Ministry of all god’s people

1. Teaching and Addressing StewardshipChrist-the-King Church, WillingboroMay 2, 2009 with Canon Lee Powers“Forming a Stewardship Committeeand Planning Events”

2. Ministry of all god’s people “Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. . . . The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. . . .”

3. Promoting bodily growth “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:7,11-16)

4. Mission of the Church Question: What is the mission of the Church? Answer: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Question: Through whom does the Church carry out its mission? Answer: The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.

5. Ministry of all the baptized Question: What is the ministry of the laity? Answer: The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.

6. The duty of all Christians Question: What is the duty of all Christians? Answer: The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.

7. “People give to a vision, not a need!” From Rick Warren’s book: “Purpose Drive Church” “Experience tells us that it is fruitless to call people to the practice of Christian stewardship until we have first called them to surrender their lives to God in Christ.” (Practicing Year Round Stewardship, page 10) Vision of a mission

8. Forming a Stewardship Committee When seeking to form a Stewardship Committee in a congregation, it is important to find people who have spiritual maturity and who are committed to Christ and the building up of the body of Christ, the Church.

9. How big should the committee be? - More is better. More energy, more gifts, more people learning by teaching. • Enough people to share in learning anew, designing and doing, and teaching the new people for the future. - Three year commitments allows people to work at all three stages without burning out.

10. Tasks of the Committee • Teaching: from God’s word the basic principles of stewardship of time, talent and treasure. • Communication: developing a format of communicating the teaching to the whole congregation. - Organizing: designing a stewardship program that is engaging, that challenges people to be faithful, and reaches everyone.

11. Task 1 - Teaching Start with the Word of God. Freely use what I presented this morning, and add to it from your own Bible study. There are many good resources made available from the Office of Stewardship of the Episcopal Church. Don’t be afraid to look at resources from other churches and Christian organizations.

12. Task 2 - Communication Developing a format to communicate the stewardship message to the whole congregation is a challenge that calls for real imagination. An “Annual Letter from the Rector,” while informative, rarely motivates people to think deeply and review their own commitment level. One means of communication can be the use of a Parish Photo and Dreams Album.

13. Parish Photo Album To enhance our Stewardship Campaign in 1991, we decided to produce a Parish Family Album of Photos and our Dreams. This helped people have a fuller view of life at our parish, and to combine our dreams and theirs.

14. Sections and Instructions

15. Community: envisioned and lived

16. “Our life together”

17. Ministry: here and there

18. Dreams for our Future Rick Warren stated that, “People give to a vision, not to a need.” Expressing your dreams for the future of the parish, and inviting people to share their dreams, enables them to form a vision.

19. Dreams of the heart We asked everyone who read through the photo albums to share with us their dreams. Some were simple, some were personal. Hearing from the people of the parish is very important!

20. Parish Finances The ability of the parish to meet its dreams for the future depends upon the faithful stewardship of all its members. A simple presentation of the current financial state of the parish helps people see what can be accomplished by greater participation in faithful stewardship.

21. Revenue growing but not keeping pace: (000s) Rev. Exp. Deficit 1987 $69 $79 $10 $87 $94 $ 7 $101 $108 $ 7 $107 $118 $11 $114 $134 $20 We presented a plan to eliminate the deficit: 1990 support as follows: 77 of 200 households Median giving a week: 42 single/retired $6 35 double income $12 Asked all below those levels to try and reach that level, and those above to raise by at least 5%. If everyone did, we would eliminate the deficit. “Meeting The Challenge”

22. Results of 1991 Campaign The report of our parish financial secretary showed that we now had a 75% participation and a 30%+ increase in support for the ministry of the parish! “Estimate of giving” rose from $68,000 to $90,000. Enough to close the $20,000 deficit! Before, only 1/3 households returned a pledge. Capital Campaign began!

23. Task 3 - Organizing The overall task of organizing deals with a plan for designing a stewardship program that is engaging, that challenges people to be faithful, and reaches everyone. Many approaches were tried: Every Member Canvas, Mailings with brochures, Cottage Meetings, “Pony Express.”

24. Planning for the Year With a Stewardship Committee in place, we began to plan for future years, with the goal of having variety of programs while staying faithful to the Word of God. The Pony Express program was adopted for the format for the next few years, but we would improve and vary communications, and try to contact the whole parish several times each year.

25. Year Round Communication Goals of communication were as follows: • Develop a “Phone Tree” that would enable this communication to serve as a basis for the Pony Express trails. • Keep all our contact info up to date. • Contact all members periodically to ask about their prayer needs. • “Welcome Back Sunday” in September.

26. Parish Phone Tree Trail Boss 1 ___________ Captain ________ Captain __________ Captain __________ Captain ________ Caller _________ Caller ___________ Caller __________ Caller ________ Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Caller _________ Caller ___________ Caller __________ Caller ________ Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Caller _________ Caller ___________ Caller __________ Caller ________ Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Caller _________ Caller ___________ Caller __________ Caller ________ Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household Household

27. “Welcome Back Sunday” The first Sunday after Labor Day became known as “Welcome Back Sunday.” The Stewardship Committee hosted a brunch between services, invited all the ministry leaders to set up registration tables, let each leader offer a two minute commercial and then the Stewardship Committee chairperson told everyone about the format for this year’s campaign.

28. Organizing Challenge: Variety We developed several formats for each Fall: 1993 – “Sowing the Seeds of the Future” – included a booklet of member’s testimonies. 1995 – “Pony Express” with video (you can view video at) http://newjersey.anglican.org/stewardship/indexa.html 1997 – 39 volunteers distributed bread and materials to all households. 1998 – 12 Cottage Meetings in homes. Plate and Pledge grew 50%+ from 1993 to 1998 while also giving over $200,000 for restoration!

29. Sources for Resources “Network” kit ($149.99), Bruce Bugbee, Don Cousins – resource to discern people’s passion, spiritual gifts and personal style for a good ministry fit. www.zondervan.com “Pony Express” – from Stewardship Resources Inc. 1-800-234-5844, www.stewardshipresources.com “Channing L. Bete” – scriptographic booklets (get catalog) 1-800-628-7733 www.channing-bete.com

30. Episcopal Church resources Resources from the Episcopal Church Stewardship Office: www.episcopalchurch.org/stewardship.htm (get catalog) “Finding Hope in Hard Times; Seven Spiritual Practices: A Faithful Stewards Guide” (2009 – can download or order) “Planning Year Round Stewardship” Carson, Reed (1986) “A Time for Vision: A Stewardship Handbook for Vestries” Bonner, Schadt 1989 “What a Modern Christian Thinks About Tithing” Bp. Stough “Tithing: A Habit to Mend the Heart” Bp. Aldan Hathaway “Tithing: The Heart of the Matter” Bp. Francis C. Gray From Church Publishing at www.cpg.org – “Transforming Stewardship” by the Rev. Canon C. K. Robertson The Episcopal Network for Stewardship – http://tens.org (get catalog) Episcopal Church Foundation – www.EpiscopalFoundation.org