Inaugural stewardship conference provides Jump Start
Mountain Echo, May 2009

by Wendy Grace
Over fifty people, representing 19 congregations, attended the inaugural stewardship conference of the Diocese of Vermont—Jump Start 2009—March 21, at St. Paul’s, White River Junction. The intent, which was well met, was to provide ideas for creative stewardship endeavors.

Among the key messages repeated throughout the day was the idea that stewardship is about unity within the church and thus must be practiced all year—not just during the Fall drive. The conference, organized by the Rev. Angela Emerson, diocesan minister for stewardship development, had three distinct parts:
• a worship service demonstrating how to incorporate stewardship into the liturgy;
• a keynote presentation by the Rev. Laurel Johnston, stewardship program officer for The Episcopal Church on “Finding Hope in Hard Times;”
• and presentations by congregations on their innovations and ideas about developing stewardship themes.

Emerson wrapped up the conference by suggesting we all alter our perspectives and understanding of what stewardship means by considering that it is an “always” endeavor, with a variety of activities during the year.

Worship
Some of the key elements that can be exploited during the worship service itself include using “contemporary epistles,” ministry minutes, dialog/conversational sermons, and a non-traditional offertory.

“Contemporary epistles” are those written by parishioners that tell of a lesson or moral and are clearly connected to the concept of stewardship in the broad sense—not just that of pledging, tithing or money. These can also be posted on congregation Web sites in a “show and tell” corner that allows members to share their “touched by the hand of God” moments.

“Ministry Minutes” are very short sharings of incidences of stewardship as they happen in the church. This may be a thanksgiving for a particular ministry’s service, a plea for an in/outreach need, a celebration of a goal achieved, etc. These can be done during announcements or at a specified time in the service.

In a dialog/conversational sermon, the preacher invites at least one other person to share in the discussion of the theme. This device can be used to connect to stewardship in a broad sense but needs to be very directed in order to keep to the theme of the sermon.

Non-traditional offerings are an opportunity for parishioners to offer something other than a payment toward their pledge, such as time, service, a thanksgiving, a creative gift of art—the possibilities are limitless. These offerings can then be shared with everyone through some sort of display (“The Giving Tree” bulletin board; “Walk of Fame” stones in a pathway; etc.).

Keynote presentation
The Rev. Laurel Johnston presented a new resource developed by The Episcopal Church titled: Finding Hope in Hard Times, Seven Spiritual Practices: A Faithful Steward’s Guide. [Download the pamphlet here, or it can be ordered free of charge at www.episcopalbookstore.org or by calling 800-903-5544].

According to Johnston, Finding Hope in Hard Times is a 7-step practical guide for how we as individuals should approach financial giving in a weakened economy. It takes a positive look. Sort of like, “When I give to the church, I’m really giving to myself, for I am the church.”

Johnston defined stewardship as “everything I do after I’ve said ‘I believe….’” If we trust that God will support us so that we can be free to be the people that God intended us to be, we need not worry, freeing our creative minds to do so much else. Her comments led me to think about the relationship between the church and each member. If we see the church as a separate entity we attend, we miss out on the relationship with others and with God. If we consider ourselves as the foundation of the church, we will be more compelled to act in “our” favor.

Congregation presentations
The presentations by members of St. John’s, Randolph, St. James’, Arlington, Christ Church, Montpelier, and St. Paul’s, White River, showed congregations at different stages of the stewardship journey.

Pat Mayer of St. John’s described their recognition of the need for a new perspective on stewardship. They admitted to being so focused on fiscal and practical matters that they missed out on the incredible spirituality of stewardship. Focusing on their strengths and celebrating the good things they were doing enabled them to use their strengths to shore up their weaknesses so that their weaknesses became strengths. Now they are ready to develop a plan for implementing this positive attitude.

Joanna Taylor of St. James’ presented an image of a church applying such a positive outlook toward stewardship. They created a theme that spoke to their mission: “Celebrate our abundance—come to God’s Light and Love,” and Taylor showed how they used it to develop a plan to achieve certain stewardship goals. Some do-it-yourself efforts to improve the appearance of the church made them more visible in the community. They made sure thanks were given, and they became more aware of their abundance.

Ida Lange of Christ Church shared some of the end results of their theme, playing off of the word stewardship: “the Good Ships of Giving.” They depicted each ministry as a ship with a percentage required to “keep it afloat.” They wanted to encourage people to strive to tithe but in a way that would not be intimidating. They asked people to look at what they have and consider what percentage they were willing to share to make a particular ship stay afloat.

Susan Pillsbury of St. Paul’s spoke about year-round stewardship for education and spiritual formation, using examples from her former congregation in Massachusetts.

Conclusion
Angela Emerson concluded the conference with practicalities of how to go about applying stewardship. It must be a year-round consideration, and it must be about the people first, then the church, then the money. The people must buy into it and must be involved. And they must, must be appreciated. She explained an “appreciative inquiry process” that helps discover what is working really well.

Emerson went on to demonstrate how having a visual way of presenting data is important and that everyone must see and understand it—even children should be consulted, for they often have simple insights. She ended with a sample timeline, which begins with the end (celebration) and works backwards towards now. This (and much more) can be found here.

Overall, the first attempt at this type of conference was quite successful: well-planned and organized, full of camaraderie and high energy, and inspiring and thought-provoking. I found myself wishing the conference had been a longer event—even a weekend retreat—with the opportunity to create a model stewardship plan and work in groups on projects that would allow us to brainstorm and pick each other’s minds. Perhaps this could be arranged for future Jump Start Conferences.