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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 supply that need.
SALT, through information provided by "Churchstewardship & Growthcenter" will meet the needs of your church by bringing you news of what others are doing in the stewardship field, suggestions on new programs, displays, literature 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 brining 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 key thought in stewardship is responsible management. The steward of Bible times was generally a servant in charge of someone's household, including its finances. This was his responsibility. When the estate was managed well, the results were good.
The Christian is a steward, a responsible manager of his trust from God. The gifts of God relate to two major areas: creation and redemption. The gift of creation includes the resources to help man make good use of the world in which he finds himself. These are the time, abilities, and possessions with which God has entrusted him, gifts to be used in the accomplishment of God's purposes.
Stewardship is the Christian's joyful response to God for the gift of salvation, visibly expressed in using the gifts of creation in fulfilling the task of sharing the gospel. Stewardship is what a person does after he has said, "I believe." It is faith in action, words turned into deeds, all motivated by the love of Christ. Stewardship is that point where the genuineness of the Christian life is demonstrated, and to some degree measurable.
Another way of saying it is: it is one's grateful RESPONSE to God, demonstrated by taking personal RESPONSIBILITY for sharing the gospel.
Over 50 men and women from 11 churches in one area gathered for training sessions of the Simultaneous Every Member Commitment Program. Using the manual and materials of the "Let Love Guide You" program and other items, leaders led the group through the steps of program building, selection of leaders and preparation for the visitation.
Five training sessions were held at two-week intervals. After each training session, the pastor and chairmen of each church conducted their own training sessions based on the instructions received at the training series. At each joint session they reported on progress made with their local training programs. Help and guidance was given for special problems during each session, and additional training for the next steps in the program provided.
Of special interest is the fact that the area effort helped to create enthusiasm and spur the effort of the individual churches.
Denominations and churches have been looking for stewardship literature in Spanish. Four folders are available.
#614 - ONCE UPON A TIME - Also known as the "Apple" folder. The most popular folder on stewardship yet developed. Now available in both Spanish and English. $17.00/100.
#889 - GIVE A WORTHY PROPORTION? - What's that mean?. Amusing pictures and text explain in easy -to-understand language the principles of "proportionate giving." Available in both Spanish and English. $16.00/100.
Available from www.ChurchStewardship.com.
We have a golden opportunity to harness modern communication tools undreamed of a few short years ago to get our message across to uplift and unify our congregations - to once and for all end the daydreaming, wool-gathering activities that so often categorize what goes on.
There are literally tens of thousands of bits of information available from the world's finest entertainment, education, religious and commercial sources that can be used either in whole or in part to dramatize the messages of your church. What's more, most of this information is readily available without charge.
The name of the game is communications. And if we are to truly communicate in the age in which we live - then it makes sense that we should plan for the simple utilization of the most effective communication tools.
Acting on the principle that people give as they are informed and inspired, one church devised the following program to increase benevolence giving. In the Sunday Bulletin on the first Sunday was enclosed an Acquaintance sheet on one of the church's missionaries. The next Sunday's bulletin carried a brief quiz of ten simple questions, based on the previous week's Acquaintance sheet. The second Sunday's bulletin carried a new Acquaintance sheet on another missionary serving in a different country. The third Sunday a new quiz on the previous week's information and a new Acquaintance Sheet was carried in the bulletin. Fact sheets on the church's colleges, seminaries, and world relief program were included in the program, which was carried on for twelve weeks. The program produced increased gifts and unusual interest and comment.
In Memory is an effective program through which individuals can express sympathy to bereaved relatives and friends or can honor special occasions through a gift to the church or a specific benevolence. The program consists of an In Memory promotional folder which explains the program and with which the donor mails his check. This folder contains a form on which the donor inserts his name, the name of the person to be memorialized or honored to whom an acknowledgement folder is sent, and the charitable cause he has chosen. After the envelope is received, the church sends an In Memory Acknowledgement folder to the designated person. This conveys an appropriate message, gives the name of the person memorialized, and lists the name of the donor of the gift.
The program is generally introduced to a congregation by means of a special mailing, which includes a sample of the In Memory folder and the Acknowledgement folder. Additional memorial folders should be kept in the church tract rack or on the literature table.
It is important to acknowledge each gift with an official receipt and to enclose a new folder for future use. Users become repeaters. For samples contact www.ChurchStewardship.com.
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