Office of Stewardship Ministry
Center for Congregational Development
The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond
“Unless the eye catch fire, The God will not be seen. Unless the ear catch fire, The God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire, The God will not be named. Unless the heart catch fire, The God will not be known. -- Thomas Merton, American writer and Trappist Monk”
Wednesday, July 20, 2006
The Feast of Macrina, Monastic and Teacher
Dear Friends and co-workers:
Enclosed is a document which too many of you have asked for to delay the sending any further. I have met with 22 parishes so far and have 15 others scheduled for the next few weeks and as I listen throughout the diocese, I am being asked for one thing over and over again.
Enclosed is a model strategic plan. This is not to establish the enclosed as policy but to send the enclosed as assistance. If you see anything in it which is of help – then use it. If you see anything in it which is annoying or of no use then disregard it.
When I was a parish priest in Virginia and juggling hospital visits and weddings and funerals and services and meetings I sometimes found I had a hard time focusing on stewardship. I found that if I just had a plan; a blue-print, then I could go from there. But the vicious cycle was that there was no time even for the blue-print!
So the enclosed is fresh off the presses and based on my own work in my last parish where, with this plan, we went from $450,000 to $650,000 in two years and changed the way people saw money as a part of their lives and their spiritual lives.
As with all the material I send, use what is useful and forgive the presumption of the rest.
With deep and growing affection, Charles LaFond (Hard copy to be mailed)
Four-month Stewardship Campaign Strategic Plan Model
(August – November)
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Office of Stewardship Ministry
Center for Congregational Development
The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond
Note: Steps one through five will be included in the Annual Stewardship Program Plan to be published in January 2007. For the immediate needs of the diocese, this plan begins with Step Six which is actual implementation of a “nuts and bolts” stewardship campaign as part of a larger year-round stewardship program.
Step One: Discernment of Call and Strategic Planning
(January - March)
(See Year-long Strategic Plan)
Step Two: Meeting management to form Stewardship Campaign from
Budgetary Needs
(March – April)
(See Year-long Strategic Plan)
Step Three: Strategic planning for Time and Talent Program
(April – May)
(See Year-long Strategic Plan)
Step Four: Strategic Plan for Stewardship of the Environment
(April – May)
(See Year-long Strategic Plan)
Step Five: Overall Communications Strategy for Stewardship
(May – August)
(See Year-long Strategic Plan)
Step Six: Set up Design Work on Stewardship Campaign
(May- August)
A. Select a Chairperson
Characteristics of a good choice for Chair of Stewardship Campaign: (This is a very important choice.)
v An able person with proven leadership skills who attends Sunday services regularly and exhibits those charisms which scripture promises will emerge from the life of a person of prayer, love and balance.
v A person who gives generously and consistently to the parish and who is either a person from a family which tithes or is working towards a tithe.
v A person who is well-known to the congregation and who both likes and has a good relationship with the clergy and vestry.
(Note: Please do not use co-chairs! The Buck needs to stop somewhere!) .
B. Recruit Stewardship Committee
a. consisting of 8 - 12 people,
b. business-savvy doers of the word and not hearers only, with positive attitudes who pray and give and get things done
c. People WHO WILL FOLLOW THROUGH with kindness
d. a cross-section of the church population (emphasis on people in their 30’s and 40’s)
e. Ideally, able persons with proven leadership skills who attend Sunday services regularly and exhibit those charisms which scripture promises will emerge from the life of a person of prayer, love and balance.
f. This is not a committee for “nice” people- this is a committee for proven “effective and bold-faith” people.
Step Seven: Establish The Hope of the Holy Spirit:
(Spring, summer or….August…now!)
- Stewardship Committee meets with the Finance Committee and the Vestry to discuss the 2007 budget for clarification and vision-making.
i. What is God calling this parish to accomplish in 2007?
(Note: Ideally this is done during Lent when planning for the next fiscal year’s budget happens. This way we hear God’s call in plenty of time to adjust the budget to set the pace for the stewardship campaign rather than cutting the budget when the stewardship campaign raises less than God’s call on the ministry of the parish. See “Year -round Stewardship Plan” to be published in January 2007.)
ii. How much will it cost to do what God is calling the parish to accomplish in 2007?
iii. How much of what God is calling the parish to accomplish in 2007 will need to be asked for from the parish as pledged gifts returned to God as Stewardship pledge?
iv. Is it possible that God, the Holy Spirit will inspire the congregation to give to fund the entire budget, thereby releasing incomes such as endowment streams or rental income for unforeseen future needs?
(Note: A valuable exercise is to determine the average family income of the parish, multiply it by 5% and multiply the resulting number by the number of attending households. The resulting number is a powerful indication of what the parish could use for God’s ministry if congregants gave only half of what God has asked them to give (10%) as a symbol of gratitude for all God has given us. Formula: Income X .05 X # of families = half the potential and usually twice the actual.)
Step Eight: Establishing a Call to Inspire Giving: Pre-planning and advance communications (otherwise known as the “John the Baptist Phase”)
(August)
- Vestry and clergy all make their pledges. In some churches the vestry brings them up to the altar in the main service as a symbol of the leadership “stepping up to the plate” first. In many churches the vestry will send a letter to the congregation (signed by all vestry and clergy) stating that they have all pledged and asking the parish to do likewise. Vestry and clergy pledges should be working towards a tithe. 100 % participation in pledging on the part of Vestry members and clergy staff is essential!
- Last week of August: The Stewardship Campaign Plan has been established in detail. The plan includes:
a. Theme [Scriptural/Theological]
b. 6 week campaign schedule.
C. Pledge card brochures are designed, photos of ministry minute volunteers are taken and inserted, copy is drafted and collected and pledge card brochures are printed. Pledge card brochures are then placed in labeled envelopes for each family of the parish in alpha order to be picked up October 1st by parishioners who attend services. Those envelopes /brochure cards which remain after the final service on October 2nd are then collected – a letter from the Vestry is added to introduce the card and to encourage a pledge. Cards are then are mailed to remaining parishioners.
Step Nine: Stewardship Campaign Kick-off Sunday:
Announce to Parish the call to pray for Stewardship October 1
Pledge Card distribution:
Do not mail pledge cards until after the first Sunday – the physical action of searching for and finding one’s pledge card is a valuable one. Things that arrive by mail get lost among catalogues and junk mail.
Pledge cards are given out after services and a liturgical element could be planned. (i.e., weekly stewardship collect, etc). Make this a special day and a joyful one! The largest and most effective barrier to effective stewardship campaigns is boredom! Make a splash. Have some fun. Do not combine the Stewardship Campaign (money) with the recruitment fair (time and talent). People need to focus on one thing at a time. Some parishes give costumes (around a theme) to their vestry or have special food or do some special event after the service (picnic or barbeque or concert). FOOD + FUN = ATTENTION AND INVOLVEMENT
v Parishioners pick up their pledge card brochures (in alpha order in envelopes by church door) on their way out services on this day. Parishioners are asked to NOT make pledges until they have prayed about the pledge for at least two weeks. Colored pledge cards could be included in envelopes for children to use and as a teaching tool for parents with a handout guiding parents in the conversation about giving.
v Remaining pledge cards not picked up on October 1 are mailed October 2
A Collect for Stewardship (or some form of one) is used regularly in liturgical norms for the fall season in addition to regular collects prescribed.
Step Ten: The Stewardship Campaign
Week One Ministry Minute#1 October 8
October 9: Flyer #1 is mailed to the parish (sample: Appendix III)
Week Two Ministry Minute#2 October15
October 16: Flyer #2 is mailed to the parish
Week Three Ministry Minute#3 October 22
October 23: Flyer #3 is mailed to the parish
Week Four Ministry Minute#4 October 29
October 30: Flyer #4 is mailed to the parish
Week Five Ministry Minute#5 November 5
November 6: Flyer #5 is mailed to the parish
Week Six Ministry Minute#6 November 12
November 13: Flyer #6 is mailed to the parish
How to Manage Ministry Minutes:
“Ministry Minutes” are presented as part of both services during the campaign. These Ministry Minutes are personal testimonies of how the parish has helped them in their life and Christian walk. Ministry minutes are 3-5 minutes and are written and presented by parishioners with help from clergy. The addition of Ministry Minutes demands that sermons are shortened by five minutes. Some suggestions:
i. Clergy should identify the prospective “Ministry Minute” speakers (early August) based on the diversity of the message (youth ministry, visited in hospital, care of the elderly, inspired by music, cared for in crisis, inspired by formation, educated by formation, children cared for, moved by liturgical beauty, experienced or helped with ministry to the financially poor or marginalized, etc.)
ii. Phone calls are made to ask prospective ministry minute speakers if they would be willing to speak on (pre-determined subject) and if they are free on (pre-determined Sunday) to speak at all services.
Once all six speakers are recruited,
iii. photos are taken for use in Stewardship Pledge Card Brochure
iv. One sentence is drafted to go with the photo in quotes representing the summation of the message of the speaker and is sent to the brochure designer. (Note: often a simple brochure can be done by a volunteer on a domestic layout and design program such as Microsoft Publisher)
v. A 3 X 5 card is done for each speaker so that key points are made in their talk, so that they are not caught in stage-fright, so that they do not ramble on and so that everyone is clear on what is to be said. (Note: Keep talks at each service to 5 minutes – this cannot possibly be over emphasized since a long talk can annoy a congregation and upset a schedule and affect other speakers and other listeners.)
vi. Assign a different member of the stewardship committee each week of the six weeks to meet the “ministry minute” speaker, be sure they have arrived, inform the clergy before the service that they have, in fact arrived and go over the service schedules to be sure the speaker knows when to rise, speak and sit and where to stand and how to use microphones.)
Ministry Minute Flyers (See Appendix III)
These are one-page flyers, folded and sealed with a dot and mailed bulk rate the day following each corresponding “Ministry Minute” Sunday. These are only effective if they go out on Monday morning, so the turn-around time is fast! The stewardship committee must schedule to stay after church each Sunday for an hour to count and produce the statistical information which, along with the photo and quote, encourages the parish to see the building momentum and the work of the Holy Spirit.
A note about the use of fundraising thermometers:
Unlike secular fundraising, the church does not employ fund-raising thermometers showing a goal (parish budget) with the red mercury-marker line which grows Sunday after Sunday to meet the goal. In the church, we often use a secular thing for a sacred purpose (I.e.: a goblet is a goblet in a dining room and a chalice in a church) but in a stewardship campaign, the thermometer places the emphasis on the money raised rather than on the spiritual life of the giver which is not what we want to do.
There is, however, one very useful place for a thermometer: the percent of the parish which has pledged. Many churches employ a thermometer to show what percent of the population of the parish (active and regular) have made their pledge to the parish.
An Example: In my last parish we used an enlarged pen and ink drawing of the chapel tower (the icon of the communications in the Stewardship Campaign and a part of our parish logo) as the thermometer (see the attached brochure to see the tower!). The image was enlarged to six feet and placed on foam-core. The image was placed by the door to the church and each Sunday we figured what percent of the total parish pledging family units had dropped off or mailed in their pledge and raised the red line to show the percentage. This encouraged those who had pledged because they saw a visual sign of their part in the stewardship campaign. This challenged the not-yet pledgers to get their pledge cards in and it placed emphasis on participation rather than on money.
Cornucopia Consecration Sunday November 19
The parish is aware of and decorated for Thanksgiving. Ushers bring all pledge cards (those mailed in these last many weeks, those brought in this day and those from the pews which were filled in on this Sunday by those who had previously not yet pledged) up to the altar with plate offerings to be one of the many outward, physical signs of inward, spiritual stewardship grace.
(Note: In addition, in many churches, the people in the pews are given apples as they enter the church. After the blessing of the pledge cards, the people move to the alter during a gradual anthem and place their apples and other signs of Thanksgiving bounty such as gourds, corn, etc. into baskets and onto the altar itself as a symbolic, physical act to link Thanksgiving for bounty with pledge to God. Kids LOVE this and learn from it. Creativity is the essence of a vibrant parish program. Ours is a liturgical church which employs symbol. Please make use of symbols whenever you can!)
Step Eleven: The Stewardship Campaign Follow-up
A. Report Sunday, Advent One (New Year) December 3
Inform the parish of how things went in the Stewardship Campaign:
v percent of the parish which made pledges,
v average gift,
v amount pledged,
v amount needed for next year’s budget,
v increase of average pledge over last year’s campaign,
v Increase of percentage of parishioners who pledged, etc.
Money is not an evil thing. Money is simply a tool. In a parish, money is used to extend the ministry of God through each of us, to the marginalized. Therefore, to discuss money in the parish is no more or less “holy” than discussing water or wine or electricity or prayer books. Report Sunday brings money out of the closet and into the chancel.
B. The Acknowledgement Process December 3 – 10
1. The Vestry writes and signs an open letter thanking the parish for the hard work, prayer, discernment and sacrifices and (hopefully) reports that pledges have met the needs of the parish as discerned for the ministry budget of the next year. (…and there is much rejoicing in all the land!)
2. The Rector takes a few working days of quiet solitude (Advent one is a good time for this- SSJE’s Emory House might be a good place….) to write thank-you notes to parishioners, thanking them for their pledge. This personal touch is hard on the hand (I wrote 300 in my last parish) but the benefit is incalculable. People like to be thanked. People like to be thanked personally. People consider this to be a very generous act on the part of their rector.
Appendix I
Four-month Stewardship Campaign Strategic Plan
(August – November)
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Office of Stewardship Ministry
Center for Congregational Development
The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond
A family meditation about money, prayer and giving.
Discussion Questions:
1. a. What is your (our) personal and family relationship with money?
b. How do we, as a family, talk about money?
2. a. What is your (our) parish’s relationship with money?
b. How do we talk about it money as a parish?
3. a. In what way do our relationship with God and money intersect?
b. How do we talk about money and God as a parish?
Appendix III
Four-month Stewardship Campaign Strategic Plan
(August – November)
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Office of Stewardship Ministry
Center for Congregational Development
The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond
Sample weekly flyer sent to parishioners on the Monday after each “Ministry Minute” presentation by parishioners.
v St. Swithens in the Swamp Episcopal Church
“When I was in the hospital, ________________church was a real spiritual home for my family. Our kids were able to find support among the youth in the youth group and my husband attended the Men’s Bible Study which prayed for me every week. Immediately after the surgery, (rector name) came to the hospital and was the first face I saw when I came out of the anesthesia. That hospital Eucharist was the beginning of a recovery which was as spiritual as it was physical. My family knows what it means to benefit from being involved in this parish. We thank God for it every day.
Sarah Jones (& the Jones Family), Ministry Minute Speaker, Sunday, October 8th, Hospital Visitation
The Stewardship Campaign is going very well so far. Thank you for praying!
v 28 families and individuals have pledged
v 5 new pledges were received
v 10 pledges increased from the previous year
v 22 % of the parish has pledged $34,000 to help meet the need for $154,000 for ministry in our parish. Thank you. Please keep this ministry in your prayers.
Note: a Comprehensive Year-Round Stewardship Program Strategic Plan will be available in late Fall. For now, however, I sense that what people need is a short-term plan for managing this fall’s campaign for the funding of the 2007 budget. It is my hope that this will be the last year that parishes in the Diocese of New Hampshire fall into the natural tendency to hustle in September, ask for pledges in October and then find in November that budgets(and valuable ministries) need to be slashed in December for the next year’s budget.) The Holy Spirit has bigger plans than that way of doing stewardship will allow.
