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The Ultimate Fund-Raiser
By Seth Barnes
A recent study shows that practical
measures of morality such as
numbers of abortions and
divorces are the same in the
church as they are in the rest
of society. So I ask: In a
country where the separation of
the secular and the sacred has
permeated our national psyche
and dictates the terms of our
morality, why should we expect
anything different of our church
activities? Particularly,
wouldn't we be asking a lot for
our youth group fund-raisers to
accomplish the purpose of
ministering to others at the
same time that they raise
money?
Call me Utopian, but
I believe that it's possible to
infuse the enterprise of
generating filthy lucre with a
certain spirituality. Too often
we settle for the expedient. We
sell out to the tired
conventions of youth groups
past. I'm going to use this
column to share an example of an
activity that did far more than
raise funds. It actually knit
together and helped establish a
new church.
I have seen
fund-raisers come and go. As
the Preacher of Ecclesiastes
laments, there is nothing new
under the sun. Probably nothing
will ever beat the good
old-fashioned support letter
writing campaign for sheer
return on time invested.
However, in my years of
observing youth groups raise
funds for missions, I've never
seen one have a greater impact
on a church than the one which
my own church did a few months
ago. It had its origins in
Africa, where the word
harambee is a part of the
vernacular, but it is based on a
biblical principle. Interesting
how in a country which has made
a national institution of car
washes, pancake breakfasts, and
walk-a-thons that we should turn
to another part of the globe for
this, the ultimate in
fund-raisers.
Harambee is a
Swahili word which means
"pulling together to accomplish
a greater goal than can be
accomplished individually." Our
church mission's chairman, Bill
Britton, first became aware of
the concept on a trip to Kenya.
A small group of people in the
town of Isiolo, about 150 miles
northeast of Nairobi, were just
beginning a church there. When
they heard that a group of
foreigners were interested in
helping them build a church,
their first question was, "How
much money are they going to
give us?" The answer came back,
"None, but we'll do it through a
Harambee." This must have
seemed comical to the small
congregation. Their largest
offering to date had been the
equivalent of about ten dollars.
Now in Kenya, a
Harambee is a big deal which
lasts for a number of weeks.
The idea is to get everyone you
know, adult and child alike, to
go out and ask anybody they know
to contribute something. At the
conclusion of this time,
everyone gets together for a big
celebration to put everything
they've raised into a big pot.
Its American equivalent might be
an Amish barn-raising. It's as
much a celebration of community
as it is an event to raise
funds.
The Isiolo church
took up the challenge. Their
numbers weren't great, but each
individual reached out to many
others asking for help in
building the church. They
canvassed the area, asking
everyone they knew to
contribute. Children were lucky
to get a shilling from their
friends. Adults unabashedly
solicited relatives and
strangers alike. When it was
all over, they had raised the
astronomical sum of about
$4,000. They saw this as a
miracle from God and a cause for
much joy and celebration. God
had indeed pulled them together
to accomplish more as a group
than any of them could have
accomplished individually. The
congregation threw a great party
to commemorate their ringing
achievement. Not only was there
money to build the church, but
many in the community had
invested a fair sum in doing
so. The process of generating
funds had also generated a
substantial sense of community
and ownership along the way.
The obstacles in
applying such a concept in the
United States seem obvious: We
don't have the same sense of
community in our sterile suburbs
and urban wastelands. We don't
just walk up to people and ask
for money unless we're a
panhandler. The issue had Bill
Britton stumped. He saw the
power of Harambee, but how could
it make the jump to our bedroom
community in southern Florida?
He found the answer in Matthew
25:14-30, the parable of the
talents. You'll recall that in
the parable, the master gives
his stewards money to invest.
After a period of time, they
return it to him offering
various returns on his
investment. His response to the
one who dug a hole was one of
reproach, but to the steward who
doubled his investment he said,
"Well done, good and faithful
servant!" You have been
faithful with a few things; I
will put you in charge of many
things! Come and share in your
master's happiness!"
Britton determined to
combine the community-based
elements of a Kenyan Harambee
with a re-enactment of Jesus'
parable. Rather than ask for
money, we would give it away,
asking people to invest it for
missions. Then, after a period
of time, we'd get together to
celebrate what God had done.
As we kicked off our
Harambee, providentially, our
pastor had planned to preach on
giving. Toward the end of his
sermon, he announced that we
were going to put shoe leather
on the principles that he'd been
sharing. Our church has about
500 members, so the missions
committee had 500 envelopes
printed with the words:
"Harambee: Multiply Your
Talents For Christ." In each
envelope the committee placed a
ten dollar bill. Each member of
the congregation received an
envelope, no strings attached.
This was a complete act of
faith. We had no idea what
might happen next. Would we be
like the steward who buried his
talent in the ground? Members
of the missions committee
wondered if we'd be out $5,000.
Perhaps the whole church would
be tempted to just go shopping.
Whatever fears the
missions committee had were
matched by those in the
congregation. One member's
thoughts were typical of many:
"I thought, I've got no business
expertise. No creativity. I
was mortified and completely out
of my comfort zone. I
envisioned myself as a failure,
handing back the ten dollars. I
was forced to rely on God."
True, some were exhilarated by
the challenge, but all were
forced to their knees as they
saw their own inadequacy.
What happened next
is that everyone - moms, dads,
teens, and kids went about
multiplying their talents in all
kinds of creative ways. One
group pooled their money and
made pizzas which they delivered
during the Super Bowl. They
sold 42 pizzas at $10 each.
Some ladies made ties and sold
them; one man made birdhouses.
My nine-year-old daughter made
earrings with a friend and
proclaimed, "I found out that
it's possible to help other
people and have fun at the same
time." As Britton said, "Our
whole church was alive with the
Spirit and excitement was
everywhere." Like the Isiolo
church, we were seeing the
effects of being united together
in working toward a common
goal. As we raised funds, we
were creating a community. One
of the interesting things to see
was that groups of people
spontaneously came together to
pool their resources in joint
efforts. An initial flea market
type sale in the park among
church members was such a
success that a second sale was
scheduled for the general
public.
After ten weeks, the
church had its weekend Harambee
celebration. An artist in the
church made a huge paper
mache globe which was
suspended from the ceiling
during each of our two church
services. Later that night, at
the end of the Harambee finale,
the globe was lowered so that
the talents could be deposited
in it. One by one, each of the
participants came forward,
sharing their experiences as
they deposited the talents they
had multiplied.
A dinner capped off
the festivities. People had a
chance to rejoice with one
another as they never had
before.
One might be tempted
to conclude that the bottom line
was the $13,000 that our church
raised for missions. More
important, however, is that our
church pulled together and in so
doing, learned about stewardship
and community.
Make it Happen
Establish a Ministry Philosophy
Before making any
plans, begin by clarifying your
philosophy of raising funds.
Identify a cause which you
believe in and which you feel is
worthy of your investment. Are
you convinced of the urgency of
the Great Commission? Then pray
for God to touch your heart with
a particular mission field. Do
a little research. Or, if God
has already touched your heart
with a need, do you believe that
it is possible to use
fund-raisers as tools for
ministry? Whatever your
fund-raiser, determine to find
its spiritual dimension.
Embrace the notion that your
youth group can minister to the
church. Youth groups can be the
source of new ideas, radical
commitment, and sometimes,
revival in churches. Pray about
how God is going to enable you
to minister to the church.
Establish a Broad Base of
Support
Recruit a team of
people to do the work beginning
with your own youth group. If
you are not an organizer or
promoter, then recruit someone
who can help you. Just showing
a copy of this article to
someone else might be enough to
get the ball rolling. Get the
backing of your church's
missions committee. Explain
your plan to them. Get them to
help your youth group organize
it. Have them begin by
establishing a strong prayer
base for your efforts. Then
enlist them in selling the idea
to the church. Get the missions
chairman to help you sell the
idea to the senior pastor. Show
him that you have covered all
your bases.
Follow a Plan of Action
1. Set objectives and be
creative in how you seek to
fulfill them. Here are some
examples:
a. To build awareness of missions
issues, particularly the field
of El Salvador. To communicate
the urgency of the church's
situation there and our own
group's role in helping it this
summer.
b. To generate our church's
involvement (involvement of at
least three quarters of our
congregation in the Harambee).
c. To effectively
teach the concept of
stewardship.
d. To raise $15,000
for missions.
e. To increase
prayer support for our
missions efforts.
f. To build
community in our church
congregation.
2. Get someone in the church to
provide the seed capital.
3. Print up envelopes.
4. Promote the Harambee concept
through every available channel:
the bulletin, the pulpit, small
groups, and church newsletters.
5. Have your pastor preach on
missions or stewardship and then
make the Harambee the practical
outworking of his teaching.
6. Get enough ten dollar bills
from the bank to stuff all your
envelopes.
7. Pass out the envelopes at the
conclusion of the pastor's
sermon.
8. Schedule several
opportunities for your
congregation to reach out to one
another and the community with
their goods and services. Have
someone print up a "classified
ads" listing of all the services
for sale.
9. Give Harambee participants
periodic opportunities to
encourage one another with their
testimonies.
10. Organize a committee whose
job it is to throw a Harambee
celebration. Throw a party. In
so doing, give participants in
the Harambee a chance to share
what God showed them as they
invested their talents and
allowed Him to work through
them.
11. Take the inevitable
enthusiasm and sense of
community which results and
encourage people to invest it in
specific Great Commission
activities.
12. Share your success story
with other church groups. Let
people like me know what God
does through you and your group
so that we might use your story
to encourage others. |
