Giving a Little Extra


I almost brought this up a year ago, but I chose the cowardly act of silence. Now I am gathering up my courage, and I will dare to ask the question: "Is it possible for a district in the Missouri Conference to pay 100% of its conference apportionments?" Perhaps I should be bolder. Is it possible that Pony Express District churches could pay their conference apportionments in full in 2010?

Before answering, here are some facts. Our district completed 2009 with contributions equaling 95.1% of what we were apportioned as a group. Seventy-nine of our 92 churches paid 100%. Thanks to the commitment of our churches, we came very close to hitting that 100% mark last year!

Of the 13 that did not contribute all that was asked of them, only two gave nothing. (Both of those either have or will soon have given something in 2010). Nine of those who did not make 100% have allowed it to become habitual. Those nine have missed on anywhere from 4 to 18 consecutive years. Quite honestly, though, almost all of them have extenuating circumstances that tend to impoverish them as congregations.

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--Steve Cox

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They Laughed

"They laughed at him. They knew she was dead." (Luke 8:53-The Message)

We were in the middle of a conversation about the difficulties of being the Church in today's society. I asked those who were gathered for this annual review of church life to discuss the barriers that stand in the way of effectively leading members to a deeper and richer relationship with Christ. As usual, their answers included lack of commitment, too many other priorities, too many things to do and too little time to do them, people whose lives are going so well that they don't feel they need God, and other similar ideas. I then invited them to think about what one spiritual practice (prayer and worship, fasting, study, participating in Holy Communion, generous giving, Christian service, etc.) would have the greatest power to transform their members if their congregation practiced it with great consistency and intentionality.

After some small group conversations, I asked who had chosen prayer. A few hands went up.

I asked who had chosen fasting. No hands…then laughter…then a few side comments about how ridiculous it would be for Methodists, lovers of the fellowship meal, to consider fasting.

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--Steve Cox

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey

Web Content Producer

UMCGiving.org

United Methodist Communications

lcarey@umcom.org

Keeping On Keeping On

Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? -- Luke 18: 8

Jesus told a parable about the need to pray and not lose heart. A widow was relentless in pleading before a callous judge. Although he heeded neither God nor people, he gave her what she requested so that he would not have to listen to her pleading any longer.

And the Lord said, "How much more will God grant the petitions of those who pray night and day? Will God delay in helping them?"

And the Lord asks the probing question, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Faith is evident as we pray without ceasing, as we persevere in our ministries, as we give generously. This is the beautiful season of harvest, of generosity. "10-Fold" and "O For a Thousand" and local church stewardship campaigns and thank offerings. As God watches, does God find faith on earth in us?

In Beyond Katrina, Natasha Trethewey offers this meditation, a poem, "Believer."

The house is in need of repair, but is --
for now, she says -- still hers. After the storm,
she laid hands on what she could reclaim:
the iron table and chairs etched with rust,
the dresser laced with mold. Four years gone,
she's still rebuilding the shed out back
and sorting through boxes in the kitchen --
a lifetime of bills and receipts, deeds
and warranties, notices spread on the table,
a barrage of red ink: PAST DUE. Now,
the house is a museum of everything
she can't let go: a pile of photographs --
fused and peeling -- water stains blurring
the handwritten names of people she can't recall;
a drawer crowded with funeral programs
and church fans, rubber bands and paper sleeves
for pennies, nickels, and dimes. What stops me
is the stack of tithing envelopes. Reading my face,
she must know I can't see why -- even now --
she titles, why she keeps giving to the church.
First seek the kingdom of God, she tells me,
and the rest will follow -- says it twice
as if to make a talisman of her words.

With gratitude for your ministry,

--adapted from an e-newsletter by Bishop Ward

God Is Stil lIn Control!

Miss Lladale Carey
Web Content Producer
UMCGiving.org
United Methodist Communications
lcarey@umcom.org

Tithing

by Vanessa Gonzalez Kraft

Tithing used to be emphasized a lot more in the past as necessary to lead a good Christian life but has fallen out of favor.

I recently taught my students about stewardship which included a lesson on tithing. I thought it was an important lesson to teach because my experience is that people don’t think that it is important to give money to the Church. Some people get extremely offended when they are told that the Church needs money. They don’t think it is the Church’s business what they do with their money and how dare the Church tell them that they have to give what they have worked so hard for and deserve. Some have actually walked out of the church when the priest has to give his once-a-year homily on the finances of the church.

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches so many lessons about money. Why? Because it is so hard to detach ourselves from money. It is so easy to justify keeping and using money.

Well, I could pledge to help this high school student go on a mission trip but we need to keep saving up for Suzy’s college fund.

I could give money but I really need to save money for Christmas presents.

And so on.

I have to admit, we haven’t tithed since Olivia was born. When we got married, we started off really good. 10% of every paycheck automatically deposited into an account which we then distributed to the places we wanted to give money to. It was a really good system and we didn’t miss the money because it was never part of our spending money to begin with. Then Olivia was born. Hospital bills started pouring in. Brandon got a new job based on commission. And we cancelled the 10% deposit and have not done it since.

Read the rest of Mrs. Kraft's blog on Tithing.

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One word unique and basic to United Methodism is “connectionalism.” That means simply that all United Methodist leaders and congregations are connected by certain loyalties and commitments that call us to live in covenantal accountability and empower us to be in ministry around the world.

What is connectional giving? It’s as simple as people coming together, combining their money to accomplish something bigger than themselves. United Methodists support apportioned and designated funds through their connectional gifts.

By combining several smaller gifts into a larger amount, we can effect change across the world. Individual churches can minister to a small area; however, as a connectional church, we can do big things, all in the name of Jesus Christ.

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey

Web Content Producer

UMCGiving.org

lcarey@umcom.org

Stewardship Signposts (East Ohio AC)

Once your financial secretary has recorded all of your pledges for the coming year, it’s time to do some dissection of those results.

Let’s start with the obvious. What was the total? And how did it compare to last year? What was the average pledge? What was the mean pledge? How do those compare with the previous year or two? How do your averages compare with similar United Methodist churches near you?

How do they compare with other denominations in your zip code?

Look at your top ten or 20 giving units. Is anyone new on this list? If there is, what happened to those who fell off this top tier? Do we know why this change occurred?

What are ages of your top 20 donors? This will typically be older than the average age of your congregation, but if all of them are 75 or older, this may suggest real challenges for your church finances in the coming years. It takes, on average, seven new members to make up the giving of one saint of the church who has passed away. Few of our churches have seven times as many professions of faith as they do deaths. How will that lost income be made up?

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Tithing

Tithing used to be emphasized a lot more in the past as necessary to lead a good Christian life but has fallen out of favor.

I recently taught my students about stewardship which included a lesson on tithing. I thought it was an important lesson to teach because my experience is that people don’t think that it is important to give money to the Church. Some people get extremely offended when they are told that the Church needs money. They don’t think it is the Church’s business what they do with their money and how dare the Church tell them that they have to give what they have worked so hard for and deserve. Some have actually walked out of the church when the priest has to give his once-a-year homily on the finances of the church.

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches so many lessons about money. Why? Because it is so hard to detach ourselves from money. It is so easy to justify keeping and using money.

read more

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey

Web Content Producer

UMCGiving.org

lcarey@umcom.org

Generosity is giving freely

Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;

others withhold what is due,

and only suffer want. (Proverbs 11:24 – NRSV)

What would our church do if we were given a gift of $250,000 - $500,000 or more?

A) Laugh, and say, “It can’t be true!”
B) Keep it quiet so that we always have the money “just in case.”
C) Spend it almost as quickly as it came in. After all, we need a new roof, new carpet, new drapes, and handicap accessible rest rooms.
D) Dream of new ways God is calling us to be in ministry.
E) All of the above.

Believe it or not, we’ve recently received news of a number of gifts of this size made through wills and bequests from people who are faithful members and friends of churches of all sizes. In an effort to be true to the intentions of their generous donors, these congregations have not given in to the temptation to spend these large gifts outright. In some cases, the donor has requested that the gift be placed in an ENDOWMENT account. In other cases, the gift was totally undesignated, and the church decided to give a tithe to missions, another percentage to the church council to determine how best to use, and to invest the remaining amount (70-80%) in an endowment fund.

An endowment is a forever gift. It is an investment account which preserves the original principal of the gift, and uses all or a portion of the income and growth earned on the investment for mission and ministry. Scholarships, mission funds, youth ministry funds, capital improvement funds, and pastoral education funds are just a few of the needs that are met through the many endowment funds invested here at the Wisconsin United Methodist Foundation.

Some people prefer to see how their gifts are being used right now. Others prefer to have their gifts invested and used over the course of time. Both are wonderful acts of generosity. If giving wholeheartedly in 2010 means you feel called to establish an Endowment Fund to benefit the ministry of a specific church or ministry in perpetuity, give us a call. We’ll be happy to help.

--adapted from the WI Ann Conf newsletter

God Is Still In Control!

Miss Lladale Carey
Web Producer
UMCGiving.org
lcarey@umcom.org