What’s great about small churches?
Lots, says the Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley, Ministry Relations Officer for the Presbyterian Foundation. Small churches have strengths, she says, and those can be celebrated year-round, and especially during seasons of stewardship emphasis.
For every step forward that has been taken toward closing the global gender gap, there have been at least two steps back.
And then some — largely due to COVID-19.
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.
