“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
Summer of Stories
"Ugh," the pastor said with a smirk. "Give me facts and figures, not stories."
I was leading a workshop for ELCA congregations interested in doing new things in their contexts, and this pastor (a longtime friend from seminary) was responding to my invitation to tell a stewardship story. He knew his words would get me going, which was why he said them, playing devil's advocate.
"Facts and figures don't tell the deep truth about a thing," I responded, picking up on the opportunity he had placed before me. "Look at this building." I gestured toward an imaginary structure. "Now, it's a building on a corner. But what happens when I say that it's my home?" Folks nodded, understanding the difference between the two images. "Now, what if I went further and said that this is where I'm raising my babies?"
Eyes widened and softened.
"The fact," I went on, "is that this is a building where I happen to live. But when I talk about what I do there, how I'm raising my family there, making a life there, that's the story that tells the deeper truth that a dry fact can't capture."
They got it.
So much about stewardship has to do with the stories that surround our mission, the "why" more than the "what" of our life together as a congregation and as a whole church. When we say that we have to “keep the building running” or "buy a new HVAC system," we're conveying facts, but we're not telling the truth.
The truth is that our communal spaces are ministry outposts in our neighborhoods, places where the faith is incubated to be shared. The HVAC systems that seem to perpetually need replacing in most of our spaces aren't to cool the sanctuary but to provide a safe place to learn and grow, the kind of comfortable environment necessary to hear the good news of Jesus Christ without distraction.
Tell the deep truth about your work and ministry, beloved. Facts can't bear the weight of the work you do.
This summer I encourage you to think about what you're doing as a community and, at least once a month, to capture a story, a deep-truth moment, and share it with your assembly in a newsletter, in a social media post, in the bulletin or sometime during worship. These little summer stewardship stories contain deep-truth messages about who Jesus is calling you to be, and they encourage generous, heartfelt responses. Make this a summer of stories.
Summer story blessings.
Pax,
Tim Brown
Director for Congregational Stewardship
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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
Summer Course: "Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising"
The Lake Institute on Faith & Giving and the ELCA's Congregational Stewardship office work together to increase generosity across the church. The Lake Institute is hosting a summer online cohort for interested clergy or church leaders who want to gain fundraising acumen, learn the spirituality of fundraising, and earn a professional certificate upon completion of both the course and an independent project.
This intensive certification course will meet twice a week from June 20 through Aug. 15: on Tuesdays for plenary and an additional day for a smaller cohort. The course is available to ELCA leaders at a discounted rate of only $950 (from $1,350).
To learn more about this opportunity, click here. Your payment for the course will be made to the ELCA, not the Lake Institute, so after registering for the course, please contact the Rev. Larry Strenge or the Rev. Timothy Brown to arrange payment.
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Upcoming Stewardship Webinar: "Stewardship When Economics Are Uncertain"
The economy has been unpredictable as we slowly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment remains low, yet interest rates have jumped considerably, and with three very public bank failures this year, people are being more cautious with their resources. How can we talk about stewardship and money in a way that is honest and honors uncertain economic times?
On Aug. 21 the ELCA, in partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, will host a webinar geared toward helping leaders talk openly, honestly and inspirationally about stewardship and generosity, even in uncertain times. The webinar will be led by the Rev. Meredith McNabb and the Rev. Tim Brown.
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Mark your calendar:
"Stewardship When Economics Are Uncertain"
Monday, Aug. 21
6-7 p.m. Central time
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 835 7971 8246 Password: 000320
One tap mobile: +13017158592,,83579718246# US (Washington DC)
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Stewardship Conference: “Stewardship Kaleidoscope — Minneapolis”
In partnership with the Presbyterian Foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the ELCA Stewardship and Generosity team is proud to present a three-day conference dedicated to digging deeply into stewardship and generosity, with workshops and plenaries that highlight diverse and authoritative voices from across the PCUSA, ELCA and partner church bodies.
“Stewardship Kaleidoscope” offers real tools for real ministry and is perfect for both rostered ministers and lay leaders. The mission of the conference is to ignite generosity, give practical tools for cultivating congregational generosity, expand leadership capacity for stewardship leaders, and cultivate adaptive approaches for funding Christ's mission throughout the world. Limited partial scholarships are available! If interested, contact the Rev. Tim Brown at Tim.Brown@elca.org.
For information and registration, visit stewardshipkaleidoscope.org. |
Mark your calendar:
Sept. 25-27, 2023
Minneapolis, Minn.
$325 individual rate
$125 virtual rate
$169 for first call and seminarians
Group discounts available for attendees from the same congregation
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| STEWARDSHIP RESOURCES |
Are you looking for stewardship resources to fuel your ministries and your imagination? This newsletter's offerings are all about stories. Here are a few places to find guidance and support:
Faith+Lead: "Longing for Engagement" Chock-full of helpful stewardship resources, Faith+Lead out of Luther Seminary continues to provide blogs and articles that engage the practical as well as the theological. They are worth following and connecting with! Linked above is a very practical "how-to" when it comes to generating, capturing and using stories to encourage and increase generosity in the congregation. As the article says, we must tell "the right kind of stories," the kind that focus on what God is doing in your life, your congregation and your community.
What Was the Stewardship Story of 2022 Across the Church? As we emerge from the pandemic, those of us in the nonprofit world are urgently monitoring how generosity has moved and changed, especially in the religious landscape. Our partners at Tithe.ly recently published their findings on congregational generosity in 2022 across a number of denominations. The headline above links to a Tithe.ly blog post on the subject, but there is also a user-friendly, more extensive e-book available for free download. In short: generosity remains strong, though the ways we give and our motivations are shifting. Use these resources to inform how you talk about stewardship in your context!
Timothy K. Snyder's Lived Vocation: Stories of Faith at Work (Fortress Press, 2023). At the heart of Snyder's accessible work lies the question "How do everyday people integrate faith and see God at work in their everyday lives?" Highlighting real stories of lived faith, this book is intended to help congregational leaders listen to, empathize with and engage people in their context, gathering real stories of faith. This book can be read by a council, a church board or even an entire congregation to spark conversation and storytelling in your context.
Have a great stewardship resource to share? Please send articles, books, movies and other media to Tim.Brown@elca.org. The best gifts are those that are shared! |
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| READINGS FOR THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST: THE GREEN SEASON |
Finding organic ways to speak about stewardship can be difficult, especially in relation to the lectionary texts. Not every sermon should be a “stewardship sermon,” but on any given Sunday, stewardship themes arise from the biblical witness and can be highlighted!
Below are just a few readings for Pentecost that might inspire thoughts on stewardship:
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 | June 11
The calling of the apostle Matthew provides a wonderful opportunity to highlight humanity's fraught relationship with money. Tax collectors in ancient Palestine were seen as puppets of the state, leveraging unfair practices against the people. Whether or not this was the case with Matthew, he still bore the stigma. What stigmas do we assign where money is concerned? Does being very wealthy carry a stigma? What assumptions do we make about the poor? Because money is a topic loaded with such stigma, our stewardship of it is ever more important and deeply connected to our spiritual lives.
Matthew 10:24-39 | June 25
From the word soup that is this Sunday's Gospel emerges the theme of priorities and deeply held convictions. Remember that the “green season” of the church, the Time after Pentecost, is all about spiritual growth. The texts are tough and make us think. Today's reading requires us to look honestly at how we steward our relationships with God and others. God disrupts so much of our lives, forcing us to reprioritize it all in a more cruciform shape. How are we called to steward these relationships well?
Matthew 10:40-42 | July 2
On this Sunday closest to the secular holiday Independence Day, one might preach a brave sermon on how we steward our patriotism. Many have ideas about what it means to be "patriotic" or even "American," but Jesus lays out what it might mean to be part of God's realm on earth: a wide welcome, a practice of sharing, and care for others. How do we practice this "realm of God" reality even when we find ourselves in a world that can be unwelcoming, that trusts merit over grace, and that encourages us to be suspicious of others rather than caring?
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You’re receiving this email because you or your congregation indicated you are a stewardship leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
We'd love to hear from you! Have a link or idea you want to share in our next issue?
Email tim.brown@elca.org.
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