Stewardship Success Stories
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Click here to share your stewardship ideas with us! We will post them here at our web site so others can learn from your experiences!Here's what other's have shared:John Knox, Grand Rapids2010 Per Capita Apportionment Our congregation’s share of the support for PC USA General assembly, Synod of the Covenant, and the Presbytery of Lake Michigan amounts to $ 6739.36 and is due in January. The amount billed to our church is calculated by the total of church-wide expenses divided by the total number of members. For 2010 the amount is $ 23.08 per active member (non-confirmed youth or children are not included in this Per Capita assessment). Just as each member helps support our local church, each church has a responsibility to support the mission of the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church (USA). “Per Capita is an opportunity for all active members of the Presbyterian Church throughout the governing bodies to participate equally, responsibly and independently by sharing the cost of coordination and evaluation of mission; and of performing ecclesiastical, legislative, and judicious functions that identify a Reformed church, while at the same time strengthening the sense of community among all Presbyterians.” (GA minutes, Part 1, 1995) Of the $ 23.08 due for each of our active members, $ 6.15 goes to support the work of General Assembly, $ 3.18 goes to support the work of the Synod of the Covenant (Michigan and Ohio), and $ 13.75 goes to support the work of the Presbytery of Lake Michigan. It has been our practice at John Knox to ask each member to pay their Per Capita expense in January each year. Please mail or deposit into the offering plate your check marked “Per Capita” to cover the number of active members in your household. We have also placed a blue Per Capita envelope in your box of contribution envelopes for you convenience. The Session gratefully thanks you in advance for this voluntary giving and support of the larger family of the Presbyterian Church (USA). THANK YOU!
Battle Creek PennfieldThis stewardship campaign is a faith-based program patterned after the New Consecration Sunday Program developed by Reverend Dr. Herb Miller. Our year- round emphasis has been to focus upon God’s Great Commission, Matt 28: 18-20. The Session has adopted a new Faith Statement, which we say together as a part of every worship service. Faith Statement By focusing upon personal spiritual growth through discipleship, we understand that stewardship grows out of “who we are” not something we do. To expand upon this understanding, we entered our season of stewardship by developing a Stewardship Thru Discipleship plan which included personal minutes for mission each Sunday by all members of Session plus others from the congregation. Special focus was included to highlight how we have grown in response to God’s gifts in every area of our life and ministry. We gathered for special events and enjoyed many fellowship activities together. We communicated to our entire membership and friends through letters and phone contacts inviting everyone to gather on Consecration Sunday to worship and listen to our children sing and play bells. We heard an inspirational message from our Pastor and brought our Estimate of Giving cards forward to be dedicated to God’s mission here and beyond our bounds. Then----We Celebrated. In 2007, we have seen growth in terms of committing time to worship, study, teach, work, Pray and Play, and in service to our church and community. We have seen growth in committing our talents to teach our children and adults, to plan and participate in many fellowship activities. We have seen our music program grow to enhance our worship services. We have seen our Christian Education Program grow including a new VBS program, titled “Growing Outdoor Disciples”, based upon understanding God’s creation and how we live in it.
Pastor Karen Kelly shares some thoughts on their stewardship method - "The Myrrh Project is part of our 'Three Gifts' stewardship method. It expands the fall stewardship emphasis to consider our stewardship of Gold (money), Frankincense (our spiritual life), and Myrrh (time and talents). Frankincense involves a member-written devotional that is mailed in weekly installments to each household in the month of November. The pledge form is an 8½ x 14 sheet of paper (see example |
) with sections for “Gold” (financial pledge, torn off by the Financial Secretary before anyone else is given the forms), “Frankincense” (a place to check possible opportunities for spiritual growth that you think would be helpful to you in the next year), and “Myrrh” (lengthy time and talents section, with places to serve both inside and outside the church). The other part of “Myrrh” is the “Myrrh Project,” an 8-week accumulation of items for Thanksgiving Baskets. Eight weeks before Thanksgiving, everyone is asked to bring a box of instant mashed potatoes. The next week is a can of green beans, the next a box of stuffing, and so on. The last two weeks are for financial contributions toward rolls, pumpkin pie, (actual items purchased for boxes) and meat (a gift card to a grocery store). The non-perishables accumulate on tables at the front of the sanctuary and is quite awesome to watch happen. The Monday before Thanksgiving volunteers sort them into boxes by family size, and on Tuesday evening we have a time and place for families to come and pick them up with those who can’t make that coming to the church on Wednesday. Our little congregation filled 60 boxes this way last year, about one per person (not family!) based on average attendance during that time period! We have ongoing food collection the rest of the year as well, but everyone really loves this one!"