Stewardship and Mission
Stewardship 101 .. Some Basic Ideas on How to Teach About
Giving
Recommended Reading
Giving to Charities
Ecclesial Practices
Four Special Mission Offerings
Guidelines for Behavioral Covenants
A Covenant of Leadership
Ecclesial
Practices
From Craig Dykstra, Growing in the Life of Christian Faith (Theology and
Worship Ministry Unit, Presbyterian Church, (V S A), 1989), p. 2 7-28.
1. Worshiping God together--praising
God, giving thanks for God's creative and redemptive work in the world, hearing God's word
preached and receiving the sacraments given to us in Christ.
2. Telling the Christian story to one another--reading and
hearing the Scriptures and also the stories of the church's experience throughout its
history.
3. Interpreting together the Scriptures and the history of the
church's experience, particularly in relation to their meaning for our own lives in the
world.
4. Praying--together and by ourselves--not only in formal
services of worship, but in all times and places.
5. Confessing our sin to one another, and forgiving and
becoming reconciled with one another.
6.Tolerating one another's failures and encouraging one
another in the work each must do and the vocation each must live.
7. Carrying out specific faithful acts of service and witness
together.
8. Suffering with and for each other and all whom Jesus showed
us to be our neighbors.
9. Providing hospitality and care, not only to one another but
to strangers.
10. Listening and talking attentively to one another about our
particular experiences in life.
11. Struggling together to become conscious of and understand
the nature of the context in which we live.
12. Criticizing and resisting all those powers and patterns
(both within the church and in the world as a whole) that destroy human beings, corrode
human community, and injure God's creation.
13. Working together to maintain and create social structures
and institutions which will sustain life in the world in ways that accord with God's will.
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Recommended Reading
Beyond Maintenance to Mission: A Theology of the Congregation
by Craig L. Nessan, Fortress Press, 1999.
Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America
edited by Darrell L. Guder, Eerdmans, 1998.
Leading Change in the Congregation: Spiritual and Organizational Tools for
Leaders
by Gilbert R. Rendle, Alban Institute, 1998.
Discerning God's Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church
by Danny E. Morris & Charles M. Olson, Alban Institute, 1997.
By Grace Transformed (Christianity for a New Millennium) by N
Gordon Cosby, Crossword Publishing, 1999.
Feed My Shepherds (Spiritual Healing and Renewal for those in Christian
Leadership) by Flora Slosson Wuellner, Upper Room Books, 1998
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Four
Special Mission Offerings
That the United Church of Christ can more fully engage in God's mission!
Beginning in February of 2001, the United Church of Christ will
promote four denomination-wide offerings. Promotional materials for each offering
will be shipped to every congregation helping us to see that when it comes to mission, we
are, together, a united church. The national Ministry will provide a report for each
offering, telling the stories of how the money given was used in God's name. The
four offerings will be:
One Great Hour of Sharing: Giving
Help, Hope and Life
Season: Lent
Here we support disaster relief, economic development, refugee resettlement, health care
and social service in over 70 countries including the United States and Canada. This
offering will help to transform the quality of life for individuals and communities.
Strengthen the Church: Faithfully Building the Body of Christ
Season: Pentecost, Thanksgiving or a special anniversary
Here we share in our growth and future as local congregations and Conferences. We
further commit to be multi-cultural, multi-racial, and accessible to all. We renew
existing congregations and fund leadership for new ones. We support exciting
programs for youth and young adults as well as leadership development.
Neighbors in Need: Justice and Compassion Like a Mighty Stream
Season: late September through early October
Here we express our commitment to justice and compassion, as we speak prophetically to
those in power and advocate for the voiceless. W4e give to confront evil and
alleviate suffering. We also support the work of the Council for American Indian
Ministry. We will work to eradicate hunger and promote peace.
The Christmas Fund: Remembering Those Who Serve the Church
Season: Advent/Christmas
Here we help to provide emergency grants for active or retired clergy and send gift-checks
at Christmas to low-income retired clergy and widowed spouses. We assist lay and
clergy retirees by supplementing the unusually low pensions of some and assist with health
insurance premiums where needed.
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Giving to Charities
How do you decide who to support and what to
give
them? We're all faced with numerous requests from countless organizations, many with
excellent causes and real needs.
To help you give "wisely,' the National Center for Charitable Statistics works
closely with the IRS and other government agencies, private sector service organizations,
and the scholarly community, to build compatible national, state, and regional databases
and develops uniform standards for reporting on the activities of charitable
organizations.
To explore state level data on charitable giving, visit this website: http://nccs.urban.org/
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Stewardship
101
-from the Southeast Association of the Wisconsin Conference, United Church of Christ
Many of us are frustrated with the task of stewardship education ...
how to talk to people about Christian stewardship. We know that good stewardship is
essential for the health of the Church, it's not an 'option.' All of us probably
need a good dose of assurance and motivation that good stewardship is possible!
Here are some basic concepts that are worth considering before adopting specific tactics
or strategies.
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Guidelines
for Behavioral Covenants in Congregations
Reprinted by permission of the Alban Institute from Behavioral Covenants in
We will remember that our work here today is a part of our spiritual
leadership of our congregation. We will treat this work and one another with
respect.
In our conversations we will focus on issues and behavior.
We will not talk about people and personalities.
When talking about events or issues in our congregation, we will seek to use
words and sentences that describe the situation and seek not to use words and sentences
that evaluate the situation.
We will talk about our own experience and understanding by using the word
"I" frequently. We will not talk about hearsay and rumor, and we will not
use words such as "some people" or "everyone."
We will share information with the full group appropriately so that everyone
has the information that they need, and we will not reserve our comments for after the
meeting or to be shared only with people who agree with us.
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A Covenant of Leadership
Our Promises to God
We promise to pray, alone and together, to thank God and to
ask for God's help in our lives and in the work for our Church, and we promise to listen
to God's answer for us.
Our Promises to our Church Family
We promise to demonstrate our leadership and commitment to our Church by
our example.
We promise to support our Church
pastors and staff so that their efforts can be most productive.
We promise to try and discover what
is best for our Church as a whole, not what might be best for us or for some small group
in the Church.
Our Promises to Each Other on (The Governing Board)
We promise to respect and care for each other.
We
promise to treat our time on (the Board) as an opportunity to make an important gift to
our Church.
We
promise to listen with an open, nonjudgmental mind to the words and ideas of the others in
our Church and on (the Board).
We
promise to discuss, debate and disagree openly in (Board) meetings, expressing ourselves
as clearly and honestly as possible, so that we are certain that the (Board) understands
our point of view.
We
promise to support the final decision of (the Board), whether it reflects our view or not.
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Resources
Learn more about the people who
live next door but who are not coming to your church:
www.link2lead.com
http://ext.nazarene.org/m3/scr/ucc.exe
Find out more about broad trends in American church life:
www.fact.hartsem.edu
Snag an eleventh hour quotation for the newsletter or sermon:
www.brainyquote.com
Wisconsin
Conference UCC
4459 Gray Rd.