Recently I talked with a vicar who had run a Renewal of Giving without following it up with a promise card. She had preached. She had written articles. She had encouraged. It was all good. But I felt it was all a bit like going fishing without a hook.
You can get up early, drive to the river, set up all your tackle, plumb the depth, cast out, fish hard all day—and end up with nothing in the net. Human beings are very good—and I speak for myself—at putting decisions off. Or we file them into categories like “Too difficult to think about right now”, “To be made when I am less tired.” “To consider when I am not quite so busy.”
- Fish tend not to procrastinate.
- People are very good at it.
- We mean to do it— but we put it off.
- And in the end, it never gets done.
Unless we not only make a decision but write it down and send it to the treasurer, we now that nothing much will happen.
This year we are up against it in a way we have not been for many years. When Andrew stands up to give us the result, we want your card to be there. If there is one thing we have learned this year, it is that no one can say, “They won’t miss my gift.”