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Fall, 2008: Stewardship
Jesus, receive our love and worship. Show us how to give you what we have,
for nothing is too big or small for us to offer, or for you to use. (Collect for Holy Week,
A New Zealand Prayer Book, 1989, p. 584)
Our church families, much like our households and loved ones, need to be cared for, nurtured and sometimes, repaired. Often, the rewards come later or in ways we never imaged. At times we give more than we (seem to) receive, and at others times we find ourselves on the receiving end, whether it is as the family in crisis, chair of the garden committee or the one charged with the annual Stewardship Campaign.
In this issue you will find creative ideas, spiritual insights, practical advice and even a few laughs to help you navigate the topic of stewardship.
Download the Fall, 2008 Print Edition in Adobe PDF format.
Click the links below to jump to the stories on this page.
- Eight Ways Congregations Raise Pledges
A Quick Survey for Finance Committees - A 10-Percent Solution
Reflections of stewardship lessons learned - Everyone Everywhere
From June 5-8, a group from the diocese representing several justice ministries attended Everyone Everywhere, a World Mission Conference of the Episcopal Church
Eight Ways Congregations Raise Pledges:
A Quick Survey for Finance Committees
By Perry Bell
Here are the options local churches can choose among when they carry out their finance drives each year. (Note that these are properly called "finance drives" not "stewardship drives." Many programs of "stewardship" have narrowed to become financial drives or even gimmicks to try to get people to give more money for particular causes. Far from being exempt from criticism in this regard, the church is among the chief offenders.)
Though every year "new programs" are offered, there are really only a few ways to raise funds. Here is a simple way to evaluate the eight basic methods
- The Faith-Promise Plan stresses the divine-human dimension of financial commitment rather than loyalty to the church or its mission. Members are not asked to submit commitments or estimates of what they will give, instead, they are asked to make undisclosed faith-promises of the amount they will strive to give as their lives are blessed. Names do not appear on faith-promise cards, only amounts. As a separate act of commitment, each member is asked to submit a card that does have a name on it, indicating that a faith-promise has been made. With this information, a committee is able to follow up with those who did not respond and have some confirmation of anticipated income. The faith-promise plan is low on both scales. It saves time, planning and money, and it assures confidentiality. It appeals to the best in members and can motivate some people to grow toward the habit of pledging without much call for commitment. This approach reaches only highly committed members. Since no binding commitments are made, it is difficult for congregations to set goals and budgets.
- The Cottage Meeting Plan depends on enlisting each member to attend a meeting in someone's home. At each meeting, a carefully trained team of leaders makes a presentation highlighting a proposed program. The small group meetings are often held simultaneously to give them a dramatic appeal. Commitments are often requested during the meetings, but can be made later at a worship service. The cottage meeting plan is low in monetary commitment, but very high in people commitment. You will need to recruit several people to host and extend invitations to the meetings and a significant proportion of the congregation must attend. Because people are organized into geographical or interest groupings, interest is generated, fellowship is strengthened, and people engage with one another. On the cost side, the plan is time consuming, requiring careful organization and training. It is often difficult for large congregations to organize. Sometimes, negative voices can emerge and dominate a meeting. Extensive follow-up is also required.
- Loyalty Sunday concentrates on a single 24-hour period when every member of the congregation is expected to participate in a highly charged worship service when commitments are received. In the evening, a victory dinner is held. An outside guest leader is often recruited to lead these events. The main energies of the congregation are directed toward promoting a very large attendance for loyalty Sunday. Loyalty Sunday requires little time, training, calling or investment in materials. Featuring a single, effective presentation, this approach can also be combined with other approaches. There are several drawbacks. There is little opportunity for dialogue. Loyalty Sunday reaches only those in attendance, tending to miss shut-ins, nonresidents, or fringe members. The extensive follow-up required generally places a heavy burden on a few people.
- The Congregational Dinner is similar to Loyalty Sunday except that all the energies are directed toward making one dinner the big event of the year. An outstanding presentation is prepared, usually by the top leadership of the church. Commitments are seldom received at the dinner, but are presented at a worship service later. A congregational dinner plan provides face-to-face contact, requires little time, and costs little for materials. The dinner itself can be self-supporting. It can make good use of audio-visuals and does strengthen fellowship. It does not reach shut-ins or uncommitted members.
- Personal Delivery is a generic name for several kinds of programs such as Circuit Rider, Pony Express, Run for the Roses, Turkey Trot and others. It involves organizing the congregation into several chains or trails or families. The first family is to call on the second and deliver a packet of materials including commitment cards. The second family calls on the third, and so on until the chain is complete. The signed commitment cards are usually returned in the packets. Occasionally, they are presented later at a worship service. Personal delivery programs involve a large number of people, though little training and little time is required of each one. They highlight confidentiality and are often fun, stimulating a creative, playful spirit. They often reach uncommitted members. Monetary cost can range from low to moderate, depending upon whether a canned program is used or not and how many gimmicks are purchased. There are limitations: the delivery system can break down, the process can become more important than the objective, the process affords little dialogue about the work of the church and little opportunity for stewardship education.
- Effective Mail Appeals depend on a series of carefully written letters sent to every member of the congregation over a period of several weeks. A final letter includes a commitment card to be mailed or brought back to the church. Some of the letters can be handwritten and/or written to specific members. The program may also involve personal calls on those who do not respond. The mail appeal requires little time, leadership or training. It does give some people opportunities to use their creativity. It is non-confrontational. Financial costs are low to moderate, with postage and secretarial help being the largest costs. These programs lack face-to-face dialogue, so the materials being mailed must be top quality. They also resemble secular appeals for funds, and they lack an efficient way to receive commitments.
- Telephone Appeals are similar to mail appeals except that contact is made by telephone. Callers must be carefully trained to make effective presentations. The plan works best when the callers have access to a bank of telephones and also to leaders who are familiar with church program and administration. Commitments are made during the telephone conversation and verified by mail. This method is low in financial cost and requires little time except for the callers who must be adequately trained. It does give opportunity for questions, answers, and the expression of feelings. Unless materials are distributed beforehand, it is difficult for callers to refer to them. Confidentiality is sacrificed, and the whole family is not involved. The method smacks of business solicitations and calls can be easily terminated.
- The Every Member Visitation is a plan to make personal contact with all members of the congregation in their homes. It involves training callers to make careful presentations on Christian stewardship, noting congregational dreams and goals. Since each two-person team is expected to make only five or six calls, extensive recruiting and careful training of callers is required. Commitments may be received by the caller or presented at a worship service later. The every member visitation is a plan that demands high people involvement, includes all church members (except nonresidents), provides for face-to-face discussion, is effective in achieving congregational goals, allows for personal growth and acceptance, is a starting point for stewardship education, involves the total congregation, and includes needed follow-up. The main limitations are the large number of callers needed and the fact that calls are often interpreted as simply requests for money.
There are many variations of these methods, but these eight programs are the basic ways of carrying out finance drives.
Occasionally, new gimmicks are tried. Some churches program individual giving from previous years into a computer along with the budget increase, producing a number that is suggested as that person's or family's fair share for the next budget year. Programs such as "Budget Share" use modern technology such as computers to provide the materials that are then used in one of the programs outlined above.
Reprinted from www.episcopalchurch.org. From Action Information, Volume XVII, No. 4, July/August 1991, pp. 10–11. At the time this article was written, Perry Bell was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Waupaca, Wis.
A 10-Percent Solution
Reflections of stewardship lessons learned
By the Rev. Stewart Lucas
From as far back as I can remember I can see my father putting a check in the offering plate each Sunday. It was just what you were supposed to do, and he did it every week. I remember sitting in the back pew and taking Mrs. Reddick’s offering envelope every week and putting it in the plate because she sang in the choir, and the plate didn’t come by her. Giving was just something we all did. It was natural. It was right.
In my earliest days, before I could read and write, my parents gave me a dime or a quarter to put in the offering plate. This action got my brother and me into the habit of giving every week. Some times we took it to Wee Church for our own offering there.
I guess about the time I began to write that I also began to get offering envelopes. I remember getting a dollar and a stick of Wrigley’s spearmint gum every Saturday afternoon from my maternal grandmother. That was my only allowance. At pledge-card time in our parish, my parents would get me a card and we would take it home and talk about how much I would give every week. They explained to me that the normal expectation was 10 percent. So I pledged 10 cents every Sunday. Each Saturday night I would put one of my dimes in one of my envelopes, tape it shut, and write my name on the front of it.
Ideally all parents in our churches would educate their children in this way. Because of what my parents showed me by their actions and because they urged me to give 10 percent, I am now a dedicated steward of my money to the church. As I grew up at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Macon, Georgia, I continued to give out of what money I made from chores or mowing lawns. I continued to give even throughout college in addition to giving to my college chaplaincy and parish there.
Towards the end of my college career an old friend of the family passed away. I was fortunate enough to inherit some money from her. I remember being, and still am, very excited about being able to give away 10 percent of that. There was just no question in my mind that I was going to do that. It took me a few years to actually let go of it, but it was so much fun. And the amazing part of it was that I could literally count the money coming back to me. I received unexpected checks from scholarship applications I had long since forgotten. My investments have given it back two- or three-fold. God is like that.
I have been given a great deal in my life both tangibly and intangibly. God expects great things from me in the future. I always strive to give 10 percent of my income back to the church off of the top. It is not easy. We have to make sacrifices. But if as clergy we are going to encourage our parishioners, then shouldn’t they see us put our offering in the plate as well?
Luke 12:48 says, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” That verse scares me because that means God has a great deal in store for me and for you. It is a lesson we need to teach our children by word and by example. We have our work cut out for us, and in our communities, we will do it all together.
The Rev. T. Stewart Lucas is associate rector at St. Margaret’s Church in Annapolis. He has been in the Diocese of Maryland since 2001.
Everyone Everywhere
By the Rev. Madeleine Beard
From June 5-8, a group from the diocese representing several justice ministries attended Everyone Everywhere, a World Mission Conference of the Episcopal Church held at the Maritime Center outside Baltimore. What a wonderful opportunity to learn about the church's work in building and maintaining relationships with others around the world. It was an opportunity for us not only to learn what the church is doing but also to share resources and stories of mission work around the world and within our dioceses.
Several things stand out from the conference. First was the opening Eucharist celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Eugene T. Sutton, who was at the time bishop-elect of Maryland. The dynamic music was led by the St. Camillus Multicultural Choir.
The Rev. Mike Kinman, head of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, preached the sermon calling on attendees to conversion to vulnerability and liberation; a conversion in which we "hold nothing back...live not just for our sisters and brothers in extreme poverty but live as they do, trusting in the providence of God who has promised us not riches, not success, not fame, but only that we need not fear."
The first plenary address by Professor Steve de Gruchy, director of theology and development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was a reflection on interconnectedness of all humanity by global events, global happenings, global communications and technology, and global economy. But this interconnectedness, de Gruchy stated, is not always benign; it does not affect or include everyone everywhere equally. He went on to explain that it is constructed so the wealthy increase their wealth and the poor become more impoverished. Women and children are especially affected by this construction. The interconnectedness is shaped by history – by the history of the western colonization and slavery – and by the remnants of the history.
As Christians we see our connections as mission. de Gruchy said that is incorrect. "Mission is not about connecting; it is about transforming that connectedness. We have to recognize that we are already connected. And any missionary activity is played out on a stage that has already been set. Its task and its challenge is to transform that connection so that it is bent towards the connectedness that is at the heart of our faith."
There were additional speakers, all of whom were interesting. There were workshops on diverse subjects from water resources to human trafficking. We divided into small groups to discuss in depth the plenary addresses, sermon, and workshop learnings. Plenary addresses, Mike+Kinman's sermon, slide presentations and additional information are online at www.ee08.org.
The Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation met during the conference and discussed the June 24 Bishops' March for the Millennium Development Goals while at the Lambeth Conference and brainstormed how to encourage individuals and congregations to join the Bishops. We came up with a Virtual March for the MDGs to coincide with the Lambeth Conference walk.
Here in Maryland we actively seek ways to connect better with others around the world. The Diocese supports MDG work in Ghana, Panama, Honduras, Kenya and South Africa through grants, giving 0.7% of budget to this work. We encourage congregations in their connections. But there is more we can do.
We can practice connected stewardship. Stewardship includes smart giving; giving for sustainable development. It also includes advocacy, insisting that the church continue to support the ONE Campaign and that the federal government keep its promises to fund the Millennium Challenge Account and develop trade policies that do not keep impoverished people in poverty.
When we pray the prayers of the people every Sunday we can remember mission, ministry and the whole human family, praying that God, who made us in his own image and redeemed us through Jesus, look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite everyone everywhere in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish his purposes on earth; that in good time, everyone everywhere may serve him in harmony.
The Rev. Madeleine Beard attended Everyone Everywhere as a member of the Global Mission MDG Committee and as co-chair of the MD Episcopal Public Policy Network.