Fishing from the Other Side of the Boat

Do you ever get stuck in a routine that feels productive, but when you stop to look you realize you’re not actually getting results? There’s a story in the Bible that captures this very struggle. In John 21: 3-6 we read about Jesus’ disciples going out for a night of fishing. All night they cast out and hauled in their nets only to come ashore in the morning with no catch to show for it. Not a single fish. When Jesus saw the disciples approaching the beach, he essentially asked them, “How’s that working for you?” Of course it wasn’t working at all. Jesus offered them a solution, to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. The disciples did it begrudgingly and miraculously caught so many fish they couldn’t even haul in the nets! This was their greatest catch ever.

It’s easy for us to get stuck in our giving like the disciples were stuck after a long night of fishing. We do the same thing over and over because that’s what we know, yet we feel like we’re not getting results. We mindlessly set up automatic contributions to our church or other ministries, we bid on silent auctions at fundraisers, participate in seasonal drives like donating school supplies every fall, or default to writing a check when giving of our time may be more valuable. Oftentimes we become stuck in these routines, and our giving feels stale. However, like the disciples discovered after casting their nets on the other side of the boat, sometimes to get better results we only have to do what we’ve always been doing just a little differently.

There are a lot of ways we can achieve better results when we approach our giving in this manner. Consider just a few examples of how we can “fish from the other side of the boat” with our giving:

• Designating a ministry as a beneficiary to a retirement account or life insurance policy.
• Leaving a gift to a local church as a bequest in a will.
• Donating stock investments to a charity.
• Distributing an inheritance to a child while living to experience it together.
• Serving out of spiritual gifts instead of natural abilities.
• Giving sacrificially.
• Compound giving by including others.

If you want any help “fishing from the other side of the boat” with your generosity, this is why we’re here! Dynamis Ministries has been guiding individuals and couples through an originally designed Generosity Plan process, and the results have been exciting. Participants have experienced more joy and greater impact in their giving by implementing some of these strategies listed above. Couples have enriched their marriages by engaging in new conversations and participating in joint generosity events. Ministries and churches have been recipients of significant gifts that couldn’t have been realized if givers didn’t try giving in new ways.

We invite you to join this exciting movement by experiencing the Generosity Plan process for yourself! To learn more about it or to embark on the journey, get in touch with our lead Generosity Coach, Ben Berg, at ben@dynamisministries.org

Photo by Fredrik Öhlander