In 2020, 28% of all charitable gifts went to religious institutions, said the Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley, the Presbyterian Foundation’s Ministry Relations Officer for the Allegheny and Chesapeake Region.
Only 8% of Americans gave bequests to a church.
What happens when we rethink our paradigms of stewardship?
Do we give out of obedience, or out of abundance?
Do we tithe out of obligation, or do we share out of gratitude?
These were just a few of questions that Dr. Deborah Rexrode, associate for stewardship for the Presbytery of the James, posed to her workshop attendees in the session that she led entitled “Giving as a Spiritual Discipline” at the 2021 Stewardship Kaleidoscope conference Sept. 14.
Talking about death is difficult. Yet planned giving, especially in congregational contexts, can clarify what’s important to us and how that can benefit others long after we’re gone.
Church leaders often say they want their church to have an endowment.
And while that’s good, churches need to be prepared to dig a little deeper and answer some core questions as they establish an endowment, says Olanda Carr Jr., Senior Ministry Relations Officer for the Presbyterian Foundation.
In addition to the transitions everyone’s endured during the pandemic, the clergy team of the Rev. Mihee Kim-Kort and the Rev. Dr. Andy Kort said goodbye last year to the church he served, First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Indiana, and hello to the church they’re currently serving as co-pastors, First Presbyterian Church of Annapolis in Maryland.
The averted gaze when a member of the stewardship committee approaches. The neglected pledge forms. The Stewardship Sunday sermon the pastor secretly (or not so secretly) dreads giving.
The annual stewardship campaign is a rite of autumn that must be endured. Right?
Or, could stewardship be about abundance rather than scarcity? What if stewardship was a reason instead of a season?