• Requires a decision over delay; action over avoidance.

• Provides opportunity for personal (self) assessment.

• Motivates a specific increase in one’s generosity.

• Communicates the importance of personal growth in giving (Most important decisions in life are confirmed by written documentation).

• Offers an occasion for a church-wide step of faith and commitment (a growth event).

• Provides financial information that enables leaders to make wise decisions.

• Enables church leaders to assess and measure the congregational generosity.

• The card, from day one, represents the culmination of an important spiritual journey.

• Allows a point of conversation and decision for an individual and couple.

• Provides a timeline for decision personally and organizationally rather than an undefined closure.

• There is power in a physical symbol. Of course, there are a lot of biblical examples of that.

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I wear a wedding ring as a way of symbolizing my commitment to my marriage. It doesn’t make me married. I could be married without it. But the physical symbol is important to me, it’s important to my spouse, and it sends a message to those who see it.

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• A goal when written is much more likely achieved than one that remains in the head. A written commitment makes it real, and provides a mechanism for accountability.

• In an age when so many helpful but automatic giving options abound, it is tempting to put one’s giving on autopilot. This can stall one’s continuing growth and discipleship and impact in generosity. Completing a card allows for the automated giver to reassess their giving level.

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This campaign is an opportunity for us to understand the “why” of commitment cards in giver-centric language, instead of church-centric language. Emerging generations of Christians have less interest in the needs of the finance committee to form a budget for the church or the need “to keep the lights on and pay the salaries.”

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• What if we all thought of a commitment card in terms of the spiritual check-up it could provide?

• What if we saw commitment cards as an opportunity not to be missed to reassess one’s gratitude to God?

• What if we saw commitment cards as a sign of trust for the future and the joy of joining God in the advance of the Kingdom?

• What if we saw commitment cards as a reminder of the life-giving, family strengthening and joy experiencing from being in a right relationship with God’s abundance entrusted to us?

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Therefore, we try to call for, and resource, family discussion around the breakfast table, and nighttime prayers—even intergenerational conversations about the purpose and mission for a family to steward both the values and the valuables of the family, even past the current Generation.

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Tools provided in this journal are helpful to help you to think about ways to grow in your giving journey; not just the amount of your gift from one year to the next. We are inviting you to do this, not because of what we want from you, but what we want for you.