This is the place to find
resources for this month's stewardship activities. These are
ideas for a stewardship activity or program for each month of the
year.
February 2012
– One
Great Hour of Sharing
Set
the date to receive the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. Most
congregations choose Palm Sunday (April 1) or Easter Sunday
(April 8). Promotional materials will be sent to each
congregation. Make sure that you have received enough of
everything you will use and order more if necessary.
Check the
One Great Hour of Sharing website for additional ideas and
resources. Consider whether any of these ideas might strengthen your
promotional efforts this year. Be sure to assign responsibility for
"Minutes for Mission". Let those who are preparing minutes for
mission know about the PC(USA) website.
Download the 2012 Special Offerings Calendar
January 2012
– Souper Bowl of Caring
Plan on participating in the Souper
Bowl of Caring on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2011. The Souper Bowl of Caring is
a
faith initiative, as the idea was born of a simple prayer: "Lord,
even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of
those who are without a bowl of soup to eat" is inspiring a
youth-led movement to help hungry and hurting people around the
world.
Last year the Souper
Bowl of Caring raised over $9,580,000 in cash and food items for
local charities. Register your group on the
Souper Bowl of Caring web
site and see your results added to the national total.
Since
1990, ordinary
young people have generated an extraordinary $80 million for soup
kitchens, food banks and other charities in communities across the
country. In addition, our youth have experienced for themselves the
joy and satisfaction of giving and serving, inspiring people of all
ages to follow their generous example.
Click Here for more
information on the Souper Bowl of Caring.
December 2011
–
Planning for 2012
Most
church budgets start on January 1st, so this is the time for
financial planning. The first step is an annual
financial plan that forecasts your church's income and expenses for
the next year. The next step is to look at how and when the
members of your congregation give to your church.
-
Do they give to
support mission programs?
-
Do they give in
response to local community needs (food pantry, homeless shelter,
Red Cross, Hospice)?
-
Do they give when
there's an urgent need in the church (furnace goes out, roof leaks)?
-
Do they give for
disaster relief (hurricane, tornados, floods)?
-
Do they give to the
PC(USA) special offerings (Christmas Joy or One Great Hour of
Sharing)?
-
Do they give to
free-will offerings (Souper Bowl)?
-
Do they give
to the Sunday worship plate offerings?
Your congregation
probably gives generously, but not to everything every time.
Not everyone will give to every cause or purpose, but everyone will
give to some causes or purposes.
Stewardship is not
about asking people for money. It's about matching financial
needs to the resources available in your congregation.
It's the job of church leaders to understand how individuals in your
congregation give and aligning that with the needs of the local and
greater church.
Click Here for
ideas on reaching out to all the members of your congregation.
November 2011
–
Five Reasons to Pledge
In her blog,
"tangled up in grace", Meta Carlson talks about the season of
stewardship and how important it is to promise our generous hearts
again and again. Revisiting what we value and what we can share is
at the core of discipleship and spiritual growth. She's a big
fan of the habit of stewardship and gives five reasons why you can
be, too.
Click Here to read more....
Christmas Joy Offering
– "Good
News of Great Joy"
The
Christmas Joy Offering has been a
cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s. Because Advent and
Christmas shine a light not only on our world’s greatest hope but
also on our world’s greatest need, the
PC(USA) provides this timely
opportunity for congregations to support causes specifically
designed to bring Good News of Great Joy to the poor in
circumstance or spirit. Alongside the message of promise and
fulfillment in Luke’s Gospel, we hear the clear call to God’s people
to respond in faith as Christ calls us: “From everyone to whom much
has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much
has been entrusted, even more will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).
There are four
Christmas Joy bulletin inserts
available. Each of the stories in the four bulletin inserts
has a corresponding minute for mission that can be used or adapted
for presentation the same Sunday that the insert is in the bulletin.
If you have a fast
Internet connection, you can view a video to use during worship or at small group meetings.
Click Here to
view the video.
The Christmas Joy Offering is
usually received the Sunday before Christmas. Resources are mailed
to each congregation in early September. All of the print resource
are available by calling (800) 524-2612 or order online at
Presbyterian
Marketplace.
October 2011
–
Annual Stewardship Campaign
Most churches are in
the middle of their Fall Stewardship Campaigns. The economic
news is
not good. It's natural to lower your expectations for the
church budget in tough economic times. However, the news for
churches may not be so bad. Newsweek reports that 55% of
Americans are reducing personal spending, but only 3% are cutting
back on their church contributions. About 1
out
of 5 Presbyterians tithe, and almost 1 in 3 of all
Presbyterians over age 65 who attend
worship regularly and
participate in a small group or church committee give 10% or more of
their
income to their church.
Click Here to read more about Presbyterians giving generously in
the October issue of "Presbyterians Today".
Make a Narrative Budget
for your church or Update last year's Narrative Budget.
Every
church should have a defining vision or mission statement that
provides direction and purpose for your church leaders and the
congregation. One of the first projects in the Acts 16:5
initiative was developing a defining Vision Statement for your
church. A narrative budget takes your church's Vision
Statement and expands it into your congregation's story. It
puts into words how your church puts the resources available to it
to work accomplishing the vision in your Vision Statement.
Click Here for more information on
creating a narrative budget for your church this year.
September 2011
–
Peacemaking Offering
–
“A Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peace” (James 3:18).
If
your church does not participate in the Peacemaking Offering, click
here.
This
year as your church plans to receive this Offering, remember the
peacemakers of years past — in your congregation, presbytery, synod
and the denomination as a whole. Make this year a time to renew your
commitment to peacemaking as part of your calling as a follower of
Christ, who not only taught us the ways of peace but is our peace.
Click Here for
resources, ideas about promoting the Offering and suggestions for
how to use your congregation’s share of the Offering. Order
any resources that will help interpret the Offering by
using the order form or
calling Presbyterian Distribution Service at (800) 524-2612.
August 2011
– Planning your Fall Financial
Campaign (3 parts)
Part 1
–
Secrets of a
Full Collection Plate
Who doesn't want
to see more in the collection plate? Read
"Secrets to a Full Collection Plate"
by Cynthia Woolever, Director of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey
for U.S. Congregations and Professor of Sociology of Religious
Organizations at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at
Hartford Seminary.
Presbyterians in the
Presbytery of North Central Iowa gave an average of $834 per member
in 2009. This is somewhat less than the averages reported by
Cynthia Woolever. How much could this average increase if
every congregation had an annual stewardship campaign? The
data in the report says that members in churches that have annual
stewardship campaigns give 40% more than members in churches that do
not have annual campaigns!
Part 2
–
Presbyterian Giving
and Charity
The last Congregational
Life Survey reports that 94% of Presbyterians support their church
financially. 54% of Presbyterians give 5% of their income or
more to their church and 18% tithe. Presbyterians are more
likely than church members in general to support charitable
activities outside of their church. For more excerpts from the
Survey,
Click Here.
Part 3
–
"Saints Alive! Living
Generously"
The 2011 stewardship
campaign theme is "Saints Alive! Living Generously" based on I
Corinthians 16:1-4. Resources from envelopes to posters are
available. The center section of
the
magazine "Giving 2011"
contains eight pages of suggested ideas to organize and implement this
theme in your congregation.
An additional resource
is available with even more ideas, worship resources, a "Stewardship
101" article for stewardship chairs, and detailed approaches for
using the center section annual emphasis. Order your free copy of
the 2011 Giving magazine by calling Presbyterian
Distribution Services at (800) 524-2612. (Shipping charges apply.) To order materials for
this theme,
Click Here.
Start planning
now for
your Fall Financial Campaign. The first step is to
identify the leaders of the campaign and start meeting to review
your church's resources and ministry goals for next year. To
get started, click on the "Getting
Started" box on the left.
Share the "Stages
of Giving" with your committee.
How does this relate to your congregation? Select a
Campaign Method
and a Stewardship Theme
and order the materials needed. Finally, look in
Stewardship Resources
for additional material to help you with your Fall Stewardship
Campaign.
July 2011
–
Environmental Ministries Action Network
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s
Environmental Ministries is launching a new network—the
Environmental Ministries Action Network (EMAN). This network is open
to anyone who is involved in environmental stewardship in their
congregation and/or presbytery. The goal of EMAN is to inspire and
equip Presbyterians to care for God’s earth and to increase the
channels of communication between the PC(USA)’s Environmental
Ministries and those congregations and presbyteries with
environmental stewardship programs.
Environmental Ministries will be in
regular communication with EMAN participants to provide them with
tools and resources for their work to care for God’s creation.
Participants will receive a guide for creating effective
environmental stewardship ministries and will be eligible to apply
for grant funds for environmental projects through their church or
presbytery.
Environmental Ministries asks that
participants in EMAN publicize new resources, programs, events, and
Earth Day Sunday resources from Environmental Ministries in their
presbytery and church; update Environmental Ministries on
environmental stewardship efforts in their church and/or presbytery
every six months; and connect with other EMAN participants in their
presbytery.
This new network will follow in the
footsteps of the Stewardship of Creation Enabler (SCE) network.
Since 1995, SCEs have been active on a presbytery level as
educators, motivators, and facilitators of action to protect God’s
Creation. As we transition from this structure to one that involves
more people who are active on the congregation level, we’d like to
thank SCEs for their service. Many of these SCEs will continue in
their ministry and for this we are also grateful. We look forward to
continuing to work with them and to welcoming new folks into EMAN.
LEARN MORE: Sign up to
join the network at the
Environmental Ministries Action Network webpage.
If you have any questions about this
new network, please contact Katie Holmes
by email or call (888)
728-7228, x5624.
June 2011
–
CREATING A SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF
GENEROSITY IN YOUR CHURCH
Kevin J. Garvey
- Chief Development Officer, Board of Pensions, PC(USA)
(from the 2011
Stewardship Kaleidoscope)
The
creation of a congregational culture of generosity is the result of
intentional planning and ministry. The annual stewardship
campaign and special capital campaigns are like the icing on the
cake. In the creation of a culture of generosity the focus is
on the cake not the icing. Sadly, most money-talk in churches
focuses on the icing; how do we make more icing, how can we become
more creative in decorating the cake? The creation of cultures
of generosity takes time.
Click Here for more...
The 2011 Stewardship
Kaleidoscope was held in was held in Phoenix, AZ this spring.
Visit the website for more resources from the Conference.
May 2011
– Pentecost Offering
The
Pentecost Offering is
traditionally received on the day of Pentecost (June 12, 2011). It
provides a direct way to meet the needs of children at risk, youth,
and young adults. Congregations are encouraged to keep 40 percent of
the Offering to support ministry with children at risk in their
communities.
The General
Assembly’s portion (60 percent) provides leadership development
opportunities for Presbyterian youth and young adults and supports
children-at-risk programs at the national level. Since 1998,
Presbyterians of all ages have raised over $7 million for these
ministries that benefit younger members of God’s family.
Additional materials to promote the
2011 Pentecost Offering can be ordered by calling PDS at (800)
524-2612 or
click
here to order online.
April 2011
–
Let's Move Initiative
–
Health Awareness Sunday
–
Wills & Estates
The
PC(USA) is excited to work with the
Let’s Move
Initiative because of our commitment to
ending childhood poverty, hunger and obesity. We believe that
“poverty in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of
God's good creation” and hunger and obesity are symptoms of such
poverty. It is our responsibility as individuals, as the church and
as a nation to eliminate the root causes of hunger.
Download a fact sheet
and participate today!
Plan a HEALTH AWARENESS SUNDAY in your church.
–
What are the most commonly diagnosed health problems of
Presbyterians today? The
answer is that about 1/3 of Presbyterians suffer from hypertension
(high blood pressure) and high cholesterol or triglyceride levels.
Another one in eight Presbyterians has diabetes or pre-diabetes
symptoms. How is your church addressing these important health
problems among your members? Read the entire
Report and start to plan
for a healthier lifestyle for your congregation.
End of Life issues are difficult to discuss with family and friends.
"Journey Through the Valley" is a planning guide and resource
for a Health Awareness Sunday Worship Service and discussion.
Also available are the following documents:
May
1, 2011 is Wills Emphasis Sunday and the beginning of
Older Adult
Week. Many members have given faithfully to the church but
have not thought about giving beyond their lifetimes. Without
a Will, your church will not be included in your estate.
A recent study found
that less than half of all Americans have a will. This is a
significant barrier to the solicitation of bequest gifts. Even
more alarming is that many older Americans do not plan to leave a
charitable bequest. Only 11% of those in their 70's and less
than 9% of those in their 80's and older plan to leave charitable
bequests in their Wills.
Click Here
for more information on Wills & Estates.
March 2011
– Financial Check-Up
How well is your
church doing financially? A
recent article
from
the General Assembly Mission Council reports that 30% of
Presbyterian Churches say their financial situation is "excellent"
or "good", in another 46% the finances are "tight" and 24% are in
"difficult" financial times.
Assess you own
church's financial situation. Start by getting
your
Ten-Year Trends
analysis from the PC(USA) web site. Look at your
membership, attendance and giving trends. What direction is
your church headed? If the direction is downward, what are you
doing to change the direction?
One resource for
churches is
the recently published "Field
Guide to Presbyterian Congregations". The field guide
profiles Presbyterian churches and worshipers in four areas:
•
Building Spiritual Connections spotlights worship and faith
development.
• Building Inside
Connections describes worshipers’ activities in the
congregation.
• Building
Outside Connections reveals how congregations and worshipers
reach out to and serve those in the community.
• Building
Identity Connections shows who worshipers are and how they see
their congregation’s future.
In each area,
Presbyterians worshipers are compared to a representative sample of
congregations from across the country. These comparisons
include Presbyterians and a broad variety of denominations and faith
groups that reflect America’s diverse religious life today.
Archives
Celebrate Small Churches
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a denomination of smaller membership churches. On July 18, 2010 we are called to celebrate the ministry and mission of these congregations, many of whom are discerning God’s call and finding new and renewed ways to be in ministry for this time in their history.
Click Here to download a
Small Church Ministry worship service.
For more info see
some suggested activities for
Small Churches.
Spiritual farming
Farmer Joel Salatin talks
about his farming practices in
Virginia that emphasize respect,
healing and stewardship of the land. His message is for anyone
directly involved in farming or indirectly involved in the
agricultural related businesses in Iowa.
Click Here
to read Joel Salatin's comments.
North Central Iowa Presbytery
2302 Falls Avenue, Waterloo, IA 50701
319-233-1747
319-233-2015 (fax)
www.presbynciowa.org
