Mission Statement:
To help our parishes use their gifts for God's purposes
and to raise the standard of giving to the Biblical tithe. To fulfill
our mission we provide resources for worship, prayer, education and
witness.
Description:
The committee has formed and trained a group of stewardship
consultants to work with the parishes of the diocese, who work with
the definition:
Stewardship is what we do after we say, "I
believe."
This working definition is inclusive enough to bring
all of who and what we are as Christians into consideration, but also
challenging enough to call for action from our reflections.
Stewardship Partners
- a Diocesan Ministry Team
Related sites and resources:
Episcopal Network
for Stewardship (TENS)
Stewardship Web Site of
Ted Mollegen
Crown Financial Ministries
Empty Tomb, Inc.
Spirituality and Practice
Off the Mark
Sojourners
Maintenance to Mission
This
is the time of year to start planning for the Fall Annual Renewal
Commitment.
The Diocesan Stewardship Committee would like to
present three ideas that have been used by other parishes and found
to be successful.
Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program
Consecration Sunday teaches Stewardship from a spiritual
perspective rather than a fund rasing perspective. It is based on
biblical/spiritual theology of the "need of the giver to give"
rather than "the need of the church to receive". Detail
program spells out all necessary steps. Suitable for any size congregation.
Focused on raising the level of Stewardship rather than raising the
church budget. This program has recently been successfully used both
at St. Gabriels in Douglasville and St. Anne's in Trexlertown.
Contacts for this program are the Reverend Cal Adams,
Blaine and Marilyn Rittenhouse, Reverend Michael Piovane, George Maniatty
and Connie Archer.
The "Event"
Although Trinity, Easton has a year-round stewardship
program, we kick off our Fall financial/pledge ingathering time at
our parish dinner/annual meeting in October. We have been successful
getting folks to come for several reasons: 1) We begin with Evening
Prayer in the church. 2) We have a social hour with both wine and
non-alcoholic punch, and h'ors doeuvre (brought by folks coming).
3) The meal is not pot luck -- there's a committee to prepare, serve
and clean up. There is no charge, but a freewill offering is taken
to help defray the food costs. 4) A key element for good attendance
is the corps of "host families" who agree to call parishioners
individually--some they know, some not -- and invite them to sit at
their table. (Tables are 8 or 10 folks.) The hosts also bring the
desserts, and they're usually special. 5) During the post-dinner meeting,
there is a brief stewardship presentation--video, table sharing, remarks
by chairman, etc. Dates are announced for mailing of pledge cards
and Gratitude Sunday--which we do the Sunday before Thanksgiving,
so we can celebrate Harvest Home and use all the good Thanksgiving
hymns! This event takes some careful planning, but we usually have
over 100 people--a good group to hear the initial stewardship message.
For details contact Jan Charney at Trinity, Easton 610/253-0792
The Living Stewardship Program
This is a program used by many churches who have
experienced success in helping parishioners to reach the level of
tithing in their giving. You can get a sample -- for which there is
no charge -- of what this program has to offer plus costs by calling
1-800-443-2872.
Please direct any
questions or comments to the webmaster@diobeth.org
