Growing Your Parish Financially and Spiritually

“The Church is the hope of the world, and the local parish is the hope of the Church,” says Tom Corcoran, co-author of ChurchMoney, a book that is part of the Rebuilt series. Tom’s experience in helping his own parish to be a thriving, vibrant community of faith inspired him, along with his pastor, Father Michael White, to help other parish communities throughout the world to experience the same renewal. Tom encourages parishes to develop a model of ministry and to invite other into that vision. Younger generations are less inclined to donate money to institutions, Tom notes, and so parishes need to shift the paradigm from supporting the Church to supporting ministry and mission. “People give to vision, and people give to people.” A renewed sense of discipleship will result in a renewed sense of stewardship.

“The way back to financial health in parishes is to start connecting the dots between money and following Jesus.” Tom has a plan for how parishes can raise givers, rather than just raise money. Since “money is a spiritual issue,” Tom stresses that raising givers begins with prayer as step one. He also notes that people will learn about money either from the culture with its emphasis on spending and saving, or from Scripture, which prioritizes giving and generosity. Frequent preaching on how often money is presented in Scripture, then, is crucial to a sound formation of Christian stewards. Giving may cause us to sacrifice parts of our lifestyle, but handing over what is dear to us—making a sacrifice—actually begets cheerfulness and joy. This is the central message that parishes must embrace, pray about, reflect on, and implement… to be brought closer to God requires us to imitate his generosity and freedom.

Guest: Tom Corcoran
Title: Author, Speaker, and Evangelist

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