Disciple: How Do We Find Our Voice? By Asking People To Give.

Project Resource

By the Rev. Canon Earnest Graham

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Charitable organizations and institutions call on us, again and again, to give. In all fairness, many of them address the needs of our community and the world. Some of them support matters that are close to our hearts. When there are so many voices calling for people to give, church leaders, clergy and members of stewardship committees sometimes feel reluctant to be one more voice asking.

And yet, the Church relies on the generosity of people who give of their time, their skills, their talents and their financial support. It cannot exist without asking people to give. Indeed, as followers of Jesus, giving is at the heart of our faith. The example Jesus gave us was to give: food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, healing to the afflicted and fullness of life to those who were cast out. Giving from the heart is a spiritual act that can lead us to appreciate all that God has given us and invite us to deeper relationship with other human beings.

We as the Church are not in competition with charitable organizations. Many found their origins within the walls of local churches and took the mission of feeding, clothing, educating and healing out into the world in ways the Church could not do on its own. Charitable organizations have learned how to communicate in today’s world in a way that many churches have not. It is possible to learn from their experience and find our own voice in the process.

PROJECT RESOURCE

Over the last year, the Diocese of North Carolina joined a network of other dioceses in The Episcopal Church focusing on stewardship and asking people to give: Project Resource. This program draws upon the experience of charitable organizations as well as our faith tradition to provide resources for churches to be bold in asking.

One of the things many charitable organizations do well is to make the case for why you should give to them. They do not take for granted that you know who they are, what they do, why they do it or why it even matters. They tell their story. They provide information and tell you how to participate.

MAKING THE CASE

This is especially important for the Church in this time. For generations, many churches have been able to rely on the assumption that members know the church, participate in it and give to it as a matter of practice. We no longer can take that for granted; in fact, we miss something vital if we do. Faithful stewardship is not about asking for money for ministry. Instead, it is about connecting our mission to the lives of people. It is an ongoing practice of sharing our story and inviting others to participate in it.

1. Listen
Making the case begins with listening: to God in prayer, through scripture and in community. The intent is to understand who you are, what you do and with whom you are communicating.

One way Project Resource recommends listening is to gather groups of people in the church, perhaps during a vestry meeting or in small groups or a forum, and ask these questions:

• What do we do that Jesus would recognize and love?
• What do we provide?
• How do we change lives?
• What results to society do we provide that make change?
• How has one life been changed by our mission?
• Why should a person invest in this work?

As you listen to people share, take note of the stories and examples they offer. You may wish to ask their permission to share them in your communications.

2. Gather Information
Working with the clergy, vestry and leaders of the church, identify the goals you are working on now and in the near future. How do these relate to the stories shared in the listening process?

Look at the history of giving in the church and the budget. What information do people need to be able to engage with the work you wish to do?

What practices of financial transparency and accountability does your church have in place to show you are good stewards of the gifts that are given?

3. Theme
Having a theme for a stewardship season, or for the year, can be a creative way to invite people to join in giving to the church. You can use a theme to emphasize stories, express the vision of the church and the direction it is going, lead to spiritual truths or connect members with each other.

4. Share the Story
There are a variety of ways to share the story. You can use them during a stewardship season, or throughout the year.

• Prayers: Include regularly in worship prayers that relate to stewardship.
• Brochures/website: Make your case for support through stories, images, information, charts and graphs. They can be printed or digital.
• Video campaign: Use a visual medium for sharing stories on screen and through social media. Enable members to share the videos.
• Ministry minute: Invite church members to share personal stories of giving or how serving in the church has touched their lives and the lives of others.
• Sermons: Highlight the many dimensions of stewardship throughout the year. If your stewardship campaign has a theme, you may wish to tie it in your sermons.
• Host meaningful conversations: Gather small groups of members to express their hopes and fears for the church, to listen to their concerns and incorporate their feedback.
• Phone-a-thon: Make calls, person-to-person, to invite people to give to the church.
• Letters: Use them at different times of the stewardship season to invite participation in the campaign and to thank donors for giving.

Project Resource offers examples and tools for making the case. These are available on the diocesan website (episdionc.org). You also may have other ideas. Variety is good over time, and always do what works in your setting and ministry.

5. Give Thanks and Celebrate
An essential step in the process is giving thanks for the variety of ways that members give. Find ways to celebrate their contribution personally and in the life of the church.

STEWARDSHIP THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

This way of practicing stewardship moves beyond thinking of stewardship as something we talk about once a year. Rather, it is an ongoing process of prayer, listening, visioning ministry, sharing stories and asking people to participate.

When stewardship becomes an integral part of the life of the church, it can serve to focus ministries: calling for the goals and vision of the church to be communicated regularly, recounting the stories of what God is doing in our community and sharing what we value the most.

Yes, there are many voices in our world asking people to give. The joyful result of making our case is that we are in touch with what makes our church community special, why we keep coming back and how God is active in our lives. It opens our eyes to all we have to be thankful for in this community. We, as a church, find our voice by sharing our story and the story of God’s redemptive love, and by asking others to share in it.

STEWARDSHIP STORIES

Several churches have committed to using Project Resource in their  stewardship processes this year.

St. Thomas, Reidsville, is excited and inspired by working with other churches in the area to learn about stewardship through Project Resource. They developed a theme of “Connecting the Dots,” telling stories of different ministries every month in worship and writing about stewardship in newsletters. They also are working on a brochure. Each dot represents a ministry of the church and the ways members are connected to one another and to Christ.
 
St. Paul’s, Winston-Salem, decided to tell their story through media: a video of what makes St. Paul’s special. Their theme, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” reminds us that all we have comes from God, and we give that back. They had a kickoff celebration for the campaign in September, to be followed by six weeks of ministry minutes.
 
St. Philip’s, Durham, tried something new. They conducted an advanced campaign, with an open series of meaningful conversations with about 90 leaders in the church, who represented a wide range of people in the church and the different church services. The conversations were helpful in getting a read on how things are going in the church, listening to members’ concerns and shaping the vision for ministry. The theme for their Fall Stewardship campaign is “Worship. Love. Action.”

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The Rev. Canon Earnest Graham is a regional canon for the Diocese of North Carolina.