Whether it’s for Mission Sunday, a special Christmas offering, or for an entirely different reason, every church will ask their members to give a special offering at some point during the year. Special offerings, those outside the typical Sunday tithe offering, can be a great way to fund a specific ministry or ministry effort outside of your church’s budget to help more people experience the blessing of the Gospel. But there are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to plan a special offering for your church.

Give Enough Advance Notice

If you’re planning a special offering you want to be sure to give a healthy amount of advance notice to your church. This will do a few things for your members that will make the offering a hit. First, this allows your church to prepare for the offering. If your members already tithe weekly, they will likely need time to set aside some extra money for the special offering. Second, the advance notice gives you time to build excitement for the special offering. Even though Christians understand that we have been blessed to be a blessing to others, it can still take some time to get people excited to give. Advance notice about a special offering allows you to build that excitement by talking about what the offering is for, who it will help, and why it’s important.

Help Your Church See the Need

Even if your special offering is going to support mission work, people still need help seeing the need they will fill. The easiest way to help your people out here is to bring in the people who will be impacted or have been impacted, by your church’s giving in the past. If you are raising money for a missionary, have them come in person or through Zoom to talk about their work. If you are raising money for a single mom’s ministry, bring in a mom you have helped in the past to share how they were impacted by the work of the church.

Give Updates

Even after the special offering takes place, give updates to your congregation on everything related to the special offering. This means don’t just tell them how much money was raised but tell them in concrete terms how many people will be helped. If you raised money for a local food bank you can tell your church that X number of families will be fed because of the money raised during the special offering. Or if it was for a missionary, ask the missionary to share how the money raised will be used to spread the gospel where they work. If you have taken the time to get your people excited about giving, don’t let that excitement deflate once the giving is over. You can carry momentum from last year’s special offering into the next year by keeping the congregation updated on how the money they raised is helping to change lives all year long.