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David W. Moore |
There are about 400,000 local churches in America. But when you hear of planned giving and when you hear of charitable trusts and bequests, the local church is seldom mentioned.
It is our observation that no entity in America is passed over more than the local church. Universities, museums, hospitals, and so on, receive planned gifts. The multiple billions of dollars in places like Harvard and Princeton are predominantly funded by planned giving. But, somehow, the local church doesn’t seem to participate.
And yet, the church is uniquely positioned to benefit from planned giving that resources ministry by providing guidance and information to members on stewarding their estate. Giving to the church through their estate is a natural outcome. When the topic is addressed, members merely extend the same stewardship principles to their estate as they exercise during lifetime.
The Arkansas Baptist Foundation and PhilanthroCorp (a national Christ-centered estate planning firm) have developed a solution. It is a simple planned giving program that is a great service and ministry to your members. It is extremely easy to administer. You need no planned giving expertise at the church. You just need someone to dedicate three to four hours a month. The program is effective in both producing planned gifts and in serving your members. Perhaps best of all it is affordable. It provides a solution for all churches, large and small.
This program is affordable for all our churches. I would encourage everyone to register to receive more information, or learn more by exploring this section of our website.