Let Your Light ShineSample

Nonprofit Christian ministries should excel in areas of serving, giving, and thanking. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. But gone should be the days of suits, meetings, and bulk ad buys to grow a ministry impact. Welcome to the season of giving, serving, inspiring, thanking, discipling, and impacting lives. 

Welcome to the season of simply letting your light shine and trusting Jesus for the outcome.

Who wouldn’t want to be a Christian growth producer right now?

Growing your ministry based on Jesus' principles includes the principle of reciprocity. It should be at the heart of what we do. 

This mindset should not be too difficult for Christian growth producers to adopt. It is similar to the spiritual truth in that a person can never “out-give” God (Luke 6:38) and it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). The principle of reciprocity innate in us as individuals makes it nearly impossible to out-give our donors, partners, volunteers, and potential donors.

I’m a “giver” by nature. My parents are “givers” by nature. I was raised in a giving and serving environment, so I grew up loving giving and saying thank-you. On the Love Languages scale, giving is 100 percent mine in showing love. I recall writing a thank-you note to my fifth grade teacher because she had given me a birthday card once, only to have her lean over and whisper, “Heather, you don’t have to write thank-you notes when you receive a card.” It just came natural to me, so I did it. But I had no idea these traits would one day lead me into the field of marketing. I, like most Christians, shunned the idea. But it is exactly these traits that work so well in today’s economy of authenticity. 

I remember learning this early on in missions. In the beginning, we didn’t have much money to spend so I would go to the Dollar Store and buy $1 gifts, write a handwritten note of thanks, and mail them to our handful of monthly supporters. Later on, I would be able to spend more than $1 so I would look for 75-percent-off sales and buy up merchandise in bulk, save it, and later send it to our supporters on their birthdays or special occasions. When we lived in Africa, buying $1 and $2 handmade items was possible at local markets. One year, I mailed over 200 wood and bead letter openers to our supporters with handwritten notes of thanks. I never considered any of this “marketing.” I did consider it as “manners” though.

What struck me over the years as we traveled and visited supporters (oftentimes they would be millionaires) is that I would see these little $1 and $5 gift items I had sent to them displayed in a prominent place in their homes. Now, of course they had the budget to afford something much nicer for themselves than my measly gift. But there is something deep within each of us that appreciates being given something we didn’t expect. And so, these small items that cost me little more than careful thought and planning and time to send became treasured items by so many people. The spiritual principle modeled by Paul must be our principle as marketers (Philippians 1:3-4).

Something as simple as a thank-you note can do the same. I’ll never forget walking into one of my Dallas Theological Seminary professor’s offices one day for a conversation and seeing a thank-you card I had given him over a year earlier displayed on his bookshelf. I carefully looked at the other shelves. It was the only card displayed. It struck me that it was probably the only card displayed because it was probably the only card received. What had seemed like a natural outpouring of gratitude to me to thank a professor following the completion of a course was apparently not as natural as I had thought. It made me sad thinking of all the students who neglected to demonstrate thanks. 

In today’s culture, authenticity is everything. That’s why this principle of reciprocity—this emphasis on serving those in your ministry channels and letting your light shine—is so critical that it must be done from a heart of ministry. If it’s done with a heart to grow your ministry only, it will be spotted quickly as inauthentic. By people, and by God. Examine and test your heart. Pray and ask God to remove any selfish ambition and then develop in you a greater heart of service. As you do these things, your marketing will become ministry and the return on your investment will come from God Himself (Deuteronomy 8:18).