Congregational Stewardship

Mike Bryant Turquoise fired wash basin and bowl

Dec. 3 Global Migration Sunday

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | November 28, 2017

This Sunday, December 3, will be a special Global Migration Sunday, to raise awareness, give support, and pray for refugees and migrants around the world. Whether due to human conflict, persecution, or natural disasters, more than 65 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. The United Nations Refugee Agency says that over 21…

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Faith-Based Budgeting, Part 2

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | November 21, 2017

“Faith-based budgeting” does not mean simply guessing at a projected income for our congregation next year, and then hoping to reach it! It involves two dimensions: Spending the church’s money according to priorities that model First Fruits Living and using the rest of the income in a specific order (see Faith-Based Budgeting, Part 1), and…

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Faith-Based Budgeting, Part 1

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | November 16, 2017

Many churches are confirming their budgets now for the year ahead, using the term “faith budget.” In my congregation that means the leaders include a percentage of projected income beyond pledges, to allow for loose-plate offerings, new givers, or second-mile giving. In most situations, it’s a realistic and encouraging thing to do. “Faith-based budgeting” is…

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For All the Saints

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | November 6, 2017

I tend to feel at home in worship at any church, whatever its denomination, but particularly so on All Saints Sunday. On that day we thank God for the faithful mentors and models who have gone before us. But yesterday I was especially grateful to be invited to my friends’ Episcopal church. Some aspects of…

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Move Over Millennials: The iGens Are Here

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | October 30, 2017

That’s right: move over, Millennials! Teens and their younger siblings (born between 1995 and 2012) are showing some very different attitudes and behaviors from their slightly older cousins.1 Psychologist Jean Twenge has analyzed four national mega-data surveys of 11 million teens since the 1960s, comparing this generation with the responses of Millennials, GenXers and older…

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Gratitude at Work

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | October 25, 2017

Thanks in large part to University of California at Davis professor Robert Emmons, the field of “Positive Psychology” has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 2000s.1 Positive Psychology is the scientific study of gratitude and its benefits, in fields ranging from anatomy to sociology, affecting both the quality and the length of a…

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Wildfire Rescuers

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | October 16, 2017

There have been so many natural disasters these recent months that it’s hard not to lose hope, even as we pray for the people and animals in harm’s way from fires, hurricanes, and floods. But I do see hope, in the response of so many rescuers – many of them strangers – who are coming…

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Asking for a Clean Heart

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | October 9, 2017

Individual, arbitrary violence has been mounting increasingly in random settings across the United States. The massacre in Las Vegas last week seems like the culmination, where the shooter had a whole line of automatic weapons set up and trained on an outdoor concert crowd, and set them off, one after another. All these events couldn’t…

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Care for the Land

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | October 3, 2017

Preparing for coming rains involves a lot on a farm or ranch, even when we don’t have to be useful harvesting crops. Dead limbs need to be taken down before winds allow them to fall on our animals or buildings; scattered branches should be picked up and gathered under tarps before rain or snow –…

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Helping Children to Forgive

By Betsy Schwarzentraub | September 25, 2017

Forgiving someone can be one of the greatest forms of giving. Writing about it in my new book, Growing Generous Souls, I’m reminded of how difficult it can be, but also how life-changing and rewarding it is for both the receiver and the giver. Above all, forgiveness is a process, and loads of studies have…

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