One of the research findings from my dissertation on church-agency relations is that many Christian agency leaders do not have formal theological training. The pastors said this is a problem. Since agencies are Christian ministries, I recommend that at least the senior leader of a Christian agency get some formal theological training, not just to please pastors [...]
Give confidently, give generously
If you sponsor a child and have ever wondered: what really happens once the charity receives your donation; if there really is a specific child on the other end; if sponsorship really makes a difference; then read on! Based on my visit to Compassion Thailand, you will find you can give confidently to Compassion (and [...]
A healthy approach to competition
What’s the best way to convince donors to give to your ministry? This will sound counter-intuitive, but hear me out. I’ve visited hundreds of ministries, heard many leaders explain their program design and rationale, and I know how compelling and confidence-inspiring their explanations are. The greatest opportunity for more effective fundraising is to increase the complexity of [...]
Of kings and prophets: Ministry leaders and their critics
Ever get discouraged when ministry leaders don’t live up to your expectations of Christian behaviour? As an observer, how do you deal with that? The ideal believer lives a Christlike life manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. Unfortunately, everyone is on a journey toward that ideal. We all fall short and we always will until God finishes perfecting us. Until then, we [...]
Competing for donors
Should Christian ministries compete with each other? When I read Mark Petersen’s post yesterday, I was quite surprised to see what appeared to be a head-on competitive bid by Canadian Food for the Hungry International (FH). Mark posted a graph from FH’s website showing the percentage of donations that go into poverty-relief programs, not only [...]
Rev. John Pellowe, MBA, DMin
