Blog · August 20, 2026

The theology of giving — your need is not an embarrassment

Do you flinch when you have to ask for support? Most ministry leaders do. A paradigm shift in three parts — and why not asking may be costing the people around you something they actually want.

By Nathan Slafter, Executive Director

There's a moment almost every ministry leader knows. You're about to share the need — the campaign, the trip, the shortfall — and something in you pulls back. You soften the ask. You bury it at the end of the update. You wonder whether you're becoming a burden to the people who already give you their attention.

I've had that conversation with a lot of charities and a lot of people raising funds, and the same thing surfaces almost every time. It isn't a strategy problem. It's a paradigm — and it only needs a small shift.

Here's the shift: it is not a burden to give. And when you hesitate to ask, you may be withholding something the people around you genuinely want.

One. Generosity blesses two people

We tend to picture generosity as a one-way transfer: the giver has, the receiver needs, and something moves between them. Scripture describes something else entirely.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. That's not a consolation prize for the person writing the check — it's a statement about where the deeper blessing actually lands. Giving does something in the giver that receiving cannot do.

Which means that when you invite someone into your mission, you aren't taking from them. You're handing them an honor. The need you're carrying is the doorway to a blessing they can't get any other way.

Two. You're offering partnership, not asking a favor

Most of the people in your circle will never stand where you stand. They won't experience ministry the way you've experienced it. They aren't called to the pulpit or the mission field, and they know it.

But they are called to be stewards. And stewardship was never about ten percent — it's the recognition that all of it is His. The question isn't how much they're required to give; it's what they're meant to do with what they've been trusted with.

When you let people know where they can partner with you, you let them stand in the gap. You make them an extension of the work. Their time, their talent, their treasure gets folded into something they could not have built alone — and something you could not have carried alone either.

This is the leaven principle. A little worked through the whole batch changes everything it touches. Partnership multiplies; it doesn't divide. A rising tide raises every ship in the harbor.

Three. People want to be asked

Here's the finding that surprises almost everyone I share it with.

If you want to build community in a neighborhood, one of the most effective things you can do is help your neighbors. That's the second-best way. The single most effective way to build friendship and community is to ask your neighbors for help.

Why would asking outrank giving? Because people love to help. It's how we're made. What stops most people isn't unwillingness — it's that they don't know how, or where, or whether their help would actually be wanted.

Paul described churches that were begging for the chance to participate in what God was doing. Not reluctant donors to be persuaded. People pleading for a share in the work.

When you share your campaign, your mission, your need — you're not extracting something. You're answering a question people didn't know how to ask.

The shift

So here it is, plainly. When you ask, you are offering a benefit.

And when you don't ask, you're robbing people of the pleasure of partnering with you — of joining what God is doing on the earth, and of the reward that comes with it. Silence feels humble. It usually isn't. It just quietly makes the decision on someone else's behalf.

Your need is not an embarrassment. It's an opportunity. It's an invitation.

So let people know where they can partner with you. Tell them plainly, without flinching. Generosity is a gateway for the Gospel — and every honest invitation opens it a little wider.

Video transcript

We are going to be discussing a paradigm shift. My name is Nathan Slafter, I'm the executive director of GiveSendGo Charities. At GiveSendGo Charities, our mission is to share the hope of Jesus through generosity. And we do that in a number of ways, including the mobilization of everyday givers — everyday heroes — into a generosity movement, to really be the crowd for the crowdless.

We talk a lot to different charities or people raising funds, and there's often a paradigm that just needs to be tweaked — really just needs to be shifted. When it comes to supporting your ministry: do you flinch? Do you hesitate when asking for help? Do you feel like you're a burden?

In many scenarios, a lot of the ministries and nonprofits we talk to don't realize that it is not a burden to give. And in fact, there are incredible opportunities that you as a ministry partner, you as a ministry leader, can have for your network.

So here's the shift. We're going to talk about three key points. The first one is the paradigm that generosity actually blesses two people: it blesses the recipient, and it blesses the giver. In fact, the Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive. So it's really an honor to be able to support those in need, and an honor to give — especially when you're sharing your ministry and your mission with your peers, your friends, your family, your associates, those next to you.

An opportunity to partner with you is really the second. Most people will never know where you stand. They will never experience ministry the way that you've experienced it. Most people aren't called to the pulpit or to the mission field. What they are called to is to be stewards — and stewardship doesn't mean 10%, it means it's all His.

The beautiful thing is, when you let other people know that there are opportunities to partner with you, it lets them stand in the gap. It lets them actually be in the same place that you are, and be an extension. This is a little bit of what we talk about in Proverbs — you know, your leaven, you go to culture and you change culture. By partnering with you, other people get to contribute their leaven — their time, their talent, their treasure — into what you're doing. And we see multiplication effects. Really, a rising tide raises all ships.

The third is that people want to be asked. Did you know that statistically, the second best way to build community in a neighborhood is to give, is to be a help for others? And do you know statistically what the number one way to build community, to build friendships in your environment is? It's to ask for help.

Why? Because people love to give. People love to help. Oftentimes they just don't know how, or where, or how to partner. What you're doing when you're serving a GiveSendGo campaign and sharing your ministry opportunities is providing people an opportunity to partner with you — and giving them an opportunity to help. Even Paul mentioned in Corinthians that the church was begging to help him. I want you to carry that same perspective.

So here it is: when you're asking, it's a benefit. And if you're not asking, you're actually robbing people of the pleasure and the opportunity to partner with your ministry — to partner with what God is doing on the earth. You're robbing people of a potential reward.

So I want to invite you to shift this paradigm, to recognize it is more blessed to give than to receive. What an amazing invitation that you can give to others, that you can share with others — to partner with you, to give with you, into your ministry, into your mission field.

Your need is not an embarrassment. It's really an opportunity. It's an invitation. Let people know where they can partner with you — because generosity truly is a gateway for the Gospel.

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