Best Practices

Donor Churches

1. The best way to find a way to help is to connect relationally.  Use pastor or city networks to ask where there is need.  Ask denominational or regional leads. Ask people in your congregation.  Cold calls to an individual church are probably not the best way to go.   

2. This is about a short term need, not long-term funding.   No one knows how long the current COVID-19 situation will last and its long-term economic impact.   We do know that there is a short-term need for churches in low-income communities who often provide assistance for their members when there is rapidly increasing unemployment.   We do not encourage commitment or ask by anyone for long-term funding.   

3. Build long-term friendships by listening and asking how to help.  Donors and funding churches should simply ask “How can we help right now?” and listen.   Often there are clear and compelling ideas on how we can be the Body of Christ in communities that are at-risk right now, and maybe even over the long-term.  Start small and see where God takes the relationship. Don’t let it be an economic-driven relationship; use the moment to change the way that churches in your community connect across economic, racial, and cultural lines.   

4. Let those who know the communities the best lead.   Let those who know those communities take point in helping find and structure ideas to meet needs.   It’s easy to let money drive power dynamics, but as we are reminded in James 2, let us love and serve our brothers and sisters boldly without regard for station.  

5. Don’t try to “fix the church”.  Asking a church why they don’t start text-giving when unemployment is spiking in the neighborhood can feel tone-deaf.  Or telling them to stream their worship band like a better-resourced church can feel a little hurtful (for example, technology access may be a challenge for their members).   Instead, sit with them in their grief for their communities.   Pray for God’s restoration and mercy. Ask how to help and what they need. 

6. Don’t attach strings to help, or at least, almost none.  Stewardship is important, but we think the average need for a small church is a couple to a few thousand dollars for a month or two of support.  It’s fine to ask “what do you want to do with the money?” before you give, and “what did you do with it” after. But in this moment asking a church with limited staff (some of whom may work two jobs) for audited financials and detailed impact reports for a small gift will be self-defeating.  

7. Take this as a chance to learn.  The needs and dynamics (or even the history) of a community we don’t know well can often be very different from our preconceptions.  Why is the community disproportionately at risk? How did it get that way? What are the stories of triumph that encourage the neighborhood?  The resources and assets at their disposal? This moment can be a unique moment to learn something entirely new. A few books that can be helpful are:

• Coping With Poverty: The Social Contexts of Neighborhood, Work, and Family in the African-American Community by Sheldon Danziger and Ann Chih Lin 

• Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Christian Smith and Michael O. Emerson 

• When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

Receiving Churches

1. Transparency helps. Churches in low-income communities are almost always doing everything they can to help their members and communities with integrity.  Studies have found time and time again higher rates of generosity and service in lower-income communities. At the same time, it helps establish trust-- especially in relationships just starting-- to be honest and transparent about the needs and how the gifts were stewarded.  A testimony, a thank you, a story about impact can also really help build the long-term friendship.

2. Please be gracious as relationships build. Some giving churches and church members -- no matter how deeply well-intentioned their hearts are-- may say or do things that reflect some lack of understanding of the dynamics at work in your communities.   Be gracious in explaining or working with those who don’t have context or familiarity with the communities you serve.

3. Be open to new ideas. This is a remarkable moment in the history of the world.   Listen to what God is saying and how He might change our churches.  He might speak through our members, through ideas from other churches.   Be open to what the Spirit is doing!

4. Build long-term friendships. This moment can create new relationships, new friendships.  Use the moment to change the way that churches connect across economic, racial, and cultural lines.