Leland's Seven Stewardship Principles — Church Stewardship Program

A partnership with Leland Rubin, creator of the Seven Stewardship Principles, and Allan Bell - CPA, CMA, MBA, Nsites founder and creator

Mission · Principle 7 of 7

S7 — Give Generously

Build a current picture of community and mission-field need, set an intentional missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale, vet and formalize partner organizations with written agreements, and report outward impact honestly, including shortfalls.

45/100Academy home
← S6 Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing

Seven Principles curriculum version 1.0 — author-review draft pending Leland Rubin's approval prior to publication. · Leland's Seven Stewardship Principles methodology, content, exercises and deliverables are created by Leland Rubin and remain in author-review draft pending his approval.

Official outcome

Missions and Community Outreach Giving Plan

  • Community and mission-field profile naming specific needs, gaps and existing efforts already underway nearby and at a distance
  • Missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale for how the amount and allocation were set relative to overall giving
  • Partner organization roster with vetting notes, financial and mission-fit documentation, and signed partnership agreements
  • Accountability calendar listing check-in dates, reporting expectations and renewal or exit decision points for each partner
  • Impact report template covering people served, dollars deployed, partner performance and honest shortfalls
  • Congregational communication plan describing how outward giving and impact will be reported without overstating results
  • Gaps register listing every open community-knowledge, funding, vetting or reporting gap discovered during the module
  • Named list of missions and outreach risks with likelihood, impact and an accountable owner for each
  • 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date

Suggested duration: 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time · Owner: Missions Pastor · Coach: Leland Rubin · Approval: Not submitted

45of 100

Principle health

At risk

Baseline 45 · no follow-up yet

Principle purpose

Suggested leadership time: About 7 hours of leadership time

S7 Give Generously calls a church to look beyond its own walls — beyond payroll, programs and the building it meets in — toward the mission field God has placed within reach and the mission field God has placed at a distance. A church can be financially healthy on paper and still be spiritually inward-facing if every dollar it stewards well only ever serves the people already inside the room. This module exists to help leadership name the community and the world honestly, fund missions and outreach on purpose rather than as an afterthought at year-end, partner with outside organizations with the same rigor a church would want applied to itself, and then measure and report what actually happened rather than what leadership hoped happened.

By the end of this module, leadership will have produced a Missions and Community Outreach Giving Plan: a clear-eyed picture of the community and mission field the church is called to serve, an intentional missions and outreach budget with a rationale for how it was set, a vetted and documented list of partner organizations with signed agreements and accountability checkpoints, and an honest impact report leadership is willing to put in front of the whole congregation. This is generosity work turned outward, built to outlast any one pastor's personal passion project or any one season's emotional appeal.

Official outcome — Missions and Community Outreach Giving Plan

Leadership will have completed a community and mission-field assessment, set and approved an intentional missions and outreach budget, vetted and documented its partner organizations with signed agreements and accountability terms, and adopted an honest impact report as part of a Missions and Community Outreach Giving Plan with a 90-day action plan assigning named owners and dates.

Deliverable component checklist

  1. 1. Community and mission-field profile naming specific needs, gaps and existing efforts already underway nearby and at a distance
  2. 2. Missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale for how the amount and allocation were set relative to overall giving
  3. 3. Partner organization roster with vetting notes, financial and mission-fit documentation, and signed partnership agreements
  4. 4. Accountability calendar listing check-in dates, reporting expectations and renewal or exit decision points for each partner
  5. 5. Impact report template covering people served, dollars deployed, partner performance and honest shortfalls
  6. 6. Congregational communication plan describing how outward giving and impact will be reported without overstating results
  7. 7. Gaps register listing every open community-knowledge, funding, vetting or reporting gap discovered during the module
  8. 8. Named list of missions and outreach risks with likelihood, impact and an accountable owner for each
  9. 9. 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date

Learning objectives and completion requirements

Learning objectives

  • • Build a current picture of community and mission-field need
  • • Set an intentional missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale
  • • Vet partner organizations and formalize agreements
  • • Build a verified, honest outward impact report

Completion requirements

  • • All four lessons marked complete
  • • All four exercises submitted
  • • Required evidence uploaded
  • • Named principal deliverable generated and approved
  • • 90-day action plan created with owners and dates
  • • Coach review recorded

Lessons

Four complete lessons. Each produces one named artifact for the official outcome.

  1. Lesson 1 — Looking Outward: Naming the Community and the Mission Field

    Build a current, specific picture of the needs in the church's surrounding community and its mission field beyond the community. · 80 minutes · produces Community and Mission-Field Profile

    CompleteOpen full lesson

  2. Lesson 2 — Funding Missions and Outreach on Purpose

    Set an intentional missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale tied to overall giving and named community and mission-field priorities. · 85 minutes · produces Missions and Outreach Budget Worksheet

    Not completeOpen full lesson

  3. Lesson 3 — Partnering Well: Vetting, Agreements and Accountability

    Vet missions and outreach partner organizations responsibly and formalize each partnership with a written agreement and an accountability calendar. · 90 minutes · produces Partner Vetting and Agreement Tracker

    Not completeOpen full lesson

  4. Lesson 4 — Measuring Outward Impact and Reporting It Honestly

    Build a verified, honest impact report covering people served, dollars deployed and partner performance, including shortfalls, and plan how to communicate it to the congregation. · 80 minutes · produces Outward Impact Report

    Not completeOpen full lesson
← S6 Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing