TENNESSEE CONFERENCE REVIEW November 28, 2008
Articles in the special STEWARDSHIP issue of THE REVIEW
1. Elements of a good stewardship education plan
2. A Homeless Man’s Generous Spirit Lives On
3. Environmental Stewardship
4. God is with us - A Wider definition of Stewardship
5. Why People Give6. Why Pastors Should Know Who Gives
7. Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
8. The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation – a local church stewardship resource, 9. John Wesley on Stewardship
10. Nothing is Wasted at CCF
11. Malawi and Belmont: Giving begets Giving
12. Living for Giving, A Wesleyan View of Stewardship – DVD based study unit by Bishop Ken Carder
___________________________________
Elements of a good stewardship education plan
by Jay Archer*
The Rev. Jay Archer
I would hate to think that my children could only learn about sex from TV, movies, and what was said on the street. I would hope that in church my children would be exposed to better conversation, better perspectives, and more holy practices in regard to such matters. Stewardship involves more than many and things, but it is with money and things that we need the most help in regard to stewardship. The question is: Where do our children learn about money and things? I would hope that in our churches our children would be exposed to the conversation, perspectives and practices involving money and things that reflect God’s wisdom. The Biblical witness would indicate that the matter of money and things, like matters of sexual perspective and practice, are hard for persons of any age to keep in Godly order. That is why each church must have a strong stewardship education plan in place. Good stewardship education does not happen by chance, and for a church to leave stewardship education out of it’s teaching is to keep folk stuck in the world.
In my mind, a good stewardship education plan involves at least 4 key elements.
1. Good stewardship education is presented as a discussion around the fundamental spiritual issues of our relationship to God, not as talk to raise money. One spiritual issue at stake is “who is our Lord?”. Will we serve God or Mammon (money and things)? When we place our hope (or our anxiety, or our proof of our value) in money and things, then we are going after an idol. Another fundamental spiritual issue involving our money and things is “who do we trust?” Some, in truth, feel little need for God as long as they are making it in a material world, and never come to rely on God for the essentials of life. There are lots of spiritual issues at stake with stewardship that strike at the root of our faith relationship with God.
2. Good stewardship education plans focus on disciplined giving. I use the term disciplined to indicate a giving that is based on a faith decision, not a feeling. Feelings come and go, and even a “generous feeling” is likely to be of short duration. Most of us are too captured by the world to feel consistently generous. Disciplined giving involves making choice after choice to act on ones faith, and the more we make the choice to give for reasons of faith, the more our hearts will come to have “generous feelings.”
3. Good stewardship education plans teach percentage giving and tithing.
As a discipline of worship, we are to give a worthy portion of our income to God. What is a worthy portion? Tithing (giving 10% of your income) is a benchmark for such a worthy portion found in the Bible and confirmed by the experience of the people of God. If we are not tithing, giving by percentage is a way to get a handle on disciplined giving as we grow toward a tithe...and beyond.
4. Good stewardship education plans offer an annual stewardship campaign. Stewardship education needs to happen year round, but it is good practice to have a time during the year where the congregational focus is on each person making a disciplined, faithful choice to set a worthy giving goal. An annual stewardship campaign should focus on the spiritual issues involved in giving (not on fund-raising to meet the budget), but the completion of a stewardship card (or “estimate of giving” card, or “commitment” card, spurs the congregant to make a decision about what to give. People can listen to a stewardship sermon and think “that’s interesting” but until the congregant makes a decision based on the wisdom of the sermon, little change happens in the congregant.
A word about Stewardship Ministry
A church can grow from having a good stewardship education plan to being a church that offers effective stewardship ministries . Effective stewardship ministries (such as stewardship mentoring, or small accountability groups, sharing groups or study groups) can bring the deep changes needed to help a person who struggles mightily with money and things. A church that wants to go beyond stewardship education and offer more help to burdened folks (either inside or outside the walls of the church) will want to think in terms of creating a whole stewardship ministry, of which stewardship education is a part.
*Jay Archer is currently serving as the Cookeville DS, but is the former chairperson of the Conference Stewardship Committee.
A Homeless Man’s Generous Spirit Lives On
A few years ago, a homeless man named Oliver had a good day. He showed up at Sixty First Avenue United Methodist Church's Saturday night service, put money in the offering plate and handed five crumpled one-dollar bills to Rev. Nancy Neelley. It was a gift in the truest sense of the word--unmerited and un-requested. Oliver simply wanted to share his good day with others.
Nancy shared the story with Hillcrest United Methodist Church the next day and was challenged to do something powerful. After hearing about Oliver's gift, Hillcrest member Debbie Alvarez said, "Nancy, you've been given the five talents. You'd better pray about what you do with them."
About that time, Hillcrest was planning an alternative gift market called "Manger Marketplace" which supports Heifer International. Out of Debbie's inspiration, Nancy began asking people to match Oliver's $5 so that animals could be purchased through Heifer for those needing a viable way to make a living. The story traveled through email and the Tennessee Conference Review, resulting in Oliver's gift being multiplied hundreds of times over.
Nancy Neelley and Oliver
Upon learning how the money was being used, Oliver contributed twenty additional dollars, saying that he had more than he needed. He continued giving each Christmas until his death.
This story took an interesting turn recently at Sixty First Avenue's 2008 health fair and carnival. Oliver had wanted to find his daughter, Missy, who was adopted by another family at an early age. The event was in full gear, when Nancy (who was there to help promote Nothing But Nets) overheard a young lady say to Pastor Paul Slentz, "My birth father was Oliver. I heard that you have a picture of him." The picture was the one shown in this article, taken when the story was first told.
Missy doesn't know much about Oliver, but has this to say: "I know that my dad would be happy! I want people to know that even though that I never heard his voice or knew my dad in anyway, I love him and it's good to see part of my dad still alive by helping others." If you would like to help keep Oliver's wish for helping others alive, you may make your check payable to Hillcrest UMC (noting Oliver's Fund), and mail it to the church at 5112 Raywood Lane, Nashville, TN 37211.
Nancy Neelley is a deacon serving at United Methodist Communications and Sixty First Avenue United Methodist Church. Manger Marketplace will be held on Saturday, December 6 from 9-2. For more information on Heifer International, go to http://www.blogger.com/www.heifer.org.
Environmental Stewardship
By: Ryan Bennett, pastor Pleasant View UMC
Pleasant View UMC
Stewardship is stewardship! This is what I have come to learn. Those who have been reading The Review lately have seen a series of articles from The Wanderers Sunday School Class of Pleasant View UMC. The class looked at the idea of environmental stewardship in conjunction with the book, Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth. This study had an effect on all areas of their stewardship. Several began tithing, they began looking at how they spent their time and talents and resources. Stewardship is stewardship!
Often times, however, when stewardship is addressed, the environment is not mentioned. Psalm 24 reminds us “the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it; all who live in it.” A steward is one who looks after something on behalf of someone else. As God gave dominion of the earth to humanity, with that authority came a command to rule over it wisely. It is in ruling wisely over God’s world that we are being good stewards. As Jesus showed, the whole of the law can be summed up in how we love God and how we love our neighbor. Love of the creator translates into a love of the creation, and a love of neighbor means you want to protect the very things they need to live – clean air, clean water, and a clean food supply. We do this not only for our neighbors now, but also for our neighbors of future generations. Environmental stewardship is at the heart of a holistic view of stewardship. It is the original form of stewardship.
“Undated picture of one of the thousands of landfills nationwide where over 500 million pounds of waste is housed each year"
In looking at how to be better stewards of the environment, the old adage Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is still key. Not only are each important in the area of environmental stewardship, but they work in harmony together to care for the creation and those who live in it. Reducing our consumption and waste impacts the trees, land, and resources that are destroyed to keep up with the world’s demand. Reducing our waste keeps new landfills from having to be created and new ways of disposing trash to have to be found. Ways we can reduce center around using things that are reusable instead of disposable, and recycling things that are not reusable in their current form. It takes a little more effort at times but the results are huge. At Pleasant View UMC, we realized we were using $1500 in disposable dinnerware each year. By going to reusable dinnerware and washing it after church dinners, not only do we save that $1500 but also the money we were spending for more frequent trash pick-ups. The impact stretches to the landfills that are not getting our garbage and the resources not having to be allocated to create the disposable dinnerware for us to use.
Another key area to think about with environmental stewardship is in energy usage. Not only in reducing the electricity, water, and gas we consume, but also in using energy that comes from reusable resources. Much of our electricity is produced from coal which is burned and gone forever. Many practices in harvesting coal destroy the creation, too. One only needs to go to Redbird Missionary Conference in eastern, Kentucky once to see the effects of mountain topping, blowing up the tops of mountains to harvest coal. Our church has purchased through TVA (http://www.greenpowerswitch.com/) blocks of green power to cover our energy usage to ensure that the energy being used at the church comes from renewable energy sources like wind, water, and the sun that do not harm our environment.
There is a great deal more to environmental stewardship, but as Dr. Sleeth says, “it is about baby steps. To climb Mount Everest you go from base camp to base camp.” But isn’t that the way it is with all forms of stewardship? After all, stewardship is stewardship!
God is with us - A Wider definition of Stewardship
Mention stewardship to many Methodists and they groan. Visions of stewardship Sundays and pledge cards dance in their head. Mention stewardship to a group of Hispanic pastors, however, and you get a very different answer.
Rev. John Purdue met recently with a group of Hispanic pastors and asked them how their congregations understand stewardship. Some of these pastors feel that Anglo churches live and die by their budgets, while Hispanic congregations see themselves as more responsive to the Holy Spirit. Instead of seeing resources as limited and therefore to be hoarded, these congregations operate out of a profound belief in the Lord’s Table.
Director of Hispanic Ministries for the Tennessee Conference, Joaquin Garcia says, “There are two very common expressions in the Hispanic community. “Mi casa es su casa”. [My home is your home.] And when a person comes to your house and the table is extended to the unexpected guest, you say “ No se preocupe. Le hechamos mas agua a los frijoles para que alcancen”. ["Don't worry. We will add more water to the beans and there will be plenty." ] These two expressions reflect the relationship of extending the Lord’s table and noticing who is not around the table as a deep sense and commitment of stewardship.”
John Purdue agrees. He says, "Less resources in Hispanic congregations translate into lower giving levels, but I would not be surprised if the percentage of giving was generally higher in the Hispanic than the Anglo community, especially as a percentage of disposable income."
Instead of seeing resources as limited and therefore to be hoarded, Hispanic congregations operate out of a profound belief in the Lord’s Table.”
Joaquin sees such generosity as coming from a sense of faith that God will provide. He says, “The wilderness story is fundamental for the Hispanic/Latino community as immigrants, and the important understanding that even if we are away from our own places of origin, God will be with us because God sustains God’s people. A woman in one of the Hispanic faith communities was giving testimony to how God is present in her working two jobs, and how she has been able to sustain her family here in the states, help her mother and father back home in Latin America, and how she is sending some money to build an evangelical church in her place of origin. The question came: "How are you able to do that?"
Her answer was: "Just as Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the multitude, God makes it possible to multiply our resources to be able to help others”.
Joaquin continues by saying, “The concept of stewardship within the Hispanic/Latino community is rooted in the biblical stories that affirm the faith of the person. In the Exodus passage we know that God provided enough manna for the needs of the people. 'God's word is enough,' is key in our understanding of stewardship: Enough for ourselves, and enough for all the people in the community.”
Why People Give
By J. Clif Christopher
J. Clif Christopher
When I first started working with nonprofits other than churches, I noticed one glaring difference. Nonprofits understood why people give. Not only did they understand why people give, but they structured all of their methods and appeals around such knowledge.
Before I started working with them, I had only my church experience behind me, and I realized that neither I nor the churches had any idea how donors think or why they act the way they do.
In one of my clergy seminars, I put up on a screen a laundry list of reasons people give. I then asked the pastors to choose which ones they felt were the number one, two, and three chief reasons people give. They started blurting out, "taxes, guilt, involvement…" No one was even close. Finally, a lady who had been sitting quietly in the back raised her hand and said, "Number one is a belief in the mission. Number two is a regard for staff leadership, and number three is fiscal responsibility." She was right. I was stunned. I asked her where she was a pastor and she sheepishly said, "I am not a pastor, but my pastor told me about this seminar and thought I might learn something. I am the executive director of Habitat for Humanity."
How revealing was that? The room was full of people who were all nonprofit leaders. The only one who understood why people gave was the one representing the secular organization.
Belief in the Mission
People want to make the world a better place to live. They want to believe that they can truly make a difference for the better. There is embedded in us, it seems, a desire to finish out our work on this earth with a sense that we amounted to something. To sum it up, people want to be a part of something that changes lives.
The best way to raise money for your church is simply to DO YOUR JOB! I get frustrated reading newsletters of church after church that tell me how the men's group is going to have a breakfast on Saturday and the women are going to have a bazaar next Thursday and the youth will have a dance next Friday after the ball game. Then, over in the corner, usually separated by a bold line so that it stands out, I see financial statistics, which usually indicate that a certain amount was needed and a lesser amount was received, with a quote underneath, "God loves a cheerful giver."
When I see that I want to say, "What have I got to be cheerful about?" Did you show me one life story in this newsletter about how the church has been making our world better? Is there one life-changing story in the entire document? Do you really just exist so that men can have breakfast, women a bazaar, and youth can dance? What is it exactly that you want me to support?
Regard for Leadership
What I have learned after working with over two hundred churches is that the person leading the flock makes a lot of difference in whether today's donors contribute as completely as they can. When they see a pastor who has a great vision and shows excellent skills in leadership, they will invest in that pastor's vision and trust in his or her skills to make the hopes of the donor come true.
In every nonprofit with which I have ever worked, at the top of the job description for their executive director is fund-raiser. But the church actually brags about not having the senior pastor involved in finances. In the churches I have worked with in the last dozen years, over half of them have a senior pastor who knows nothing regarding the donor base of the church. When I talk to the lay leadership of those churches, I find that they are actually proud of the fact that they have never had their minister involved with money. This attitude is 180 degrees from what it should be. The interesting thing I have noted is that in fast-growing denominational churches as well as non-denominational churches, the senior pastor ALWAYS has an excellent grasp of what is happening with the donor base.
Responsibility of the Institution
The church is the only nonprofit I know of that seems to believe that the more you cry that you are sinking, the more people will give to you. The exact opposite is true. No nonprofit I know of would ever send out a donor letter stating that they are running a horrible deficit and they just want the donors to help balance the budget. They know that such a letter actually discourages giving rather than motivates it. A nonprofit board will deal with budget matters in a board meeting but never publicize such to its donor base. The church goes out of its way to do just that.
In the nonprofit world, two institutions continue to outperform most of the others. The Salvation Army continues to get more donations each year than any social service agency or group. Harvard University leads all universities in endowment-giving year after year. Do they send out a message that they are dying on the vine and must have one more contribution to stay afloat? No, they say, “We took your money last year and we did great things with it. If you will give us more, we will do more great things.” And people give and give to them. People want results and these institutions give positive results!
J. Clif Christopher is founder of Horizons Stewardship Company. This article is adapted from his new book, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship, ©2008 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.
Why Pastors Should Know Who Gives
By J. Clif Christopher
In every nonprofit with which I have ever worked, at the top of the job description for their executive director is fund-raiser. This is true in all colleges, hospitals, youth groups, children's groups, and other social service agencies. They know if they cannot raise funds, they cannot perform their mission. All nonprofits know this except the church.
In one survey we did we found that that only about 27 percent knew what their members were giving. From those who did not know, it was more or less evenly split between those who were not allowed to know by the church leaders, and those pastors who chose not to know. In my opinion, that 73 percent are making a big mistake if they seriously want to improve financial stewardship in their congregations. What happens when a pastor does not know?
First, when choosing leadership, the pastor often selects people whom he or she perceives to be good leaders and stewards, but they may just have big mouths. I have frequently seen finance committees where the chair and the majority of participants were nowhere close to leading the way in giving.
Second, it prevents the pastor from ever extending a personal thank-you to those who may have given generously. Understand, we are competing with one million nonprofits, all of whom readily thank their donors. The church stands alone, the one place where the CEO will seldom say thank-you for a gift.
Third, and most important, it denies the pastor insight into what is happening within a person's soul. Nothing is more revealing of what is happening inside people's hearts than what decisions they are making with their pocketbook. It is not foolproof, but it is one of the few indicators we have as to a person's relationship with Christ.
Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Saving a person's soul, making disciples for Jesus Christ, and building the kingdom of God is the business we are in. We are in no other business. The involvement of our pastors and staff with money is, and should only be, done to advance the reason we are in business.
J. Clif Christopher is founder of Horizons Stewardship Company. This article is adapted from his new book, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship, ©2008 by Abingdon Press.Used by permission.
Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
1. Teach stewardship as a holistic model of our relationship with God, as the tangible expression of our trust in God. Giving is a spiritual matter as central to faithful living as prayer, Bible study, and worship.
2. Reinforce giving as an act of worship. Use the offering time to lift up the spiritual significance of giving. Take an offering at every service.
3. Set a good example. The pastor should tithe and encourage other ministers, staff, and leaders to do the same. All leaders must take their giving seriously and model generosity.
4. Talk openly about money and faithfulness to God. If leaders are uncomfortable about money then members will be also. Know your story of giving and be willing to testify about it.
5. Model the giving spirit you seek from members in your church budget by giving generously to ministries beyond the congregation.
6. Teach the theology of stewardship through a variety of means -- church school classes, other study venues, sermons, and correspondence. Use stewardship scripture, quotations, and stories in bulletins, newsletters, other printed materials, and the website.
Know what motivates giving
7. Know that people give to many things for a variety of reasons. Few have a well-planned or consistent giving strategy. Some give on impulse. Others are more cautious. Different kinds of appeals are effective with different types of givers.
8. Recognize that people want to make a difference. They will give to what they value.
9. Appreciate that faithful giving is a fruit of spiritual maturity. It takes time and much nurture to develop.
10. Do not engage in fund raising. People give to God, not to raise the preacher’s salary or pay the utilities. Don’t make church gifts “one more bill to pay” – a bill that can be skipped without late fees, penalties, or the need to catch-up. Emphasize giving as a joyful response to God’s generosity, not an obligation.
11. Talk to members about stewardship and opportunities for giving. Most people never increase their giving because they were never asked, nor given compelling reasons to do so. Don’t be afraid to lift up the needs of the church, but always in a way that emphasizes mission.
12. Nurture relationships. People give to persons and organizations where they feel a connection. Church leaders should listen carefully for clues about issues of importance to church members. Personal solicitation is critical, especially for larger gifts.
Do you want more? If so, go to the NAUMF website to get additional tips. (www.nashumf.org/stewardship/). Click on the subpage: “50 Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving.
The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation – a local church stewardship resource
The mission of The United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This involves our answering the call of Christ to be faithful and to be in mission to and with others. That call cannot be accomplished fully without being good stewards of all of God’s resources, including financially.
We must remember that the main reason for giving is not to maintain the church as an institution. The reason we encourage giving is to meet the spiritual need of the giver to share what God has given, in order to grow in faith and to join others in fulfilling our sacred mission.
Giving is a spiritual matter and reflects our commitment to Jesus Christ. The church is concerned with the whole person. The wise stewardship of our financial resources energizes a strong ministry of outreach and assists individual believers to establish and keep a healthy relationship with money and material possessions in their own lives.
The resources and staff of The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation, a ministry serving the Tennessee and Memphis Conferences, are available to the churches and people of these two conferences. Call us for assistance with endowment programs, church loans and investments, estate planning, gift annuities, and other matters regarding stewardship and extending the love of Christ across time.
The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation
Rev. Dr. Vincent (Vin) Walkup
304 S. Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 3, Nashville, TN 37211
(615)259-2008
http://www.nashaumf.org/
John Wesley on Stewardship
“Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” -John Wesley, The Use of Money, 1744
John Wesley’s emphasis on stewardship began with his theological understanding that everything we are and have comes from God. God is at the very beginning of our existence – we did not bring it about ourselves. We are not the creator – we are the created. We did not create the materials that we use to make various items. God has provided us with life, but even more importantly, God provides the grace that leads us to the full life of salvation.
Just as our lives come from God, the ways we use the gifts of life and grace are our offerings back to God. Therefore, Wesley emphasized that both inward and outward holiness matters. How we respond in various circumstances, how we utilize our time, how we spend funds, or how we treat others can be gifts to God when they reflect the holiness of Christ.
One of John Wesley’s famous statements of advice is, “Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” Why? What did he really mean? Wesley talked and wrote at length about how to carry out this advice. Sarah Heaner Lancaster (in “A Year with John Wesley and Our Methodist Values,” p. 48) has summarized his thoughts well:
Wesley put restrictions on the way we gain all we can. Earning money was discouraged if it came at the expense of our own health, whether physical or spiritual. This caution rules out gaining all one can through “workaholism” or through any means that leads us to cheat, lie, or in any way violate the standards that Christians ought to hold. Nor should we earn money at the expense of another person’s physical or spiritual health. The business we conduct should be fitting to a life dedicated to God.
Similarly, the way we save all we can also matters. Wesley’s idea runs much deeper than getting a good deal or buying things on sale. What we buy matters as much as what we pay for it. For Wesley, saving meant avoiding any expense that was simply for our own pleasure, rather than for taking care of a legitimate need. He understood that indulging our desires could lead us away from God. He also understood that spending money on unnecessary items left less for us to give to others. The point of saving is not hoarding; it is giving.
To give all we can is to reflect God’s own generosity and thus to participate in God’s work. We are to manage our money and property to be able to use it for God’s purposes. If we think about the use of money as a spiritual discipline, then we can see that the point is not to give away what we think is extra. The point is to play our role in distributing God’s resources equitably, not denying our own needs, but seeing the needs of others to be as legitimate as our own.
Nothing is Wasted at CCF
Driving into the James A. Cayce Homes, you’ll see Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church. This small congregation with a big heart shelters a Tennessee Conference mission project – Community Care Fellowship (CCF). This ministry – supported through our Conference Advance Special Offering 103 – provides counseling, meals, showers, and laundry facilities to the poor and homeless. Inextricably linked together, Nancy Webb Kelly and CCF share the same philosophy that nothing is wasted.
Nancy Webb Kelly’s pastor and CCF director, Rev. Pat Freudenthal says, “We are good stewards. If there is anything we cannot use that is donated to us, we find someone who can use it. We don’t spend our money extravagantly. Our spending stays within the budget and we work hard to continually add to our base of support. At CCF and NWK, nothing is wasted.”
Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church and the Community Care Fellowship—serving together
This sense of stewardship extends to the building itself. Pat says, “Saturday is the only day that the facility is not used. CCF is open to the homeless and nearly homeless Monday through Friday during the day. We serve as a mailing address for approximately 10 individuals who do not have a physical address and offer a local phone that anyone can use using our operational hours. On Wednesdays, Nancy Webb Kelly has weekly Bible Study and the choir practices one night a week.”
Outreach for Nancy Webb Kelly is not a program; it’s a way of being. Like many missional churches which serve poor populations, Nancy Webb Kelly cannot support itself in full. CCF covers Rev. Freudenthal’s salary while Nancy Webb Kelly pays for the insurance, musician’s salary and curriculum needs. Pat says this congregation proudly pays 100% of its apportionments.
Pat says, “Most of the time we try to complete our apportionments by the 3rd quarter. Not bad when you consider that over 90% of the congregation receives some type of federal assistance. Only two of our children do not receive free lunch/breakfast at school.” While some congregations may see stewardship as the means to fund a budget, Nancy Webb Kelly sees stewardship as a way to live so you can give.
Malawi and Belmont: Giving begets Giving
An ocean separates Malawi and Belmont United Methodist Church, but love unites Methodists in both places. Landlocked in southern Africa, Malawi has many people, but few resources. Only 10% of the population has employment. Belmont United Methodist Church, on the other hand, sits in an affluent section of Nashville. If you think, however, that Malawi Methodists are the sole beneficiaries of this relationship, you’d be mistaken. Malawi has much to teach us about stewardship.
Rev. Herb Mather says, “What strikes North Americans about giving in Malawi is how the offering is taken. Usually one or two children stand in front holding a plate or two plates/basins. Singing begins and people come forward singing, dancing and sometimes waving money to toss it in the plate. Most of them have big smiles as they do this.”
The Christians in Malawi have so little and give so much.
Associate pastor at the Jordonia and Monroe Street charge, Rev. Sherry Harrison agrees, “It is extraordinary to see people with so little give so much and with such enthusiasm. Money is literally thrown into the "offering plate" and thrown with joy. Giving is considered a blessing and honor.”
Such generosity extends to how Malawi Christians welcome strangers. Herb continues, “Their stewardship of hospitality is more dramatic than their stewardship of money. They go all out, preparing a meal beyond their means (See 2 Corinthians 8:3) – usually chicken. It is not uncommon to present a visitor with a gift and that presentation is done with great ceremony. It is awesome and humbling to receive a gift from people that poor.”
The last group visiting from Belmont UMC experienced a taste of that hospitality when villagers constructed a church building in their honor. They used what they had – cardboard.
Tremendous poverty is evident everywhere. Here shelter is constructed from cardboard boxes.
When asked about Malawi’s impact on Belmont, Herb answered, “There is growing awareness and excitement in the connection. Belmont raised $50,000 for Malawi in our capital funds campaign three years ago. This money will build the first unit of a “Conference Centre.” Individuals have given funds to drill about a dozen boreholes (deep wells) and to buy bicycles, treadle sewing machines, treadle irrigation pumps, goats, chickens, and bibles. The Belmont UMW has sent funds for women to start small businesses and for adult literacy because so few Malawi women can read or write.
A 35-year-old couple in Belmont with children ages 3 and 8 are planning to move to Malawi in the fall of 2009 to live among the people there for a year. They want to make themselves available to the church.
Our Christmas Miracle offering this December has a goal of $30,000 and whatever we receive in that offering will go to Malawi for building village churches. $3,000 will pay for the cement, mortar, roof trusses, corrugated metal roofing, and doors for a village church. The overall issue is that Belmont is living out the adage that giving begets giving.
Living for Giving, A Wesleyan View of Stewardship by Bishop Ken Carder
Produced by the Western North Carolina Conference. Made available to Tennessee and Memphis Conferences by the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation Purchase DVD from the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation for $10.00. Download the Study Guide: www.nashaumf.org/Stewardship/
Living for Giving is a five-session study devoted to leading disciples on a journey to uncover the biblical and theological basis for the practice of stewardship as a spiritual discipline. This is a great study anytime during the year
1. Elements of a good stewardship education plan
2. A Homeless Man’s Generous Spirit Lives On
3. Environmental Stewardship
4. God is with us - A Wider definition of Stewardship
5. Why People Give6. Why Pastors Should Know Who Gives
7. Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
8. The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation – a local church stewardship resource, 9. John Wesley on Stewardship
10. Nothing is Wasted at CCF
11. Malawi and Belmont: Giving begets Giving
12. Living for Giving, A Wesleyan View of Stewardship – DVD based study unit by Bishop Ken Carder
___________________________________
Elements of a good stewardship education plan
by Jay Archer*
The Rev. Jay ArcherI would hate to think that my children could only learn about sex from TV, movies, and what was said on the street. I would hope that in church my children would be exposed to better conversation, better perspectives, and more holy practices in regard to such matters. Stewardship involves more than many and things, but it is with money and things that we need the most help in regard to stewardship. The question is: Where do our children learn about money and things? I would hope that in our churches our children would be exposed to the conversation, perspectives and practices involving money and things that reflect God’s wisdom. The Biblical witness would indicate that the matter of money and things, like matters of sexual perspective and practice, are hard for persons of any age to keep in Godly order. That is why each church must have a strong stewardship education plan in place. Good stewardship education does not happen by chance, and for a church to leave stewardship education out of it’s teaching is to keep folk stuck in the world.
In my mind, a good stewardship education plan involves at least 4 key elements.
1. Good stewardship education is presented as a discussion around the fundamental spiritual issues of our relationship to God, not as talk to raise money. One spiritual issue at stake is “who is our Lord?”. Will we serve God or Mammon (money and things)? When we place our hope (or our anxiety, or our proof of our value) in money and things, then we are going after an idol. Another fundamental spiritual issue involving our money and things is “who do we trust?” Some, in truth, feel little need for God as long as they are making it in a material world, and never come to rely on God for the essentials of life. There are lots of spiritual issues at stake with stewardship that strike at the root of our faith relationship with God.
2. Good stewardship education plans focus on disciplined giving. I use the term disciplined to indicate a giving that is based on a faith decision, not a feeling. Feelings come and go, and even a “generous feeling” is likely to be of short duration. Most of us are too captured by the world to feel consistently generous. Disciplined giving involves making choice after choice to act on ones faith, and the more we make the choice to give for reasons of faith, the more our hearts will come to have “generous feelings.”
3. Good stewardship education plans teach percentage giving and tithing.
As a discipline of worship, we are to give a worthy portion of our income to God. What is a worthy portion? Tithing (giving 10% of your income) is a benchmark for such a worthy portion found in the Bible and confirmed by the experience of the people of God. If we are not tithing, giving by percentage is a way to get a handle on disciplined giving as we grow toward a tithe...and beyond.
4. Good stewardship education plans offer an annual stewardship campaign. Stewardship education needs to happen year round, but it is good practice to have a time during the year where the congregational focus is on each person making a disciplined, faithful choice to set a worthy giving goal. An annual stewardship campaign should focus on the spiritual issues involved in giving (not on fund-raising to meet the budget), but the completion of a stewardship card (or “estimate of giving” card, or “commitment” card, spurs the congregant to make a decision about what to give. People can listen to a stewardship sermon and think “that’s interesting” but until the congregant makes a decision based on the wisdom of the sermon, little change happens in the congregant.
A word about Stewardship Ministry
A church can grow from having a good stewardship education plan to being a church that offers effective stewardship ministries . Effective stewardship ministries (such as stewardship mentoring, or small accountability groups, sharing groups or study groups) can bring the deep changes needed to help a person who struggles mightily with money and things. A church that wants to go beyond stewardship education and offer more help to burdened folks (either inside or outside the walls of the church) will want to think in terms of creating a whole stewardship ministry, of which stewardship education is a part.
*Jay Archer is currently serving as the Cookeville DS, but is the former chairperson of the Conference Stewardship Committee.
A Homeless Man’s Generous Spirit Lives On
A few years ago, a homeless man named Oliver had a good day. He showed up at Sixty First Avenue United Methodist Church's Saturday night service, put money in the offering plate and handed five crumpled one-dollar bills to Rev. Nancy Neelley. It was a gift in the truest sense of the word--unmerited and un-requested. Oliver simply wanted to share his good day with others.
Nancy shared the story with Hillcrest United Methodist Church the next day and was challenged to do something powerful. After hearing about Oliver's gift, Hillcrest member Debbie Alvarez said, "Nancy, you've been given the five talents. You'd better pray about what you do with them."
About that time, Hillcrest was planning an alternative gift market called "Manger Marketplace" which supports Heifer International. Out of Debbie's inspiration, Nancy began asking people to match Oliver's $5 so that animals could be purchased through Heifer for those needing a viable way to make a living. The story traveled through email and the Tennessee Conference Review, resulting in Oliver's gift being multiplied hundreds of times over.
Nancy Neelley and OliverUpon learning how the money was being used, Oliver contributed twenty additional dollars, saying that he had more than he needed. He continued giving each Christmas until his death.
This story took an interesting turn recently at Sixty First Avenue's 2008 health fair and carnival. Oliver had wanted to find his daughter, Missy, who was adopted by another family at an early age. The event was in full gear, when Nancy (who was there to help promote Nothing But Nets) overheard a young lady say to Pastor Paul Slentz, "My birth father was Oliver. I heard that you have a picture of him." The picture was the one shown in this article, taken when the story was first told.
Missy doesn't know much about Oliver, but has this to say: "I know that my dad would be happy! I want people to know that even though that I never heard his voice or knew my dad in anyway, I love him and it's good to see part of my dad still alive by helping others." If you would like to help keep Oliver's wish for helping others alive, you may make your check payable to Hillcrest UMC (noting Oliver's Fund), and mail it to the church at 5112 Raywood Lane, Nashville, TN 37211.
Nancy Neelley is a deacon serving at United Methodist Communications and Sixty First Avenue United Methodist Church. Manger Marketplace will be held on Saturday, December 6 from 9-2. For more information on Heifer International, go to http://www.blogger.com/www.heifer.org.
Environmental Stewardship
By: Ryan Bennett, pastor Pleasant View UMC
Pleasant View UMCStewardship is stewardship! This is what I have come to learn. Those who have been reading The Review lately have seen a series of articles from The Wanderers Sunday School Class of Pleasant View UMC. The class looked at the idea of environmental stewardship in conjunction with the book, Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth. This study had an effect on all areas of their stewardship. Several began tithing, they began looking at how they spent their time and talents and resources. Stewardship is stewardship!
Often times, however, when stewardship is addressed, the environment is not mentioned. Psalm 24 reminds us “the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it; all who live in it.” A steward is one who looks after something on behalf of someone else. As God gave dominion of the earth to humanity, with that authority came a command to rule over it wisely. It is in ruling wisely over God’s world that we are being good stewards. As Jesus showed, the whole of the law can be summed up in how we love God and how we love our neighbor. Love of the creator translates into a love of the creation, and a love of neighbor means you want to protect the very things they need to live – clean air, clean water, and a clean food supply. We do this not only for our neighbors now, but also for our neighbors of future generations. Environmental stewardship is at the heart of a holistic view of stewardship. It is the original form of stewardship.
“Undated picture of one of the thousands of landfills nationwide where over 500 million pounds of waste is housed each year"In looking at how to be better stewards of the environment, the old adage Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is still key. Not only are each important in the area of environmental stewardship, but they work in harmony together to care for the creation and those who live in it. Reducing our consumption and waste impacts the trees, land, and resources that are destroyed to keep up with the world’s demand. Reducing our waste keeps new landfills from having to be created and new ways of disposing trash to have to be found. Ways we can reduce center around using things that are reusable instead of disposable, and recycling things that are not reusable in their current form. It takes a little more effort at times but the results are huge. At Pleasant View UMC, we realized we were using $1500 in disposable dinnerware each year. By going to reusable dinnerware and washing it after church dinners, not only do we save that $1500 but also the money we were spending for more frequent trash pick-ups. The impact stretches to the landfills that are not getting our garbage and the resources not having to be allocated to create the disposable dinnerware for us to use.
Another key area to think about with environmental stewardship is in energy usage. Not only in reducing the electricity, water, and gas we consume, but also in using energy that comes from reusable resources. Much of our electricity is produced from coal which is burned and gone forever. Many practices in harvesting coal destroy the creation, too. One only needs to go to Redbird Missionary Conference in eastern, Kentucky once to see the effects of mountain topping, blowing up the tops of mountains to harvest coal. Our church has purchased through TVA (http://www.greenpowerswitch.com/) blocks of green power to cover our energy usage to ensure that the energy being used at the church comes from renewable energy sources like wind, water, and the sun that do not harm our environment.
There is a great deal more to environmental stewardship, but as Dr. Sleeth says, “it is about baby steps. To climb Mount Everest you go from base camp to base camp.” But isn’t that the way it is with all forms of stewardship? After all, stewardship is stewardship!
God is with us - A Wider definition of Stewardship
Mention stewardship to many Methodists and they groan. Visions of stewardship Sundays and pledge cards dance in their head. Mention stewardship to a group of Hispanic pastors, however, and you get a very different answer.
Rev. John Purdue met recently with a group of Hispanic pastors and asked them how their congregations understand stewardship. Some of these pastors feel that Anglo churches live and die by their budgets, while Hispanic congregations see themselves as more responsive to the Holy Spirit. Instead of seeing resources as limited and therefore to be hoarded, these congregations operate out of a profound belief in the Lord’s Table.
Director of Hispanic Ministries for the Tennessee Conference, Joaquin Garcia says, “There are two very common expressions in the Hispanic community. “Mi casa es su casa”. [My home is your home.] And when a person comes to your house and the table is extended to the unexpected guest, you say “ No se preocupe. Le hechamos mas agua a los frijoles para que alcancen”. ["Don't worry. We will add more water to the beans and there will be plenty." ] These two expressions reflect the relationship of extending the Lord’s table and noticing who is not around the table as a deep sense and commitment of stewardship.”
John Purdue agrees. He says, "Less resources in Hispanic congregations translate into lower giving levels, but I would not be surprised if the percentage of giving was generally higher in the Hispanic than the Anglo community, especially as a percentage of disposable income."
Instead of seeing resources as limited and therefore to be hoarded, Hispanic congregations operate out of a profound belief in the Lord’s Table.”Joaquin sees such generosity as coming from a sense of faith that God will provide. He says, “The wilderness story is fundamental for the Hispanic/Latino community as immigrants, and the important understanding that even if we are away from our own places of origin, God will be with us because God sustains God’s people. A woman in one of the Hispanic faith communities was giving testimony to how God is present in her working two jobs, and how she has been able to sustain her family here in the states, help her mother and father back home in Latin America, and how she is sending some money to build an evangelical church in her place of origin. The question came: "How are you able to do that?"
Her answer was: "Just as Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the multitude, God makes it possible to multiply our resources to be able to help others”.
Joaquin continues by saying, “The concept of stewardship within the Hispanic/Latino community is rooted in the biblical stories that affirm the faith of the person. In the Exodus passage we know that God provided enough manna for the needs of the people. 'God's word is enough,' is key in our understanding of stewardship: Enough for ourselves, and enough for all the people in the community.”
Why People Give
By J. Clif Christopher
J. Clif ChristopherWhen I first started working with nonprofits other than churches, I noticed one glaring difference. Nonprofits understood why people give. Not only did they understand why people give, but they structured all of their methods and appeals around such knowledge.
Before I started working with them, I had only my church experience behind me, and I realized that neither I nor the churches had any idea how donors think or why they act the way they do.
In one of my clergy seminars, I put up on a screen a laundry list of reasons people give. I then asked the pastors to choose which ones they felt were the number one, two, and three chief reasons people give. They started blurting out, "taxes, guilt, involvement…" No one was even close. Finally, a lady who had been sitting quietly in the back raised her hand and said, "Number one is a belief in the mission. Number two is a regard for staff leadership, and number three is fiscal responsibility." She was right. I was stunned. I asked her where she was a pastor and she sheepishly said, "I am not a pastor, but my pastor told me about this seminar and thought I might learn something. I am the executive director of Habitat for Humanity."
How revealing was that? The room was full of people who were all nonprofit leaders. The only one who understood why people gave was the one representing the secular organization.
Belief in the Mission
People want to make the world a better place to live. They want to believe that they can truly make a difference for the better. There is embedded in us, it seems, a desire to finish out our work on this earth with a sense that we amounted to something. To sum it up, people want to be a part of something that changes lives.
The best way to raise money for your church is simply to DO YOUR JOB! I get frustrated reading newsletters of church after church that tell me how the men's group is going to have a breakfast on Saturday and the women are going to have a bazaar next Thursday and the youth will have a dance next Friday after the ball game. Then, over in the corner, usually separated by a bold line so that it stands out, I see financial statistics, which usually indicate that a certain amount was needed and a lesser amount was received, with a quote underneath, "God loves a cheerful giver."
When I see that I want to say, "What have I got to be cheerful about?" Did you show me one life story in this newsletter about how the church has been making our world better? Is there one life-changing story in the entire document? Do you really just exist so that men can have breakfast, women a bazaar, and youth can dance? What is it exactly that you want me to support?
Regard for Leadership
What I have learned after working with over two hundred churches is that the person leading the flock makes a lot of difference in whether today's donors contribute as completely as they can. When they see a pastor who has a great vision and shows excellent skills in leadership, they will invest in that pastor's vision and trust in his or her skills to make the hopes of the donor come true.
In every nonprofit with which I have ever worked, at the top of the job description for their executive director is fund-raiser. But the church actually brags about not having the senior pastor involved in finances. In the churches I have worked with in the last dozen years, over half of them have a senior pastor who knows nothing regarding the donor base of the church. When I talk to the lay leadership of those churches, I find that they are actually proud of the fact that they have never had their minister involved with money. This attitude is 180 degrees from what it should be. The interesting thing I have noted is that in fast-growing denominational churches as well as non-denominational churches, the senior pastor ALWAYS has an excellent grasp of what is happening with the donor base.
Responsibility of the Institution
The church is the only nonprofit I know of that seems to believe that the more you cry that you are sinking, the more people will give to you. The exact opposite is true. No nonprofit I know of would ever send out a donor letter stating that they are running a horrible deficit and they just want the donors to help balance the budget. They know that such a letter actually discourages giving rather than motivates it. A nonprofit board will deal with budget matters in a board meeting but never publicize such to its donor base. The church goes out of its way to do just that.
In the nonprofit world, two institutions continue to outperform most of the others. The Salvation Army continues to get more donations each year than any social service agency or group. Harvard University leads all universities in endowment-giving year after year. Do they send out a message that they are dying on the vine and must have one more contribution to stay afloat? No, they say, “We took your money last year and we did great things with it. If you will give us more, we will do more great things.” And people give and give to them. People want results and these institutions give positive results!
J. Clif Christopher is founder of Horizons Stewardship Company. This article is adapted from his new book, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship, ©2008 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.
Why Pastors Should Know Who Gives
By J. Clif Christopher
In every nonprofit with which I have ever worked, at the top of the job description for their executive director is fund-raiser. This is true in all colleges, hospitals, youth groups, children's groups, and other social service agencies. They know if they cannot raise funds, they cannot perform their mission. All nonprofits know this except the church.
In one survey we did we found that that only about 27 percent knew what their members were giving. From those who did not know, it was more or less evenly split between those who were not allowed to know by the church leaders, and those pastors who chose not to know. In my opinion, that 73 percent are making a big mistake if they seriously want to improve financial stewardship in their congregations. What happens when a pastor does not know?
First, when choosing leadership, the pastor often selects people whom he or she perceives to be good leaders and stewards, but they may just have big mouths. I have frequently seen finance committees where the chair and the majority of participants were nowhere close to leading the way in giving.
Second, it prevents the pastor from ever extending a personal thank-you to those who may have given generously. Understand, we are competing with one million nonprofits, all of whom readily thank their donors. The church stands alone, the one place where the CEO will seldom say thank-you for a gift.
Third, and most important, it denies the pastor insight into what is happening within a person's soul. Nothing is more revealing of what is happening inside people's hearts than what decisions they are making with their pocketbook. It is not foolproof, but it is one of the few indicators we have as to a person's relationship with Christ.
Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Saving a person's soul, making disciples for Jesus Christ, and building the kingdom of God is the business we are in. We are in no other business. The involvement of our pastors and staff with money is, and should only be, done to advance the reason we are in business.
J. Clif Christopher is founder of Horizons Stewardship Company. This article is adapted from his new book, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship, ©2008 by Abingdon Press.Used by permission.
Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
1. Teach stewardship as a holistic model of our relationship with God, as the tangible expression of our trust in God. Giving is a spiritual matter as central to faithful living as prayer, Bible study, and worship.
2. Reinforce giving as an act of worship. Use the offering time to lift up the spiritual significance of giving. Take an offering at every service.
3. Set a good example. The pastor should tithe and encourage other ministers, staff, and leaders to do the same. All leaders must take their giving seriously and model generosity.
4. Talk openly about money and faithfulness to God. If leaders are uncomfortable about money then members will be also. Know your story of giving and be willing to testify about it.
5. Model the giving spirit you seek from members in your church budget by giving generously to ministries beyond the congregation.
6. Teach the theology of stewardship through a variety of means -- church school classes, other study venues, sermons, and correspondence. Use stewardship scripture, quotations, and stories in bulletins, newsletters, other printed materials, and the website.
Know what motivates giving
7. Know that people give to many things for a variety of reasons. Few have a well-planned or consistent giving strategy. Some give on impulse. Others are more cautious. Different kinds of appeals are effective with different types of givers.
8. Recognize that people want to make a difference. They will give to what they value.
9. Appreciate that faithful giving is a fruit of spiritual maturity. It takes time and much nurture to develop.
10. Do not engage in fund raising. People give to God, not to raise the preacher’s salary or pay the utilities. Don’t make church gifts “one more bill to pay” – a bill that can be skipped without late fees, penalties, or the need to catch-up. Emphasize giving as a joyful response to God’s generosity, not an obligation.
11. Talk to members about stewardship and opportunities for giving. Most people never increase their giving because they were never asked, nor given compelling reasons to do so. Don’t be afraid to lift up the needs of the church, but always in a way that emphasizes mission.
12. Nurture relationships. People give to persons and organizations where they feel a connection. Church leaders should listen carefully for clues about issues of importance to church members. Personal solicitation is critical, especially for larger gifts.
Do you want more? If so, go to the NAUMF website to get additional tips. (www.nashumf.org/stewardship/). Click on the subpage: “50 Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving.
The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation – a local church stewardship resource
The mission of The United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This involves our answering the call of Christ to be faithful and to be in mission to and with others. That call cannot be accomplished fully without being good stewards of all of God’s resources, including financially.
We must remember that the main reason for giving is not to maintain the church as an institution. The reason we encourage giving is to meet the spiritual need of the giver to share what God has given, in order to grow in faith and to join others in fulfilling our sacred mission.
Giving is a spiritual matter and reflects our commitment to Jesus Christ. The church is concerned with the whole person. The wise stewardship of our financial resources energizes a strong ministry of outreach and assists individual believers to establish and keep a healthy relationship with money and material possessions in their own lives.
The resources and staff of The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation, a ministry serving the Tennessee and Memphis Conferences, are available to the churches and people of these two conferences. Call us for assistance with endowment programs, church loans and investments, estate planning, gift annuities, and other matters regarding stewardship and extending the love of Christ across time.
The Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation
Rev. Dr. Vincent (Vin) Walkup
304 S. Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 3, Nashville, TN 37211
(615)259-2008
http://www.nashaumf.org/
John Wesley on Stewardship
“Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” -John Wesley, The Use of Money, 1744
John Wesley’s emphasis on stewardship began with his theological understanding that everything we are and have comes from God. God is at the very beginning of our existence – we did not bring it about ourselves. We are not the creator – we are the created. We did not create the materials that we use to make various items. God has provided us with life, but even more importantly, God provides the grace that leads us to the full life of salvation.Just as our lives come from God, the ways we use the gifts of life and grace are our offerings back to God. Therefore, Wesley emphasized that both inward and outward holiness matters. How we respond in various circumstances, how we utilize our time, how we spend funds, or how we treat others can be gifts to God when they reflect the holiness of Christ.
One of John Wesley’s famous statements of advice is, “Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” Why? What did he really mean? Wesley talked and wrote at length about how to carry out this advice. Sarah Heaner Lancaster (in “A Year with John Wesley and Our Methodist Values,” p. 48) has summarized his thoughts well:
Wesley put restrictions on the way we gain all we can. Earning money was discouraged if it came at the expense of our own health, whether physical or spiritual. This caution rules out gaining all one can through “workaholism” or through any means that leads us to cheat, lie, or in any way violate the standards that Christians ought to hold. Nor should we earn money at the expense of another person’s physical or spiritual health. The business we conduct should be fitting to a life dedicated to God.
Similarly, the way we save all we can also matters. Wesley’s idea runs much deeper than getting a good deal or buying things on sale. What we buy matters as much as what we pay for it. For Wesley, saving meant avoiding any expense that was simply for our own pleasure, rather than for taking care of a legitimate need. He understood that indulging our desires could lead us away from God. He also understood that spending money on unnecessary items left less for us to give to others. The point of saving is not hoarding; it is giving.
To give all we can is to reflect God’s own generosity and thus to participate in God’s work. We are to manage our money and property to be able to use it for God’s purposes. If we think about the use of money as a spiritual discipline, then we can see that the point is not to give away what we think is extra. The point is to play our role in distributing God’s resources equitably, not denying our own needs, but seeing the needs of others to be as legitimate as our own.
Nothing is Wasted at CCF
Driving into the James A. Cayce Homes, you’ll see Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church. This small congregation with a big heart shelters a Tennessee Conference mission project – Community Care Fellowship (CCF). This ministry – supported through our Conference Advance Special Offering 103 – provides counseling, meals, showers, and laundry facilities to the poor and homeless. Inextricably linked together, Nancy Webb Kelly and CCF share the same philosophy that nothing is wasted.
Nancy Webb Kelly’s pastor and CCF director, Rev. Pat Freudenthal says, “We are good stewards. If there is anything we cannot use that is donated to us, we find someone who can use it. We don’t spend our money extravagantly. Our spending stays within the budget and we work hard to continually add to our base of support. At CCF and NWK, nothing is wasted.”
Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church and the Community Care Fellowship—serving togetherThis sense of stewardship extends to the building itself. Pat says, “Saturday is the only day that the facility is not used. CCF is open to the homeless and nearly homeless Monday through Friday during the day. We serve as a mailing address for approximately 10 individuals who do not have a physical address and offer a local phone that anyone can use using our operational hours. On Wednesdays, Nancy Webb Kelly has weekly Bible Study and the choir practices one night a week.”
Outreach for Nancy Webb Kelly is not a program; it’s a way of being. Like many missional churches which serve poor populations, Nancy Webb Kelly cannot support itself in full. CCF covers Rev. Freudenthal’s salary while Nancy Webb Kelly pays for the insurance, musician’s salary and curriculum needs. Pat says this congregation proudly pays 100% of its apportionments.
Pat says, “Most of the time we try to complete our apportionments by the 3rd quarter. Not bad when you consider that over 90% of the congregation receives some type of federal assistance. Only two of our children do not receive free lunch/breakfast at school.” While some congregations may see stewardship as the means to fund a budget, Nancy Webb Kelly sees stewardship as a way to live so you can give.
Malawi and Belmont: Giving begets Giving
An ocean separates Malawi and Belmont United Methodist Church, but love unites Methodists in both places. Landlocked in southern Africa, Malawi has many people, but few resources. Only 10% of the population has employment. Belmont United Methodist Church, on the other hand, sits in an affluent section of Nashville. If you think, however, that Malawi Methodists are the sole beneficiaries of this relationship, you’d be mistaken. Malawi has much to teach us about stewardship.
Rev. Herb Mather says, “What strikes North Americans about giving in Malawi is how the offering is taken. Usually one or two children stand in front holding a plate or two plates/basins. Singing begins and people come forward singing, dancing and sometimes waving money to toss it in the plate. Most of them have big smiles as they do this.”
The Christians in Malawi have so little and give so much.Associate pastor at the Jordonia and Monroe Street charge, Rev. Sherry Harrison agrees, “It is extraordinary to see people with so little give so much and with such enthusiasm. Money is literally thrown into the "offering plate" and thrown with joy. Giving is considered a blessing and honor.”
Such generosity extends to how Malawi Christians welcome strangers. Herb continues, “Their stewardship of hospitality is more dramatic than their stewardship of money. They go all out, preparing a meal beyond their means (See 2 Corinthians 8:3) – usually chicken. It is not uncommon to present a visitor with a gift and that presentation is done with great ceremony. It is awesome and humbling to receive a gift from people that poor.”
The last group visiting from Belmont UMC experienced a taste of that hospitality when villagers constructed a church building in their honor. They used what they had – cardboard.
Tremendous poverty is evident everywhere. Here shelter is constructed from cardboard boxes.When asked about Malawi’s impact on Belmont, Herb answered, “There is growing awareness and excitement in the connection. Belmont raised $50,000 for Malawi in our capital funds campaign three years ago. This money will build the first unit of a “Conference Centre.” Individuals have given funds to drill about a dozen boreholes (deep wells) and to buy bicycles, treadle sewing machines, treadle irrigation pumps, goats, chickens, and bibles. The Belmont UMW has sent funds for women to start small businesses and for adult literacy because so few Malawi women can read or write.
A 35-year-old couple in Belmont with children ages 3 and 8 are planning to move to Malawi in the fall of 2009 to live among the people there for a year. They want to make themselves available to the church.
Our Christmas Miracle offering this December has a goal of $30,000 and whatever we receive in that offering will go to Malawi for building village churches. $3,000 will pay for the cement, mortar, roof trusses, corrugated metal roofing, and doors for a village church. The overall issue is that Belmont is living out the adage that giving begets giving.
Living for Giving, A Wesleyan View of Stewardship by Bishop Ken Carder
Produced by the Western North Carolina Conference. Made available to Tennessee and Memphis Conferences by the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation Purchase DVD from the Nashville Area United Methodist Foundation for $10.00. Download the Study Guide: www.nashaumf.org/Stewardship/Living for Giving is a five-session study devoted to leading disciples on a journey to uncover the biblical and theological basis for the practice of stewardship as a spiritual discipline. This is a great study anytime during the year
posted by TN Conference UMC @ 1:32 PM
<< Home