A second way for a church to answer the question “Who gave us the money?” is to determine if the bulk of the tithes and offerings are concentrated within a small group of individuals.  This is a simple process and is accomplished by generating a list of the top ten to fifteen contributors.  If the percentage giving of this small group is too high, action needs to be taken.

I was told of one church that had two individuals providing seventy percent of the income!  This type of situation calls not for the focused steps discussed in my previous post, but for a much broader approach in two primary areas:

• The church should use extreme caution in budget planning being careful not to make significant commitments too far into the future.  Church leadership must keep in mind that their church is only one death, divorce or bad sermon away from financial disaster! 

• Also, this situation would be a clear signal that it is time to implement a broad-based stewardship education program directed to all age groups of the church.

Verne Hargrave is the Church and Ministry partner at PSK LLP and author of the book, Weeds in the Garden.