Congregational Stewardship

Mike Bryant Turquoise fired wash basin and bowl

Creating a Narrative Spending Plan

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | February 15, 2016

How can we build a Narrative Spending Plan, or Narrative Budget? Church leaders and pastors are familiar with the process of establishing a line-item budget, but a Narrative Budget is done a different way. It starts by forming a small group of church leaders who are familiar with the church’s current ministries, including the pastor.…

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Churches on the Move

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | February 8, 2016

What a gift it is to meet and share with colleagues across the U.S. and Canada through the “Stewardship and Culture” online course! One of the topics in our most recent conference call was about churches that are not tied to a specific church building but are literally “on the move” in the community. One…

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What’s in a Box

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | February 4, 2016

Inspiration can come in some surprising forms. An article in the January-February 2016 issue of Smithsonian left a lump in my throat. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen archaeological finds in seminary, so I was pleased to see pictures of Galilean treasures unearthed in recent years. One item is particularly intriguing: a quartzite…

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Narrative Budget Twin Towers

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 30, 2016

TWIN TOWERS [XXX] CHURCH: How Our Tithes and Offerings Are Used to Make a Difference  Twin Towers [XXX] Church budget for 2008 is $237,744.  That equals $4572 per week.  In addition, we give to other ministries not included in the budget.  We have identified four categories that briefly describe our church activities and ministries.  Expenses for…

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Narrative Budget, XXX Church

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 30, 2016

A Narrative Budget for First [XXX]Church The children in our midst,                              the mission at our doorstep,                                                 a place of hospitality and grace.          A Narrative Budget is a description of the actual ministries that are under way at a church. It is a Mission-Driven Budget that asks the question, “What is the shape…

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GPS

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 25, 2016

Printed maps are mostly a thing of the past. These days, many people depend on their “GPS” – Global Positioning Satellite – to get to their destination, particularly if it’s to a place they’ve never been before. A lot of folks depend solely on their GPS for guidance anywhere. So I was intrigued when I…

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A Generous Eye

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 19, 2016

Jesus’ parable about the eye as the lamp of the body (Mt. 6:22-24) contrasts a healthy eye with an unhealthy one. The healthy eye illuminates the whole person, he says, whereas (as one commentator puts it) the unhealthy eye creates double vision, making the entire person “full of darkness.” Double vision – that’s a powerful…

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Discernment

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 11, 2016

The wild turkeys are a source of endless fascination for our two dogs, who see them almost daily on the morning version of our country walks. The younger dog is always on a leash, but the older one is voice trained, which usually holds even with wild animals. But coyotes are another matter. Both dogs…

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Stewardship and Culture course

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 9, 2016

I’m excited to be teaching an online course from mid-January to mid-February, 2016 on “Stewardship and Culture: Building Contagious Generosity.” Sponsored by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center and TransformingTheChurch.org, it features four audio-video presentations over four weeks with an interactive Class Forum. We’ll also hold three conference calls: one on Jan. 11 (to give a week…

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Top Ten Ways to Increase Giving in Your Church

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | January 2, 2016

With the New Year upon us, now is an excellent time to look at the overall strategies of your congregation to encourage generous giving. Thankfully we can build on learnings from the Spirituality and Giving Project, 1 which studied 1,157 churches of more than two dozen denominations about what motivates members to give, and what influences…

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