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The Bishop's Annual Spring Conference
“Creating a Spirit of Generosity”
Diocese of Southeast Florida
February 29 - March 1, 2008 Presentation by Bill Wrenn
Missioner for Stewardship and Evangelism
Diocese of North Carolina
I believe is that we have this thing WE call “stewardship” wrong and have had it wrong for years. I can give you some ways to work with that, but you may not want to because they very well could be unfamiliar.
Now let me lay some fears aside. I don't do much PowerPoint and I seldom have the luxury of having something prepared weeks ahead of time. If you need notes or you hear something you like and want to write it down, that's fine. Do it. If you want a transcript of this, I'll email the enclosure or maybe you can just get a hard copy made here. Anything you want to use, copy, quote, print, … I don't care. Do it. Clear?
I am going to use the words “stewardship” and “generosity” somewhat interchangeably here so I need you to give me some initial slack. That's NOT the way the church generally uses those two words. But, you see, “generosity” does NOT mean giving stuff away indiscriminately or under “compulsion” as Paul puts it. It just means “freely”, and that certainly doesn't mean irresponsibly. It does mean to choose to be the conduit between an abundant Creator and a crippled creation. It does mean to weigh options and to make choices as a manager of great wealth and not “a victim of the game.” What it means to me is that it's up to us , you and me, to tear the hole in the roof and lower the pallets bearing the beaten and the wounded into the presence of a Savior who heals them because He chooses, not because he must. Like Jesus told it and showed it in today's Gospel after He has walked on the water and returned to the boat and quieted the fears of His men:
When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.' Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. - MARK 6:47-56
A lot of liberties are taken in the definitions attributed to those words “stewardship” and “generosity.” Terry Parsons, whom many of you may know as 815's “Stewardship Poobah,” defines stewardship as, “Doing the work God has given us to do with the resources God has given us to do it with.” Sooo, God GIVES the work; God GIVES the resources. That's pretty generous on HIS part. In the Diocese of North Carolina, we have used the tag, “All we are. All we have. All the time.” All. Not some; not minimum amount; but ALL. That's pretty generous on OUR part.
“IMAGE OF GOD” RING ANY BELLS?
Oh, I got to tell you, I got a great email from Bonnie Weaver when she and the team were putting these couple of days together. It said, “…the following are suggestions from Bishop Frade.” Kinda' like “a suggestion from Bishop Curry,” right?
So, Bishop Frade's “suggestions” were that we talk about stewardship in terms of:
- social responsibilities
- missions
- recruiting and transforming new members
- passing the torch to younger members
- adjusting creatively to the rapidly changing demographics and economy
My father was a career Marine. A full Bird. A fighter plane aviator.
A warrior. Impressive. I grew up full knowing he knew what he was talking about, and he was, I have found, right when he told me about this: “Anytime you address the troops, first, tell ‘em what you're gonna' tell ‘em. Then, tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what you told them. Twenty percent ain't gonna' get it anyway.”
So , after careful review of Bishop Frade's “suggestions”, let me tell you what I'm gonna' talk about. I want to talk about stewardship in terms of:
- social responsibilities
- missions
- recruiting and transforming new members
-passing the torch to younger members
I AM NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT:
- adjusting creatively to the rapidly changing demographics and economy
BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT. The other topics … I know some stuff, have guessed some stuff, and suspect some stuff. On the latter, our demographics in the Diocese of North Carolina change relatively slowly and in specific ethnic and economic areas and our economy is so stable that some predictions coming from the econ-wags at our many universities predict that North Carolina will not even feel the effects of a recession.
So, let's talk a little bit about SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES . Here are a couple of things to chew on:
The Most Rev. David Moxon, one of the Bishops of New Zealand, told a conference group I was recently in: “We are a mission with a church , not a church with a mission .” I think that works for me.
Now, here's one thing you must understand, if “imitation is the highest form of flattery”, then outright theft is the highest form of stewardship .
Most of what I know is cobbled together over time from and by the teachers I've encountered.
The Rev. Warren Murphey, a string-bean of a guy out of Wyoming , is Priest in a small, rural cluster. He has a little gem he calls “Adaptive Change.” It requires three pieces of information:
• What is the reality outside our door?
• What are the changes taking place (economic, political, demographic, etc.)?
• What does our congregation need to do to meet/adapt to these changes?
Answer these three questions and you … you know something that just occurred to me? Answering these three questions might just punch the ticket for what I wasn't going to talk about: adjusting creatively to the rapidly changing demographics and economy ! Well, as we say back home, “Even a blind hog can find an acorn once in a while.”
The other thing that happens with the answers to these questions is a response to the community needs, the “where the rubber meets the road” kinda' thing. This is called: “ Four Stages to Get Outside the Walls. ” It looks something like this:
LEVEL ONE: TOKEN SERVICE
food pantry, clothes closet, discretionary fund … designed so those served will go away.
Side Effects : No advocacy, but lots of compliments.
How to Improve : coordinate efforts with others (Alamance County). Have one person in charge so there is more than one effort being made.
LEVEL TWO: CONGREGATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
groups and organizations use the facilities (AA, daycare, Habitat, etc.)
Side Effects : Some risk (security reservations), some applause.
How to Improve : “open door policy” (“No” is not an answer). Radical hospitality (someone is always there to serve). The entire budget now becomes a mission budget (including maintenance).
LEVEL THREE: INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY CHANGE
personal and congregational commitments (recycling, micro- loans, jail ministry, etc.). See what needs to be done and do it! Training people to sit on non-profit boards. Want transformation above all.
Side Effects : Some criticism: “That's not the church's role.”
How to Improve : “The Bargain Box” story …from one dumpy, dirty “thrift shop” in Cody , Wyoming , to six stores nationwide, all turning a “ministry profit”
LEVEL FOUR: LEADING CHANGE – CUTTING EDGE ADVOCACY
lobby for social justice. Testimony at important local meetings. Protests.
Side Effects : high criticism, high commitment.
How to Improve : monitor legislative issues ( Wyoming 's “hate crime bill”, CHIP, etc.)
NEXT UP: MISSIONS
I kind of prefer calling it “The Funding of The Missional Church” because once we do the “Four Stages to Get Outside the Walls,” we are outside the walls and in the mission field. What we need now are resources.
I got to confess that few folk ask me for my [uninhibited] thoughts on giving money in the church today and how we got it so wrong, how an awesome word like “steward” and what should be the proactive “stewardship” carries the perception of simply being another smokescreen for raising money or garnering more stuff. I'm pretty sure that this is not what Paul had in mind in his first letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (1 Cor. 4:1-2, NRSV ). The Rt. Rev. Mark McDonald, past Bishop of Alaska, is pretty straightforward on this point when he says; “We went wrong when we began to think that our money was more powerful than our message.”
In the Diocese of North Carolina, a very unscientific probe indicates that in the 1960's, about 8 out of 10 Episcopalians filled out a pledge card. From 2000 on, it's closer to 4 out of 10. As the Every Member Canvass, as we know it, enters its sunset years, what's the next best thing? My thoughts are that there are:
THREE THINGS :
First : The Every Member Canvass is a conversion opportunity . Now, I'm running this over into “Transforming” and “Passing the Torch”, too. When I tell people that the vehicle of my conversion experience was the Episcopal Church's Every Member Canvass, they laugh. I am absolutely persuaded that we are not only missing the whole point of the commitment experience but a wonderful opportunity to be relevant as well. Answers to questions like The Ministry of Money 's, “How much is enough?” and Share, Save, Spend' s, “Because I can afford a ‘Hummer', shouldn't I buy one?” are the stuff our comfort zones most fear to hear. Affording people a safe place, these conversation(s) and, hence, the opportunities to confront the “rat race” with a real alternative that includes a conscious decision to live simply and responsibly are HUGE. Based on my personal experience, it can bring an epiphany of sorts. It can be part of a journey to seek out the Christ, to offer what we have in honor of Him instead of the consumer culture, to hear an angel speak, and to change our direction from the pursuit of the worldly to directing our footsteps home. None of this is possible when all we present is the raising of money for the church's annual maintenance programs.
Second : Leadership guru and best selling author John Maxwell says, “God will only give to us what He knows will flow through us.” Doesn't matter what it is. “Half time,” the announcement/Offertory, in many worship services I have attended can become little more than an advertising moment. We peddle our program wares through the announcements of upcoming events, musical performances and such, and then take up money. If memory serves, Jesus drove some people out of the temple for similar sales behavior.
Third : I believe that what I do with money is sacramental. The Book of Common Prayer defines a “sacrament” as: [an] “…outward visible sign(s) of inward spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.” (page 857). Until persuaded that having money is a witness to God's grace, I doubt that one can be persuaded that giving money is a witness to God's grace.
My sense is that our teachings to all ages should be rooted in our beliefs and personal commitments and that all decisions made by congregational leadership should be rooted in them as well. I find the church's duplicity unparalleled in asking people to give for other-worldly reasons (“sacrificial”, “for our children's futures”, “the church is facing a crisis,” “to increase our outreach to the homeless and the hungry,” etc.), and then turning around and making decisions based on secular criteria that uses a totally different language (“bare bones budget,” “fiscal responsibility,” “the ‘business' of the church,” etc.). I suspect many have experienced the frustration attendant in the realization that our ability to reach out to others is the first victim of this game. It's no wonder we're torn by tensions, if not downright schizophrenic, during the church's EMC.
So, where do we start “the great reversal?”
First: Stop [passing] the cash plate. A whole generation has grown up, shrouded by the secrecy of the pledge, seeing “pillars of the church” drop a dollar in the cash plate (or not) and using that as their baseline for giving. The generation is my children and their peers. They do not/can not know if the “pillar” has made a generous pledge, kept it, and simply cannot see the church's offering plate go by without putting something in it, or if this “pillar”, with all the vested influence that comes with age, the trappings of worldly advancement, longevity in the congregation, etc., in fact contributes absolutely nothing to the benefit of the institution. This example is a bit simplistic, but I believe the point is clear. Nowhere in Scripture do I find a plate being passed during the gathering of the people for worship. I do know of three sightings where an offering is made outside “the service”:
- 2 Chronicles 24:8 : “So the king (Joash) gave command, and they made a chest, and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord.” (To collect the tax Moses levied in order to “restore the house of the Lord.”v4)
- Mark 12:41 : “He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.” (“The Widow's Mite”)
- 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 : “Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia . On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.” (This is the offering for the church in Jerusalem but has interesting implications, don't you think? In our vernacular, Paul wanted it done before the “services.”)
I see Biblical giving as both discriminate and definitive. If we continue with the mid-worship Offertory, it may be helpful to designate beforehand where the cash plate will be given. If we've done what the spinners call, “due diligence” with the “Adaptive Change” work, we already know where the resources will go. If not, and we're content to sit back and write checks, it may be that fifty-two different designations (one for every week in the year) is too much of a stretch, but one might make the case that picking three things to support each year (one local, one regional, and one international) could appeal to many members of a congregation. Those with state values; those with national values, and those with world values can all join in opening their hearts, and their pocketbooks, in the familiar surroundings of the same institution. Some may, perhaps by circumstance, be moved to up their ante and broaden their gifting. I find that to be the powerful and unpredictable work of the Holy Spirit. We can and should plant. We can and should create opportunities. But He/She brings the fruit to full season. Wonderfully, we all celebrate in the harvest.
Here's a thought: put the plates by the door until time to offer them up at the altar and honor the third rubric on page 361, BCP . Offer them up in thanksgiving, pray a “multiplication” blessing, and leave them on the altar. What the Celebrant does and how it is done speaks volumes. If we take a look at what we do, our machinations can run from camouflaging the plates on a small table or shelf on the wall to spiriting them out the sacristy or transept door via usher or acolyte. When I have asked about these habits, I am usually told that the altar is too small. If the Lord's Table, designed, constructed and maintained by us, is not large enough for the people's offerings to Him and for His gifts to us, I propose that Clergy and their Worship Committees do some creative thinking…and carpentering.
Second: Determine the congregation's financial profile. This will take some time. Besides the fact that money is rarely discussed and a culture of scarcity seems to exist no matter how wealthy the worshiping community, there are patterns that are useful in “customizing” canvass conversation/conversion opportunities. The business of “stewardship consultants” leading “stewardship seminars” so that we can learn new ways to raise money may be the best we can do as an opener in some places, but it needs to be seen for what it is: an entry-level opportunity that is part of a larger, longer conversation. We do well with the “How” but seem to stumble at the “Why.” Every congregational culture is different and one size does not fit all, one conversation does not encompass all, and one silver bullet cannot fix all.
I believe that there are three questions that need to be answered before a congregational conversation about financial stewardship can begin:
1. “What is this congregation's core belief about money?”
• “Who controls the money?”
• “What would we do about nos. 1 and 2 if we were not afraid of running out of money?”
The first two questions cannot be answered without looking closely at the giving trends/patterns (vocations, pledges, cash plates, endowment, committee controlled “secret” accounts, etc.) over the last five years compared with congregational demographics. I'm talking about all of them: transfers in, transfers out, births, deaths, documented average Sunday attendance…every way we can turn the prism. In the Diocese of North Carolina, we have had congregations go from wealth to survival based on the rise and fall of furniture, textiles and tobacco. To ignore these influences is to live in a state of denial. This process will probably have to “name names” in order to develop “personality profiles” to assist in the planning stages, so it may be wise to select a discriminate group of individuals in deference to those who will strive to protect the status quo of secrecy. “Those” may even include the priest. The trends or patterns that are discovered are part of the congregation's DNA. The “profile” tells us where, cognitively, the congregational components are in receptivity to supporting the church and its mission and at what level they may be approached. It tells us what will be supported.
Third: Tailor-make the expansion plans. These plans will take into account such things as geographic locations, economic circumstances and financial issues that define age and cultural lines … again, the work of “Adaptive Change” and “Four Stages to Get Outside the Walls.” An example: young people with and without children who may be in debt and own three maxed-out credit cards vs. WWII “builder/children of the depression” who have reached the prime years of giving (70+ say the researchers at The Episcopal Church Foundation ) and are searching for the “Where do I give and how much?” answers to questions of life. I am not sure where the church got the idea that one four week “theme of the year” money raising campaign done via snail mail will touch the lives of everyone, but experience tells me this assumption is wrong. Finally, we can always benefit from the perspectives of those on the journey that are not Episcopalians. How do our brothers and sisters in other traditions approach this most delicate of subjects? I have found the Evangelical Lutheran Church 's (ELCA) SALT team to be a wonderful resourceful in congregational development processes. Incidentally, the resources on the ELCA website are phenomenal as are those of our own TENS (The Episcopal Network for Stewardship). More on TENS later. One of the interesting things SALT advocates is the separation of the canvass and the budgeting act. Continue to budget in the 4 th quarter for the coming year but run the canvass the next spring. The contention is that it is impossible to teach year around stewardship when it is so closely yoked with the budgeting process. I recognize that our EMC's for the most part, have become a part of out liturgical cycle and that adaptations would be required at other levels. For instance, in N.C., the parochial report asks how many pledging units will support next year's budget. Obviously, we won't have that kind of information with a spring campaign. There's also the question of transitioning. The ELCA handled that by asking folk for an 18 month pledge.
REMEMBER : I believe is that we have this thing WE call “stewardship” wrong and have had it wrong for years. I can give you some ways to work with that, but you may not want to because they very well could be unfamiliar.
In cutting to the proverbial “chase”, let me say that I am not advocating the end of the Every Member Canvass and the institutional Pledge Card. A lot of us still need them and a lot of us will still give both in support of the institution and in faith that the leadership will make the right decisions. Generationally, we are mostly WWII and old Boomers.
Here comes what may be the tough part for some folks. I think that Bishop Claude Paine (ret., Texas ) and Canon Kevin Martin ( www.vitalchurchministries.org ) pioneered this (or a similar) concept. Diocesan and congregational leadership must carefully create missional opportunities. I believe that people will give more generously to the mission than to the institution. I would cite the response to Hurricane Katrina. I probably know as many people who went to the Gulf Coast as didn't. There was energy. There was passion. I have heard both secular charitable institutions and the church bemoan financial shortfalls attributed to individual and corporate response to the disaster. Both the calls for money and for presence were responded to with vigor and meticulous planning.
Where, then, will the operating monies come from? They come “off the top” and this must be made abundantly clear from the inception of any such program. The leadership must beat the drum: even mission work requires oversight. Even mission work requires accountability. Even mission work requires management. Paul wrote, “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” When I used to keep up with secular charities, I would pretty much draw a line at those whose overhead required more than $.25 on the dollar. Believe it or not, there were few operating below that. It helped me in making my selections of support. If the church is competitive at that level, it should be a no-brainer for mission driven Christians. The beauty in the potential of the Episcopal Church is that for the many, many small congregations that could not support such missional activity alone, the Diocese could be there. Approximately 80 of our 125 congregations in the Diocese of North Carolina cannot pay full-time clergy. Many are in a survival mode. When, and if, diocesan funding and organization for missional outreach is offered to these small groups of Christians, I believe it will be one of our finest hours. When diocesan and congregational mission determines the budget rather than the budget determining who gets the leftovers after the bills are paid, “the Kingdom has passed near.”
This will take a mammoth change in mindset. However, I believe that the move is already underway. The move is from the church supporting mission to the mission supporting the church…or not.
NEXT UP: RECRUITING AND TRANSFORMING NEW MEMBERS
There have been many who have accompanied me and assisted me in my journey with the Church, but there is always, for each of us, the first who is “The Bridge”. Let me begin with the story of the first and greatest Bridge in my life: The Rt. Rev. Frank Neff Powell, now Bishop of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. Neff was the Archdeacon of the Diocese of North Carolina from 1983 to 1990. The best thing about this event in my life's journey is that he does not remember it at all, and, I sense, that is true of most “Bridges”. I also sense my telling of it causes him great embarrassment.
In the 1980's as a result of chairing a couple of remarkably successful Every Member Canvasses at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Wilson, N.C., Neff contacted me and asked if I would meet with and talk to other congregational leaders about the mechanics of a successful EMC. I was flattered, it made me feel important, and I agreed to do it. Understand, I was IN the church but not OF the church. Does that make sense? Let me try to qualify.
After escaping from the Southern Baptists (my Mother's influence), I spent some time during and after my education at UNC-CH as a practicing hedonist. I excelled. In 1974, I married an Episcopalian, and in 1978, while expecting our first child, my then-wife asked me, “Don't you think our children should be reared in a ‘Christian' home?” I didn't know how to get out of that one. There were soon-to-be three generations of her gene pool sitting in the same pew at St. Timothy's, so I decided to join the chorus. Literally. I love to sing so I enlisted in the choir. The robes were brand new; I still had a somewhat svelt, athletic build with good hair and a baritone voice. I had been trained in the chorus at the University of North Carolina . I looked so good, they put me up front. I am persuaded that such a high profile position led to my nomination and election to the Vestry the following year: pure recognition, no substance. Now, I ask you, what is the first task we would give a young, up-and-coming businessman who is completely ignorant of the machinations of parish life? _____ That's it, I was asked to chair the Every Member Canvass. I did what they told me to do (which was pretty much what they had always done before), which was pretty much to collect and mail letters from the Rector, Senior and Junior Wardens, and a facsimile of the old “Pony Express. Remember that one? Here's the rub: it was ridiculously successful with a pledge increase of 14%. God has a wonderful sense of humor! I basked in the “adoration of the magi” of the congregation…the bullmooses, the Alpha males.
In fact, it was so successful, they asked me to do it again. I had learned in sales that a gimmick only works once, so you have to change the pitch. That sentence exemplifies where I was coming from: manipulation in the gimmick; success determined by the pitch.
I talked to the rector. He told me he was in charge of the spiritual life of the congregation and that financial matters were the Vestry's responsibility. He told me that I might talk to Neff Powell, Archdeacon, Department for Program . I didn't know “Archdeacon” from “ Archangel ”, but it sounded cool. I called Neff. BIG MISTAKE for what I was after at the time.
Neff listened . Neff was patient. Neff didn't correct, coerce or challenge .
His voice was kind when he said, “I don't know much about raising money, but there is a stewardship workshop at Emmanuel, Southern Pines, this weekend and if you will go, I will take you . In fact, if you'll drive to Raleigh , we can ride together .”
I didn't know how to get out of that one. I didn't know “stewardship” from “armed robbery”, but for some reason or other, I went. Reaching for another successful canvass and the accolades that went with it? A small voice inside that said, “You need to meet this man.”? I don't remember. Probably both. When I arrived at the diocesan offices on Saturday morning, he invited me in, gave me a tour, and invited me to pray with him for safe travel and a meaningful day. He did the praying.
Over the next year, I had lunch with him a couple of times. He would call to invite me out. He asked simple questions:
“By the way, did you happen to read the Daily Office this morning?”
I had, after the first time he asked.
“What struck you about the Gospel? Remember? It was ___ .”
We'd talk about it. He asked me about it. I heard him preach. He would memorize the Gospel for that Sunday and retell the story , and it came alive .
He became my friend. I found Neff Powell to be deeply faithful , a man of prayer , a tither , someone who worked hard during the week and still went to church on Sunday . (DUH!) He was not my priest; he did not officiate at my wedding, he did not bury my parents, he did not baptize my children or teach their confirmation class… he became my friend, and I liked to be with him.
NOW:
You may remember from an earlier comment was that my father was a career Marine. In addition to the 20% won't get it comment, he always told me that, “The main thing to remember is to ALWAYS keep the main thing the main thing.”
HERE IS THE FIRST MAIN THING : The Gospel has been entrusted to us.
Shepherds don't make sheep, sheep make sheep.
Now here's a great exercise for Episcopalians because all it involves is thinking about stuff. You don't have to say anything … YET !
I want you to think of the name of the person or persons who served as the “bridge” … the person who first brought you into a faith community.
If you are thinking about more than one person's name, now narrow it down to the ONE .
Now…contemplating that NAME, I want you to think about this question: “What was this person LIKE for you?” I want an ADJECTIVE. “He or she was LIKE ___________ .” And fill in the mental blank.
How did this person make you FEEL? I want a FEELING word. “This person made me FEEL _____________ .” And fill in the mental blank.
What did this person SAY to help you “find your way”? Think of a GIST word. “This person SAID ____________.” And fill in the mental blank.
What did this person DO to help you “step across the line”? I want a BEHAVIOR or ACTION word. “This person DID ____ .”
And fill in the mental blank.
Now, for the next three or four minutes, I want you to share what you remember with another person.
We believe in invitation and incorporation and think it's important, but we're not very good at doing it.
We ARE the people you have thought about and spoken about. My kids used to tell me, “Dad, get into it, get over it or get help!” Great advice for Christians, I think. The spoken words of the person who most influenced us were NOT PRACTICED.
THERE ARE NO TWELVE STEPS TO INCORPORATION. THIS TAKES TIME. EFFECTIVE INVITATION AND INCORPORATION MUST BE TAILORED TO EACH PERSON AS WE DISCOVER WHERE THEY ARE OPEN.
Let me reiterate: these PEOPLE, these ADJECTIVES, these FEELINGS, these WORDS, these ACTIONS that have come to mind and into our conversations … these are the people we are, the people we would be, the people GOD CALLS US TO BE.
Normally, what we SAY is least important. Invitation and incorporation are not just the message of what we say, they are the essence of who we are.
THE POINT IS, THERE IS A CONNECTION.
BUT REMEMBER “THE MAIN THING”: WE ARE THOSE TO WHOM THOSE YET TO COMMIT WILL RESPOND TO.
NOW, FINALLY: PASSING THE TORCH TO THE YOUNGER MEMBERS
The first step is to confront and rebuke an attitude I feel we have held in the church for far too long: “One size fits all.” In particular, the golden, laid-back years of Every Member Canvasses that consisted of five mailed letters (priest, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, venerable member of the congregation, young person...however it was patterned), capped by an intergenerational event have passed.
I believe that the greatest divide in the church today is not racial, economic or even sexual, but generational. All segments of society from marketers to demographers to politicians work to identify the “cohort” they are addressing and to tailor the message to that cohort. The respective product, poll or appeal may be the same (content) but the language and presentation (context) will be quite different.
One way to begin the discussion with clergy, vestry and stewardship committee is adapted from Gil Rendle of the Alban Institute (www.alban.org). His ideas are presented in The Multigenerational Congregation: Meeting the Leadership Challenge, Alban Institute, 2002. The premise is that there is a “decade of influence” for each of us. These are the formative years that give us a “filter” through which we view many things. An example:
1930 – The Great Depression Generation
“Keep it ten years. If you don't use it, keep it ten
more.”
1940 -- The World War II Generation
God Is My Co-pilot
1950 -- The Credit Card Generation
Society transitions from saving for an item to instant gratification
1960 -- The “Love” Generation
Woodstock , Women's Lib, Voting Rights, Vietnam
1970 -- The “We” Generation
“I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect
harmony…”
1980 -- The “Me” Generation
“Don't Worry, Be Happy”
1990 -- The Greed Generation
Michael Milken and the “young turks” (corporate raiders)
2000 -- The War on Terror Generation
9/11 and Iraq
The tags and teasers are for reflection and for fun. One can assign any tag or teaser to the decade presented, whatever works for the group in which you find yourself. If you have to ask about the tag or the teaser, be assured it's not your decade. Mine is the 60's . The point is, we have become a society of many, many identities but they seldom overlap. Someone whose decade is the 60's has difficulty trying to talk candidly to someone from the 90's. The language, vision and goals are too different. There are no commonly held visions/goals of previous generations such as “making it through the Depression,” or “winning World War II.”
Here's How This Generational Approach Works in Heaven :
Look at the congregation and set up some cohorts. One way that seems functional is: under 20 years old; 20-40; 40-60; 60 and up. Depending on the size of the congregation, you may or may not have them all. We are looking for groupings with a common language and similar experiences. You might ask, “Why not start with the “classic” categories of “silent,” “boomer,” “gen-x” and “millennial?” The tags and teasers are a good way to break the ice and get people talking, much like the “Earliest Memories of Money” or “Episcopal Epistemology,” used for the past 15 years in many stewardship presentations. If you are not familiar with these, ASK!
Identify the top 20-30% of the “givers” in each group. Discretion must be used in determining the top 20-30%, not just in dollar amount but other factors as well: income, health, caring for aged parents, etc. But it's bigger than that: regular worship attendance (at least twice a month on average) and committed involvement in one church affiliated group outside worship are weighted factors. This is a variation on themes developed by the Rev. Canon Kevin Martin (Stewardship and Giving, TENS, 2003).
The financial step is the sticky part for some. This step violates the old secrecy rule where only the pledge secretary and/or treasurer and perhaps the priest knew who gave what. There is a difference between secrecy and confidentiality. Since the role of money in our lives is a profoundly spiritual matter, it is important that at least some members of the Stewardship Committee (sometimes called the Stewardship Ministry Team) have a handle on patterns of giving. Discretion must be used in determining the top 20-30%, not just in dollar amount but other factors as well: income, health, caring for aged parents, etc.
Identify 4 or 5 people in each cohort from this 20-30% who are competent, committed and, in a perfect world, tithers. If you have to settle for less than perfect, don't worry --- transformation is God's work, creating opportunities is ours.
The priest and Stewardship Ministry Team Chair take these folk to lunch. One or two at a time. It is extremely important for the clergy to be involved in the recruitment. Clergy still have vestiges of authority in all cohorts, especially in the leadership groups. Remember what competent, committed people with hectic schedules require: four pieces of information before they will consider saying, “Yes.” to any involvement, financial or time-wise.
- A detailed job description of the work to be done
- An accurate time frame, beginning to end
- The assurance of training and your continued walk with them
- A celebration (read: “recognition”) when the work is done
Whether it's the Every Member Canvass, the Ministry Fair, a capital campaign … whatever, what we want them to do is host a party. The party's design is up to the cohort leadership. No interference from anyone else. If we can't trust them and they don't trust us, a successful commitment program wasn't on the radar anyway and is not a primary issue. The function is held at the church if the facility permits, off campus if it doesn't. Ideally, support for each cohort's activity (dance, dinner, auction, theme night, shelter tour…whatever) is supplied and financed by members of the other cohorts. After all, their success is our success.
Use some common sense. If people-power is not available, spend some money. Take babysitters, for instance. The nursery will be staffed only for the 20-40 year-olds in all probability. Don't use the under 20's, use older folks. The 20's-40's will rest easier knowing their little bundles of joy are in the care of mature adults and will enjoy themselves much more.
What about invitations? We have already compiled the guest list(s). Invitations may go out via word of mouth, email, website, telephone, bulletin insert, carrier pigeon…all of these possibilities and more need to be exercised.
Special invitations to the 20-30% identified top “contributors”, and remember, we are not just talking about money. They also get a personal, handwritten invitation that clearly states how important it is that they be there. Follow this up with a phone call to confirm receipt of the invitation and to see if they have any questions. Ask them pointblank if they will attend, again stressing how important it is that they be present. The reason for this discriminatory practice is simple: historically, 80% of a congregation's financial and people-powered support comes from 20% of the folks. It is a take-off on the old “80/20 Rule” from when I was in business. I have found this to be true in leadership as well…80% of the leadership comes from 20% of the people. This has been commented on time and time again by stewardship/leadership geeks.
There is one absolute: there has to be a speaker. A teller of his or her story. The story of God's redemption and transformation of their own life. Let the leadership recruit from the cohort. Most folk need training in how to tell the story that, as Bill Easum says, “the community simply cannot live without.” ( www.easumbandy.com )
We train them to tell their story by gathering the storytellers from each cohort together before the commitment program begins. Executive Coach Gary R. Collins (Newsletter 274 - January 17, 2008) says:
Every good speaker, preacher, teacher, business leader, salesperson, and coach is a good story teller, according to a lead article in Harvard Business Review (December, 2007). A well-crafted story can motivate, encourage, instruct, lead, and be “a force for turning dreams into goals and then into results.” Whenever you do public speaking or private coaching be aware that stories often are remembered when everything else is forgotten. Stories that move and captivate people have “four truths” according to the HBR article. Try applying these in your coaching, teaching, and speaking.
· Great stories are consistent with the story teller's deepest values, passions and emotions. Good story tellers are authentic.
· Great story tellers take time to understand what their listeners know about, care about, desire and need. Try to place the listeners into the action, appeal to their emotions and senses, arouse some suspense and meet their expectations. In short, know your audience.
· Remember the context. Never tell the same story in the same way twice. “Great story tellers prepare obsessively. They think about, rethink, work and rework their stories” But they keep flexible and willing to drop the script and improvise if this seems best for the situation.
· Great story tellers have a cause that the stories illustrate. “Even in today's cynical, self-centered age, people are desperate to believe in something bigger than themselves. The story teller plays a vital role by providing them with a mission they can believe in and devote themselves to....Words and ideas presented in a way that engages listeners' emotions are what carry stories.”
So we train them, and here's the sticky part … by telling them our story. Call in an outside storyteller only if absolutely necessary. In all groups, there is credibility in personal relationships and publicly known lifestyles.
The celebrations are held on four consecutive weeks. Clergy must attend all four events for the previously stated reason. I'd guess a congregation could support three of these a year with the EMC being a “given”, then perhaps, a ministry fair and something else (church school opening?).
If it's an EMC, pledge cards are distributed along with a Vision for Ministry for the coming year.
Now, let me say a word about generations and about Pledges … this time I'm speaking only financial:
The pledge card is not for a year (unless one is done specifically for the 60+ group since that is what they are used to); the first section might read something like this:
In thanksgiving for God's many blessings and desiring to support the work and ministry of St. Veronica's, I/we will give $_____.00 per month payable by
( ) cash; ( ) check; ( ) draft; ( ) credit card.
Yep. You are going to have to do some work here, and probably a selling job. A lot of congregations are not set up in current market ways, but take a look at the possibilities: a cash pledge is just as legitimate in budgeting as the promise of a monthly check. Casual or wary attendees are given an entry-level opportunity. Generational habits: The 60+ group still writes checks. My group, 40-60, likes drafts. The younger set, 20-40, uses credit cards. Those under 20 have cash. Some of us simply need to learn to handle the extra little bit it takes to process the legitimate mediums of exchange in the marketplace of today. You just have to teach the treasurer to multiply by twelve and…BINGO...there you are!
If you want to gain some additional understanding of why the time-frame is a month instead of a year and why a cash plate pledge is offered, talk with Ms. Terry Parsons, now ex - Stewardship Officer, The Episcopal Church Center in New York about a workshop she does called “Maslow Meets Jesus” ( tparsons@episcopalchurch.org) . The bottom line is that at a minimum, 20% of the people in a congregation live in what psychologist Abraham Maslow dubbed “survival.” Their vision span is 1-7 days. People in this mode don't fill out pledge cards for a year; a month will stretch them.
The Vision for Ministry for the coming year. This used to be called “The Parish Narrative”, basically a report on the past year. It is hard to generate excitement about the past save in the 60+ group. The Vision for Ministry should be in the center of the table (along with the day's Gospel and a copy of Michael Curry's Gospel Based Discipleship ). Bishop Curry has requested that we try to open every meeting in the Diocese of North Carolina with reflections on the daily reading. Make the Vision for Ministry heavy on pictures and quotes. The acronym S.W.E.E.P.S. still works (the categories are Service, Worship, Education, Evangelism, Pastoral Care and Stewardship) because you will be capturing many pictures and quotes under a large number of categories, not many columns of confusing, sometimes controversial, dollar figures
For a more complete description of the Vision for Ministry , go to The Episcopal Network for Stewardship website, TENS.org. It is important to keep in mind that the Vision for Ministry tells the congregation's story, and its vision for the future. It also emphasizes our need to give because we are created in God's image as givers rather than beggers.
The Pledge Card continued : the second portion of the pledge card might look something like this:
Please send me additional information on _______________ at St. Veronica's.
Signed ___________________________
This also offers an invitation to explore some particular activity or program of interest.
Two things: You had better have the information available in handout form on tables for those who are smitten right then and there. And you had better be able to mail it within two days to those who are not immediately smitten but request it. This means that the mailing list has to be accurate beforehand because asking for addresses and/or telephone numbers from people whom we are asking for money or time pretty much assures us that we won't get either. Why would we give anything, financial or time-wise, to someone who does not know who we are?
Two Opportunities for Ingathering: The first is provided the night of each event. Large, very obvious receptacles or baskets are placed beside the doors (2 Chronicles 24:8; Mark 12:41) for the cards that are filled out that night. I like signs that say, “PLEASE PUT COMPLETED PLEDGE CARDS IN HERE.” Of course, you will also have to make some announcement regarding the ingathering(s), but a good speaker will include them in their remarks. A really good speaker will move people to fill out that card while they are there. My experience is that spontaneity is more efficacious than prolonged, off-site deliberation.
The second opportunity is the ingathering on the Sunday morning following the last cohort's celebration. Uncollected cards are taken up during the Offertory, and ALL cards are presented at the altar. The leadership of the commitment program is called forward and blessed. If, indeed, bless means “to thank and to acknowledge”, then the congregation is blessed (same deal), and do not forget to bless God, too (same deal).
Hugh Magers, National Stewardship Officer before Terry Parsons, suggests that the cards be dumped on the altar while the congregation recites , “No matter what we say or do, THIS is what we think of You.” That last part is a joke…sorta.
I believe that the annual commitment programs are one of the greatest opportunities for lives to be transformed through the church today, and that most congregations do not take full advantage of that opportunity.
Saying “Thank You” is not something we do well either. One way to thank the cohort leaders is for the vestry to host them at some function or other where they are also informed as to the outcome of the program. Equally important is saying “thank you” to each contributor. The Rev. Dr. George Regas, Rector Emeritus, All Saints, Pasadena , California , would personally write every pledger every year to thank them and include the amount of the pledge. That was 1,000+ notes. Something that acknowledges the amount and is signed by a human being, rector and/or the Stewardship Ministry Team Chair, the Treasurer, or the Pledge Secretary is a step in the right direction. For those clergy who still insist on not knowing the amount of a pledge, a personal thank you is still very appropriate.
I get some predictable comments and questions: “Sounds like a lot of work.” Yep. Also much more fun than begging. Do we expect folk just to ride by the church and throw money on the lawn? Did Jesus ask for volunteers?
The second thing I believe is that we have this thing WE call “stewardship” wrong and have had it wrong for years. I can give you some ways to work with that, but you may not want to because they very well could be unfamiliar.
“Have you done this in your diocese?” Yep. In most cases, not all of it at one time and not all of it in the Diocese of North Carolina. It will work because all the parts work. Some assembly is required.
“Does it work in all congregations?” Go back to the first sentence: “…we must confront and rebuke the attitude that ‘one size fits all.'” of Just pick what will work for you.
LET US PRAY:
Almighty God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought us to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in us your servants the covenant you made with us at our Baptism. Send us forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Confirmation, BCP, pg. 418)
updated 03/20/08
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