Congregational Stewardship
Help for Talking About Money
Stewardship professionals and bloggers can be a great help to a lot of folks on the front lines of ministry – not only sharing their knowledge, but also giving courage and inspiration for our daily work. Rebekah Basinger is one of those people for me, through her site, www.generousmatters.com. For example, she wrote a piece…
Read MoreThe Commitment Circle
Ever since first learning about the “Commitment Circle” from the Center for Parish Development,1 I’ve been delighted to present it to local church leaders. It helps us understand different levels of involvement in the church at different points of people’s lives, without laying guilt on other people or ourselves for not getting everyone involved. Based…
Read MoreComponents for Creating a Culture of Generosity
Developing a Strategic Plan — Notes from a presentation by Michael Reeves What are the components of creating a culture of generosity? 1. Clear statement of what you believe – This includes both your mission statement and your financial support [See “Attributes of a Biblically Generous Church”] 2. Leadership – Lay and professional; Boards; Wealth + Wisdom + Work; Define reality and…
Read MoreRallying Stories and More
This week I relished listening to Rebekah Burch Basinger in this month’s “Author Chat” done by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center. 1 She is the co-author of the classic, Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry. Part of her conversation was about what it would mean for abundance to be the stewardship model in people’s lives,…
Read MoreDimensions of Stewardship
Stewardship is the way we manage all that God has entrusted to us. Which stewardship dimensions are strengths in your church? In which areas would you like to grow? What would you want to teach? Stewardship of Lifestyle and of the Environment Caring for the earth and all creatures; finding a balance between work and…
Read More“Stewardship and Culture” course
I’m excited to teach an online course on “Stewardship and Culture: Building Contagious Generosity” this next Jan. 9 through Feb. 11. Registration will be open beginning in December at transformingthechurch.org. The class will feature four audio-video presentations, an interactive online Class Forum, and four weekly live conference calls on Saturdays, Jan. 21 and 28 and…
Read MoreWays to Share Your Narrative Budget++
Spread your good news! Plan the strategy for sharing your congregation’s narrative budget over the year. Consider any of the following ways of telling or sharing your good news: Use posters and bulletin inserts that proclaim the ministry. Highlight one ministry area a month, or feature a ministry area in weekly bulletins. Have first-hand testimonials…
Read MoreCreating a Narrative Spending Plan
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.…
Read MoreNarrative Budget Twin Towers
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…
Read MoreNarrative Budget, XXX Church
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…
Read MoreStewardship and Culture course
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…
Read MoreSpiritGifts resource
This fall is an excellent time to acknowledge and affirm individuals’ spiritual gifts, with church leaders in new positions preparing to serve next year in ministry roles. When it comes to spiritual-gifts resources, the best book I’ve found is Patricia D. Brown’s SpiritGifts. The practical part is that it’s about not only gifts discovery, but…
Read MoreAnother Take on the Three Ts
When it comes to giving (no, not just money), one message I’ve shared for some years is this: Focus not only on our response, not even on the gifts we’ve been given, but on God, the generous Giver. Yes, that’s true, to get the authentic, deep-down context for generous-hearted living. But at some point it’s…
Read More“Live Free” Program
Written for the CA-NV United Methodist Conference Instant Connection, 7/30/2015 Live Free, the 2015 issue of Giving magazine from the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (ESC), is now available. The center section, written by California-Nevada Conference minister, the Rev. Betsy Schwarzentraub, is the leader’s guide for a four-week worship emphasis on holistic stewardship that also helps fund…
Read MoreLocal Church Stewardship Plan Guideline
Written for the CA-NV United Methodist Conference Instant Connection, 7/30/2015 The 2012-2016 U.M. Guideline, Stewardship: Nurturing Generous Living, is now available. This nuts-and-bolts booklet, written by the Rev. Betsy Schwarzentraub, former California-Nevada Conference Director of Stewardship, is written for a local church stewardship team to build a generosity plan for the congregation. The forty-page booklet…
Read More