it easier than ever for churches to leverage information to connect with church members and enhance their ministry. While learning how to leverage untapped data will be more difficult for some ministries than for others, churches that have learned how to do it have experienced a new level of ministry growth they never thought possible before.