Here is an excellent planning resource! Each month, the church season is explained and a theme is identified around which individual and congregational activities might take place in five recurring categories: Spiritual Growth, Ministry Spotlight, Financial Health, Outside Ourselves and God’s Creation. From the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. (Photo: Philip Chapman-Bell, Creative Commons
Does the person who heads up stewardship at your congregation have a good “job description”? Sadly, the answer at many congregations is “no,” and the poor soul who is tasked with stewardship flounders around. This article from the United Methodist Church has some great ideas. (Photo: Kandyjaxx, Creative Commons)
There’s a distinction between what pastors do on Sundays and what we do between Sundays. What we do on Sundays has not really changed through the centuries: proclaiming the gospel, teaching Scripture, celebrating the sacraments, offering prayers. But the work between Sundays has changed radically, and it has not been a development but a defection. (Photo by Grublee, via Bigstockphoto.com)
There’s another way besides a line-item budget to present your congregation’s proposed annual spending plan. A Narrative Budget tells the story of how your church practices good stewardship of the gifts entrusted to it. It provides a vision of where the church hopes to be in the coming budget cycle. It reflects how the congregation spends its time, talent, and treasure rather than paying the bills.Check out this free 12-page resource. (Photo: Rob Nguyen, Creative Commons)
Here’s a compendium of good resources for pet blessings from our friends at ECF Vital Practices. We are called to be stewards of creation, and pet blessings can help set the tone for those who enjoy the companionship of all God’s creatures. (Photo: Tony Lanciabeta, Creative Commons)
Here’s a harvest liturgy resource from Green Christian that also includes ideas for incorporating the abundance of the harvest and care of creation into autumn parish life. Be sure to check out the other worship and prayer resources on this excellent website. (Photo: eden pictures, Creative Commons)
You never know when your congregation may receive a gift that raises moral, legal or ethical questions, but you can be better prepared if you think through the issues a bit and form a policy. This sample gift-acceptance policy from the United Methodist Church can guide you. (Photo: Asenat29, Creative Commons)
Whether you want to form better stewardship or leadership habits, here’s a quick read outlining 11 science-backed ways to form habits. After all, habits form almost 50% of our daily behaviors. Might as well make them good ones! (Photo: adriarichards, Creative Commons)
Pastors need another meeting to attend like a street needs another pothole, but they dare not overlook the finance committee. It’s where some of the key ministry takes place, as one pastor describes in this essay, posted on the website of the Center for Stewardship Leaders at Luther Seminary. (Photo by ThinkPanama, Creative Commons)
Hey pastor, does the congregation know what you give? It ought to, and you should be leading by example, according to author and stewardship consultant J. Clif Christopher. “When a pastor and staff are not tithing and being generous in every possible way, it is seldom that I will see a congregation that does.” (Photo: […]
