There is no doubt that church committee work is cyclical and this is absolutely true for Stewardship Committees. After Labor Day they start to get organized, are busy in October and November, are done by Thanksgiving or so and are back to sleep before the Christmas decorations are put away. Afterall, there is really nothing to be done stewardship-wise the rest of the year, right?. Of course there is. To help guide you the rest of the year the Foundation has developed the Five Star Stewardship Award. The program has 17 activities, ranging from having a stewardship campaign to developing a narrative budget to having the children and youth take on a fund raising project for missions. Some activities are required, having a campaign and a budget, for instance while others are optional. Each activity has a point value, and any church earning 150 points earns Five Star recognition. For you over achievers out there (and you know who you are) the church with the most points in each district will be recognized as a Gold Star church. And Five Diamond status will go to the church in the Conference with the most points. The Foundation will make a matching gift to a mission project supported by it. There are almost 800 churches in the Conference, so earning this recognition will require a significant commitment. But the point here really isn’t to earn points. It is designed to lift up 17 possible things your stewardship committee can be doing to strengthen the church. Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to know that many of the activities are based in three areas that I think are important: missions, financial transparency, and talking about money. Each church in the Conference will receive a complete packet in the mail this week, but if you just can’t wait, you can download the Program Description, the Tally Sheet and even a Spreadsheet to help you evaluate your past success. As of two weeks ago I am once again chairing my church’s Stewardship Committee and I know that this program will be a centerpiece of our activities for the year. I hope it is for you as well. --Brian D. Sheetz, Executive Director, East Ohio United Methodist Foundation God Is Still In Control! Miss Lladale Carey Web Content Producer UMCGiving.org United Methodist Communications lcarey@umcom.org
Monday, March 21, 2011
Year-round Stewardship Made Easy
There is no doubt that church committee work is cyclical and this is absolutely true for Stewardship Committees. After Labor Day they start to get organized, are busy in October and November, are done by Thanksgiving or so and are back to sleep before the Christmas decorations are put away. Afterall, there is really nothing to be done stewardship-wise the rest of the year, right?. Of course there is. To help guide you the rest of the year the Foundation has developed the Five Star Stewardship Award. The program has 17 activities, ranging from having a stewardship campaign to developing a narrative budget to having the children and youth take on a fund raising project for missions. Some activities are required, having a campaign and a budget, for instance while others are optional. Each activity has a point value, and any church earning 150 points earns Five Star recognition. For you over achievers out there (and you know who you are) the church with the most points in each district will be recognized as a Gold Star church. And Five Diamond status will go to the church in the Conference with the most points. The Foundation will make a matching gift to a mission project supported by it. There are almost 800 churches in the Conference, so earning this recognition will require a significant commitment. But the point here really isn’t to earn points. It is designed to lift up 17 possible things your stewardship committee can be doing to strengthen the church. Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to know that many of the activities are based in three areas that I think are important: missions, financial transparency, and talking about money. Each church in the Conference will receive a complete packet in the mail this week, but if you just can’t wait, you can download the Program Description, the Tally Sheet and even a Spreadsheet to help you evaluate your past success. As of two weeks ago I am once again chairing my church’s Stewardship Committee and I know that this program will be a centerpiece of our activities for the year. I hope it is for you as well. --Brian D. Sheetz, Executive Director, East Ohio United Methodist Foundation God Is Still In Control! Miss Lladale Carey Web Content Producer UMCGiving.org United Methodist Communications lcarey@umcom.org
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