RSI Stewardship
We know that the topic of intelligent stewardship is top-of-mind for our readers. They’ve told us so. We also know it’s a nuanced and complex topic — one that’s best addressed by true subject matter experts.
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) August 18, 2015
RSI Stewardship, a leading resource for practical, faithful, and effective stewardship counsel, has partnered with Church Executive Magazine (CEM) to produce “Intelligent Church Giving,” a four-part series addressing the biggest challenges churches and ministries currently face in meeting their stewardship goals.
The first article in the series,“Hail Mary or holy moly,” released in the May-June 2015 issue of Church Executive Magazine. The second article, “Making Sense of Marketplace Mumbo Jumbo,” is now on newsstands with CEM’s July-August edition.
The “Intelligent Church Giving” series arrives at a critical time for churches and religious organizations. In June, Giving USA published its annual report on American charitable contributions. While overall giving increased by 5.4 percent in 2014, giving to faith-based organizations had further reduced to around one-third of all contributions, down from 56 percent of the total from 1985 to 1989.
Explaining why they chose to partner with RSI, Church Executive’s CEO Judi Victor and Editor RaeAnn Slaybaugh said:
“As a publication, we know that the topic of intelligent stewardship is top-of-mind for our readers. They’ve told us so. We also know it’s a nuanced and complex topic — one that’s best addressed by true subject matter experts. Thought leadership from RSI in this sought-after topic area is essential to not only understanding the topic but, ultimately, delivering truly beneficial content to our audience. From an editorial perspective, in-the-trenches expertise is the best resource we can hope for when delivering quality, relevant content to our readers. We’re blessed to have RSI come alongside us in this endeavor.”
RSI authors Joel Mikell and Derek Hazelet echoed CEM’s sentiments, saying, “The partnership between Church Executive and RSI Stewardship is an important and strategic one given the current conversation about giving trends in the church and the impact it will have on the financial future of the local church.”
According to the authors, the “Intelligent Church Giving” series was designed to “demonstrate the ability of data to tell a story behind giving numbers.” They elaborated, “Too often we stop at the numbers and don’t look a the metanarrative they offer about how and why church members give or stop giving.”
Author Joel Mikell also said, “The Bible has a whole book about Numbers, so even though stewardship, giving, and numbers are not subjects churches are always comfortable discussing, Scripture indicates they are important.”
To supply further insight into current church giving trends, RSI Stewardship will present a webinar on the subjects of stewardship and smarter giving strategies. The webinar, “Intelligent Church Giving,” takes place on August 19 and will feature Mikell and Hazelet.
The third and fourth installments of “Intelligent Church Giving” will be published in the September-October and November-December editions of Church Executive Magazine.
About RSI Stewardship
Founded in 1972 as America’s first company devoted solely to the fundraising needs of Christian churches, schools, and other faith-based organizations, RSI is the nation’s leading resource for practical, faithful, and effective stewardship counsel. The experience and leadership at RSI has made the difference for more than 17,000 partners in ministry.
About Church Executive Magazine
Church Executive Magazine is the go-to business resource for senior pastors, executive pastors and administrators at America’s largest churches. Church Executive reaches 40,000 of the most influential church leaders in the country, delivering focused special interest topics including stewardship, capital campaigns, leadership, risk management, fundraising, finance, and more.