Using the CS Bible Studies in Three Weeks

Q. With the Guest Leader Bible Study on CS-1, how are we supposed to use all four Bible studies provided?
A. Here are some suggestions for using the Bible studies:
• Use all the Bible studies for all mid-week classes and use all bulletin inserts, but use only three on Sundays, substituting the Guest Leader Bible Study on CS-1.
• Start the Sunday Bible studies on CS-3 as suggested, but extend to CS+1 (week after Consecration Sunday) for the final study that was missed.
• Start the Sunday Bible studies on CS-4. If you do this, make sure you change the publicity materials to reflect the change.
• Skip one of the Bible studies.

Small Steps to Stewardship Growth

Sometimes stewardship growth best takes place not through major programs, but through small steps that may be suggested by the Stewardship Committee for use by individuals and by the congregation as a whole. The following list is adapted from one provided by "Live It!" a Roman Catholic Stewardship resource. CLICK HERE for the full (unedited) list.

INDIVIDUAL/FAMILY

• Take your watch off when entering church for worship — symbolize this is God's time, the service a doorway to eternity.
• Create a Refrigerator magnet: "What can I do to help people who don't have a well-stocked refrigerator?"
• Purchase a less-expensive car than you can afford — share the difference with your parish.
• On the First Sunday of Advent, review spending for the year, particularly charitable sharing.
• Decide on year-end sharing (including, if necessary, making up for missed offerings).
• Put a piece of straw in your wallet before Christmas shopping, to remind yourself of the greatest gift, Jesus in the manger.
• Put a stewardship sticker on your credit card, to remind you that spending is not everything.
• Take an inventory of your clothes. Decide which items you don't need, and donate them to a charity that will put them to use.
• Think carefully about alternative uses of the money before purchasing luxury items or recreation equipment or fancy clothes.
• Encourage people to set goals not only for stewardship of treasure but also for time (especially as prayer) and talent.
• Build a habit of thanking people whose work usually goes unnoticed — those who clean our business office, those who serve the food in fast-food restaurants, cashiers at the supermarket.
• Send hand-written notes to senior members of the parish, thanking them for all they have done in their lives for the church community.
• Rake leaves, shovel snow, etc., for elderly neighbors/parishioners.
• Help an elderly person learn basic computer operation and e-mail, so he/she can keep in touch with relatives and the world in general.

CONGREGATIONAL

• Put a stewardship sticker on all envelopes and other parish materials (e.g., grocery bags for food drive).
• Use the language of stewardship instead of volunteering, giving, etc.
• Have available in the Church (1) slips of paper on which people can write (anonymously) how they have used their gifts for others during the past week, and (2) a basket in which to place them. Then bring the basket to the altar.
• If the office uses a postage machine, add a stewardship message to the printing. Most machines can print a message along with the postage. "Stewardship -- A Disciple's Way of Life" would look good on all the envelopes.
• On All Souls Day (or all through November), label a bulletin board the "Wall of Remembrance"; invite people to post pictures of their departed loved ones. Give thanks for these stewards of old who helped bring us the Gospel.
  
• At the end of the service, the pastor thanks all the assistants by name.
• Leave thank-you cards in the church; ask people to address them to people whose ministry might otherwise go unnoticed.
• Take a picture of the church. Then have it made into a picture puzzle, with enough pieces so that every family can have one. Mail the pieces to parishioners and ask them to bring the pieces on Commitment Sunday. (Alternatively: People have to bring in their pieces as a symbol they have completed some step, such as visiting a Parish Ministry Fair.) At the Ministry Fair, have a table where pieces can be placed. The message is, "The congregation isn't complete without you."
• Create a button: "I'm a Steward for Christ." Ask ministry leaders to wear them regularly, in order to build interest. Then distribute them to the congregation.
• Give each parishioner a report on his/her sharing three times a year, without any request for funds. Most people will make up any missing amounts.
• Publish stories of stewardship in the Bulletin, with emphasis on actions of members.
• Recognize a ministry each week, either at worship or in the Bulletin.
• Invite community organizations to participate in Time and Talent Sunday (Ministry Fair).
• Collect travel-sized shampoos, lotions, toothpaste, etc. (hotels often have them available; after one use, the bottles are thrown out). Give them to shelters.
• Print a stewardship prayer on a business card or similar vehicle. Give one to all Board members; ask them to say the prayer at the start of each of their meetings.
• Encourage kid's groups to do community service.
• Invite parishioners to form a group that will provide meals, housecleaning, etc., for terminally ill people and their families, and other people in crisis.
• Provide credit counseling for those in need.
• Visit new parishioners in their homes. Invite them to discern their gifts and then to use them in the parish and the community.
• Invite people with auto mechanic skills to band together to obtain old cars and bring them to running condition. Give the cars to people who need transportation but cannot afford to purchase a car.
• Ask the parish to recognize the gifts of the students in the parish.
• Adopt a student who cannot afford higher education; provide financial support for education.
• Ask the parish to be aware of special-needs students in their midst; encourage help for the students and the parents.
• During Religious Education and Youth Ministry, help children to learn about their gifts and how to use them

Giving in a Time of Financial Crisis

Christianity Today did a poll of its web readers and email recipients during the week of October 19 to determine whether the economic crisis was affecting charitable giving. The results are as follows:

Has your giving gone down due to the economic crisis?

• No, it hasn't changed. I am giving just as much: 76%
• No, it's gone up: 9%
• Yes, my investments have gone down, so I have fewer resources to give: 7%
• No, it hasn't changed. I wasn't able to give to begin with: 4%
• Yes, I am saving more now because I'm not sure what the future holds: 3%

If I read the figures correctly, it would indicate a potential 1% decrease in giving among those polled, and that decrease would more likely be felt in special gifts from accumulated assets rather than regular offerings. The sample -- that of readers of Christianity Today -- is, of course, likely to consist of active, regular church members. Hopefully, many of them have caught the vision of grace-based, proportionate, joyful giving that operates not on the principle of fear, but on the principle that "As God guides, He will provide."

Another resource comes from the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia (Click Here for Article) entitled "Holy Habits for a Fickle Economy". Among the words of advice:

• It is more important to nurture holy habits than to fret over a budget.
• Sometimes the conversation comes down to cutting expenses or increasing income. Faith is always found when focusing on the income side.
• As a church we are called to confront the culture of greed and the spectacle of debt.
• You can't sell soap if you don't take a bath. If you think others should call on the Gospel, call on it yourself. If you think giving is important, give of yourself.

More Than One Service

Q. How is Consecration Sunday handled if a church has more than one service on Sunday?
A. There are different answers for different congregations.
You need to know the “culture” of a particular congregation. One possibility is to have some type of celebration meal after each service. One Guest Leader recently wrote us to say, “I just completed a program at a church that had four services on a weekend and we had a meal for every service. We utilized the gym for that, which meant that the contemporary worship on Sunday morning also moved to the sanctuary. This meant a tight time frame (1 hour 15 minutes from start of one service to the start of the next), but it was doable.”
Another possibility: A Committee Chair at a large congregation said they decided to invite everyone back for Bible Classes and a single meal. They promoted attendance heavily and made all the follow up calls, and attendance at the meal equaled their average adult attendance.
When it comes to announcing results, cumulative results may be announced for each service with the final totals announced in time of thanksgiving on the following Sunday.

CS a Springboard to Year-Round Stewardship

Consecrated Stewards will often be the first “success” story a congregation has had in stewardship both in terms of its spiritual impact and its level of response. Be sure to encourage congregations to build on that with a year-round calendar of stewardship events covering many aspects of our stewardship life. The materials and resources in the Fulfillment section of the Guest Leader Guide will help, as will the many resources available on the Synodical Web site. (Click Here)
The Guest Leader Guide urges you to spend time on this during the final telephone fulfillment meeting, but many Guest Leaders raise the issue of year-round stewardship at the Initial Committee Meeting for two reasons:
1. They want people thinking of a broader stewardship program from the very beginning.
2. Some guest leaders report that attendance at that final fulfillment meeting is often poor.
They want to get the message across early to the whole group.

Watch for news about CS3. It will take Year-Round stewardship preparation to a new level.

Creating Cultures of Generosity

Pat Springle had an article on Leadership Network (Click here for article) about creating cultures of generosity in congregations that is worth reading. It reinforces the principles that stewardship is linked to a sense of and participation in mission and that motivation begins with the generosity of God, not just in material things, but in His grace in Jesus Christ.
Stewardship and a culture of generosity are not a program. They are a blessing and an attitude that permeate everything we say, are and do. This is the motivation behind Consecrated Stewards as well as our Capital Funding ministries.

Reservation Calls as Ministry Opportunities

Again and again we hear reports of calls assigned at the Leaders Luncheon that turn into ministry opportunities. You never know what joys God may have waiting for you to hear or what sorrows people may need to share. When call assignments are made at the Leaders Luncheon, take time to say a few words about the ministry opportunities these calls afford, not just their program value.
Some congregations have used the reservation process as an opportunity for prayer requests.
When Reservation Cards are collected at these congregations on CS-2 and CS-1, the back of the card contains a form for prayer requests. These prayer requests are then lifted up before the Lord, together with prayers for Consecrated Stewards, in a short (two to three hour) prayer vigil on the Friday or Saturday before Consecration Sunday.
Those who have not returned a Reservation Card are called by those who attended the Leaders Luncheon, not only to invite them to the Consecration Sunday activities, but also to express real concern for their prayer needs. It can be a wonderful ministry tool and a way of saying “We care about you!” when people are expecting “We want something from you.”

Including "Time and Talent" ?

Q. I’m working with a congregation that would like to include time and talents as well as “treasures” to the CS Response Card. I cautioned them against this but wanted to get your feedback on actual practice and experience.
A. Regarding including time and talents: We recommend NOT combining that response with a financial response on the commitment card on Consecration Sunday. Reasons:
• It tends to “water down” the importance of each commitment by combining the two together.
Both are important aspects of stewardship and best kept apart.
• It becomes a cumbersome process to do a proper job of allowing a genuine “time and talent” commitment together with a financial commitment. You need a financial card, plus a sheet or two for time or talent responses. That takes time for explanation and completion if done within the service.
• If not done properly, with a well thought through time and talent commitment, you wind up with a single card that looks something like this:
I will serve the Lord through...
_____ My regular prayers for the ministry of my church
_____ Worshiping the Lord and receiving the sacrament
_____ Participating through my time and talents
_____ Supporting the Lord’s work through my weekly offering of $______
The only thing specific on such a commitment is the financial amount, and many people see everything else as “spiritual fluff.”
Instead of combining the two, we recommend:
• A year-round program of stewardship education and commitment that includes various commitments at different times of the year. For example, Financial Commitment in October, Time and Talent in January, Prayer Commitment in Lent, Care of Creation in June, etc.
• Another possibility (one we are working on for CS Year 3) is to have a Ministry Fair on the Sunday before Consecration Sunday. At that Ministry Fair, the various groups in the congregation (or community) set up a display of their ministry and a sheet is distributed as people visit the Fair to enable them to volunteer for service in particular ministries. This separates the financial commitment from the time and talent commitment with two separate events.
• The best way is to have a time and talent emphasis tied in with a gift identification Bible study program at a time separate from the financial commitment.

Ordering Herb Miller "New Consecration Sunday" Material

Q. Do you still recommend that we order the Herb Miller materials for the congregational leadership? I don’t want to confuse the lay leaders with two sets of guidelines.

A. We ask the congregation to purchase ONE copy of Herb Miller’s New Consecration Sunday
Stewardship Program with Guest Leader Guide AFTER they have made the decision to go with
Consecrated Stewards and in time for the Initial Commitment Meeting with the group that will be working the program. Do NOT ask them to purchase it during the Decision Phase. Use the Consecrated Stewards materials and DVD (segments 1-4). This ONE copy is kept by the CHAIR for REFERENCE and for the few items we still use that are Herb Miller’s materials. We do NOT recommend that the congregation distribute a book to each member of the committee. This can cause confusion. Miller’s material is simply a secondary reference. Guest Leaders—Always point out that our manual and your instructions are prime directives.
Herb Miller materials may be ordered from Augsburg Fortress and other suppliers. (See link to the right under "Herb Miller materials".