Seventh-day Adventist Church

2003 NAB Offering Call

“Becoming Faithful Stewards”

WORK SMART

Do you know what the 80:20 rule is? It was developed by Vilfredo Pareto, a 19th Century Italian economist and sociologist. Simply put, the rule states that 80 percent of our results come from 20 percent of our efforts. Conversely, it means that 80 percent of our efforts have very little value.

History has many examples of this 80:20 principle. Take for example the close presidential race between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Richard Nixon, early in his campaign, had stated that he would visit every state in the Union. On the last week before the elections he and his staff realized that he had not visited three of the fifty states. Hence, he spent his last week visiting those three states that had only one or two votes in the electoral college. John Kennedy on the other hand made final campaign stops in the larger states of New York and California where there was a large number of votes in the Electoral College. Consequently John F Kennedy won by reversing the 8 0:20 rule, putting all of his effort into the states they would give him the best results on election day.

This rule unfortunately also applies to church giving. According to the latest information concerning church giving in the North American Division, currently only 20 percent of total membership {or 3 0-40 percent if you base it on active church members) faithfully give to the local church budget. What a difference it would make if the 20 percent of our church members who currently support the local congregational needs were increased to 80 percent.

Appeal text: “This is why I was sent here. I must do God’s work while I can, because my time will be up. The night is coming when no one can work.” [John 9:4 TCW]