"The Spirituality of Fundraising"

adapted from a talk given by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Preface
Like many of us, Henri’s vision began with the notion of fund-raising “as a necessary but unpleasant activity to support spiritual things.” > “Fund-raising is as spiritual as giving a sermon, entering a time of prayer, visiting the sick, or feeding the hungry!”

Like Ryan said: “Fund-raising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.”

www.HenriNouwen.org

Body
(1) Make love your aim - 1 Corinthians 14:1

• Vision and mission are so central to the life of God’s people that without vision we perish and without mission we lose our way (Prov. 29:18; 2 Kings 21:1-9)
• Our invitation is clear and confident because we trust that our vision and mission are like “trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither” (Ps. 1:3).
• how fundraising involves conversion, both on the part of the one asking and the one being asked > To be converted means to experience a deep shift in how we see and think and act = inviting people in a new way pf relating to their resources
  

(2) Helping the Kingdom Come About

• The Kingdom is where God provides for all that we need > Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
• To set our hearts on the kingdom therefore means to make the life of the Spirit within and among us the center of all we think, say, or do.
• So when we give ourselves to planting and nurturing love here on earth, our efforts will reach out beyond our own chronological existence.
  

(3) Our Security Base

• talking about money as taboo > reasons that this is so because money is seen as a sense of security today
  
• idea that "nothing bad can really happen to you" if you have $ in the bank
• Jesus knows this connection, that people place their trust and hope in things that do not provide security > Matt 6:19-21 “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too”
  
• “No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money” Luke 16:13
• “Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves” Proverbs 11:28

(4) People Who Are Rich

• how our concern and God's outright love for the poor may feed prejudices regarding the rich...in fact, rich are also poor, but in other ways
  
• story of the rich banker that supported Henri > "Through the poverty of the rich
  man something very much of the Kingdom developed." = love & a real relationship
• how we must minister to the rich in our own place of wealth = spiritually
• loving the rich for who they are, not what they have > and believing that we also have something very valuable to give
  
• ....but what about asking those who do not have much financially? Could always use prayer and how small donations, small displays of generosity in fact multiply (Matt 14:13-21, when Jesus feeds the 5,000)
  

(5) Asking

• Take away the many fears, suspicions, and doubts by which I prevent you from being my Lord, and give me the courage and freedom to appear naked and vulnerable in the light of your presence, confident in your unfathomable mercy. A Cry for Mercy
• Asking people for money is giving them the opportunity to put their resources at the disposal of the Kingdom > placing an investment in God's work

(6) A New Communion

• People have such a need for friendship and for community that fundraising has to be community-building.
• Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Bread for the Journey
• Just as the work of building the community of love asks us to be converted in our attitude toward money, so also this same activity invites each of us to greater faithfulness to our personal call, our unique vocation.

(7) Prayer and Gratitude

• Gratitude flows from the recognition that who we are and what we have are gifts to be received and shared > through prayer we can reach such gratitude
• fund-raising as grounded in prayer and undertaken in gratitude

((8) Your Kingdom Come, 1 Cor 13:8 - Love never fails.