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Transforming Stewardship
At once a “travel guide” and a vision for the future, this series is good news for the Episcopal Church at a time of fast and furious demographic and social change. It analyzes the present plight of the church and sketches a positive way forward, sprouting from the seeds of change―those transformative practices already at work renewing the church. What church models can help point us toward transformation? What are the essential tools? What will give us strength, direction, and purpose to the journey? Each volume of the series For most Episcopalians, stewardship is synonymous with pledge drives, budgets, and capital campaigns, but the Bible is clear that God wants more than our tithes and offerings. Looking to its scriptural roots in 1 Chronicles, Luke-Acts, and the letters of Paul, as well as St. Francis’ “third way,” Robertson offers a vision of holistic stewardship for the whole church, holistic because it can’t be separated from evangelism, outreach, scripture study, and ministry to the newcomer. It does not involve strong-arm tactics, only a willingness to risk changing existing structures and ideas in order to enrich the faith community and strengthen connections to the neighboring world. Transforming Stewardship delivers both good and bad news about Episcopalians and stewardship. Robertson provides essential models and spiritual practices in order to transform the church’s outmoded attitudes toward stewardship and wealth into a broader context of faith.
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
July 16, 2012
I just finished studying this book. I had to read it because I am now the chair of the Stewardship Committee at my church. My priest recommended it.
First, the positives.
This is a good book that gives a lot of insight on the philosophy behind stewardship and has very good practical tips and sample paperwork especially for someone in an Episcopal church. By the way, in an Episcopal church the budget should be built entirely on yearly pledges.
Some of the main points are as follows. A Stewardship Committee should not only organize the pledge drive in the fall, but have a year-round presence in the church. The work of the committee is not only about the stewardship of money, but of time, talent, and money.
The whole church should first discern what are its identity, vision, and mission (the author uses the term "sacred bundle"). This should be done with a lot of discussion and a maximum input from the congregation, only then one can hope for a maximum buy-in during the pledge campaign.
The author suggests that there should not be the same pledge letter going to everyone. He talks about four categories:
1.Apostles (very few, and not neccessarily the big givers, but they are very committed and active and know what the church is about);
2.Contributors - 80% of all those pledging;
3.Teens and Children - each child and teen receives a separate letter;
4.Seekers (newcomers).
He also suggests personalizing the letters to contributors according to generations. He has sample letters included in the book. That was very helpful.
I also liked how he introduced David, Barnabas, and Francis of Assisi as "tour guides" into stewardship.
Now the negatives.
This book is so hard to read! And no, you cannot exactly skim it. There are parts that cannot be skimmed.
By the way, he calls a Stewardship Committee an ACTS Comission. And, yes, I had to read everythng leading up to the ACTS Commission to understand that.
The timeline that the author suggests is spread out here and there and is not really spelled out in one page - it would have been so nice to have a one-page diagram of the whole process. Also, from what I understood, it is more of a year and several months process. So it seems that there is no way a church can do it this way every year! So why not have several sample timelines (longer, shorter,...)? That would have been so helpful and not because I necessarily want to copy the process to a minute detail, but because I first need to understand how he sees the timeline to come up with a timeline for our church.
For a newbee in stewardship like myself the task of studying this book was arduous. Perhaps, it would have been easier if I were more experienced in stewardship.
First, the positives.
This is a good book that gives a lot of insight on the philosophy behind stewardship and has very good practical tips and sample paperwork especially for someone in an Episcopal church. By the way, in an Episcopal church the budget should be built entirely on yearly pledges.
Some of the main points are as follows. A Stewardship Committee should not only organize the pledge drive in the fall, but have a year-round presence in the church. The work of the committee is not only about the stewardship of money, but of time, talent, and money.
The whole church should first discern what are its identity, vision, and mission (the author uses the term "sacred bundle"). This should be done with a lot of discussion and a maximum input from the congregation, only then one can hope for a maximum buy-in during the pledge campaign.
The author suggests that there should not be the same pledge letter going to everyone. He talks about four categories:
1.Apostles (very few, and not neccessarily the big givers, but they are very committed and active and know what the church is about);
2.Contributors - 80% of all those pledging;
3.Teens and Children - each child and teen receives a separate letter;
4.Seekers (newcomers).
He also suggests personalizing the letters to contributors according to generations. He has sample letters included in the book. That was very helpful.
I also liked how he introduced David, Barnabas, and Francis of Assisi as "tour guides" into stewardship.
Now the negatives.
This book is so hard to read! And no, you cannot exactly skim it. There are parts that cannot be skimmed.
By the way, he calls a Stewardship Committee an ACTS Comission. And, yes, I had to read everythng leading up to the ACTS Commission to understand that.
The timeline that the author suggests is spread out here and there and is not really spelled out in one page - it would have been so nice to have a one-page diagram of the whole process. Also, from what I understood, it is more of a year and several months process. So it seems that there is no way a church can do it this way every year! So why not have several sample timelines (longer, shorter,...)? That would have been so helpful and not because I necessarily want to copy the process to a minute detail, but because I first need to understand how he sees the timeline to come up with a timeline for our church.
For a newbee in stewardship like myself the task of studying this book was arduous. Perhaps, it would have been easier if I were more experienced in stewardship.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review