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Unparalleled needs and opportunities are confronting local churches today. The ability of the local congregation to respond constructively is in direct proportion to its available resources. The resources, both individual and financial, depend upon the effectiveness of its stewardship program.
Few congregations have effective year-round programs stewardship education, tithing and planned giving. Most need help. SALT will help supply that need. SALT, through information provided by "Church Stewardship & Growth Center" will meet the needs of your church by bringing you articles of what others are doing in the stewardship field, suggestions on new programs, displays, literature, electronic medias, and training materials. It will give you and your congregation the satisfaction of more effectively meeting the needs of the work of Jesus Christ.
You can help! Share with others the ideas you have found effective.
Send your ideas to Editor SALT@Neibauer.com. Comments also appreciated.
SALT addresses itself to a long-felt practical need: to help the pastor or chairperson as a stewardship leader in the local church. It can spare them that desperate, once-a-year plunge which they have often found to be ineffective. It will help them to project goals with checkpoints for progress in stewardship training. People of considerable stewardship experience and creativity from many denominations will share the benefit of their knowledge. Contributions from your stewardship experience should also be shared. Thus, there will be a stewardship of tried and tested ideas that will enrich all of us.
The difference between the success and failure of bringing families to full stewardship stature is vested in local leadership. As the chief steward under God, you hold the key of leadership. Use it or lose it!
Walter J. Waddell, III
Church Publishing Manager
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The Every Member Visit is basically a spiritual program that involves service and sacrifice for the benefit and glory of Christ's kingdom.
During the weeks which precede Stewardship Sunday, attention is focused on financial commitments for good and justifiable reasons. But after Stewardship Sunday, this emphasis is decreased and emphasis on Stewardship education should be increased. The experience of many churches indicates this can most effectively be done by a Stewardship Committee.
Christian stewardship can be defined as "the practice of the Christian religion." Every church should have a committee whose responsibility it is to develop a program of stewardship education which will be a part of all phases of the church's educational program.
It is important that this committee be officially appointed at the annual congregational meeting. The accomplishment of its significant purpose will be aided by this official endorsement.
Meetings should be on a regular monthly schedule. If meetings are held only "on call," the members will think of their responsibilities as relatively unimportant.
The task of the Stewardship Committee is to assist the growth of all members in dedication to Jesus Christ and the cause of His Kingdom and Church. It channels information and messages, and mobilizes personnel and resources for the local and world?wide mission of the congregation.
The number on this committee should be determined by the size and needs of the congregation. Activity brings commitment. The larger the group, the better the results. Members should be appointed by the congregations and given staggered terms of office. This will ensure a continued influx of new enthusiasts to work with experienced leaders.
SELECTING THE COMMITTEEPERSONS - The official church governing board should appoint one or two advisory members from their groups while it appoints at least 3 to 6 qualified people from the congregation. Meet objections about necessity for a committee and its work by pointing to the benefits of a year?round educational program led by qualified leaders. Make sure there is age and cultural diversity.
All members should become familiar with the biblical concepts of Christian stewardship and with the implications of a total stewardship program.
Christian Service. Education in the principles and practices of the total stewardship life. Enlistment and training for the work of the church.
Mission Education. Cultivation of a greater mission consciousness and concern.
Christian Giving. Training in the proper use of total income and in the grace of Christian giving.
The goals selected help determine the direction the church will go. The program should provide worthy channels for members' responses as true Christian stewards.
Education in Principles and Practices of Total Stewardship
The Committee should adopt a continuing program of education that helps the members of the congregation live their lives in and for Christ. It should help all to understand that the stewardship life is provided through God's grace alone.
A program of education and action should be developed to reach every member with a relevant biblical message and challenge.
It must:
1. Help the congregation understand they are to find God's will in every matter.
2. Help people understand privileges and responsibilities of church membership.
3. Give thorough instructions in Christian stewardship to all.
4. Enlist members for different tasks in the church.
Cultivate Greater Mission Consciousness and Concern
Inform: It is difficult to hold people's interest if they know little about the program. Tell them again and again about the mission outreach of their church. Most people retain 10% of what they hear.
Interpret: As their knowledge grows, their interest will too. The pastor and leaders should explain and interpret all mission news of interest.
Identify: Identify everything we do with Christ, who commissioned us. Show how His will, above all, is the reason for mission education. It's His cause, not man's!
Report: Members should have the joy and encouragement of hearing about the successes. They should also share the responsibility for problems and failures.
Train in Proper Use of Total Income
Train in handling money and in budgeting in a Christian manner. Christians must learn that 100% of their income belongs to God and should be spent wisely.
Train in the grace of Christian giving - proportionate giving and tithing. A God-pleasing percentage of the income should be dedicated to the Saviour for the work of building His Kingdom through the church and various charities.
Plan a cultivation program to teach all members the scriptural concept of Christian giving.
Encourage all to pray for the grace of generous, proportionate giving and to prove the sincerity of their love.
Use educational tools that will help each individual better understand themselves and their motives. Let them see how the inner drives that pull them toward covetousness can be changed to give them the power and desire to be generous. Show them clearly how the grace of God at work in them can make them faithful givers.
Educate and enlist all members in first-fruit, proportionate giving with these goals:
a. Help members to become better managers of their total income and possessions.
b. Change giving habits. Help the non-givers and those who give only a token of their potential to understand their responsibility to share what is God's.
c. Interpret the work of the local and world-wide mission of the church.
d. Provide a scriptural pattern for securing financial support.
Excerpts from the manual "Guidelines For A Christian Stewardship Program" by Rev. Waldo J. Werning.
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