Stewardship Season Update
God is good!
It is my great joy to share with you the final results from our stewardship season. We had a fantastic team of volunteers who worked very hard in the months leading up to this campaign. I’d like to thank them for their faithfulness and dedication:
Roger Bietz, Steve Fraser, Gary Hivnor, Bill Nicol, Kali Schnieders, James Thomas, and Pastor Bryan. Also, special thanks to Susan Arnold, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Texarkana, who served as our guest leader.
This year we used a new program for our stewardship campaign based on a book by Herb Miller entitled New Consecration Sunday. The program is very specific, and frankly very challenging, in the way we are called to encourage giving as a way of spiritual commitment. Specifically, we did three things:
Challenged members to give as a percentage of their income.
Showed the congregation our current giving habits and encouraged each of our church members to consider if God was calling them to make a spiritual “step up” with their giving.
Designated a special Sunday to dedicate our gifts to God, thus, emphasizing a shorter stewardship season.
So, what happened? In 2009, Grace Presbyterian had a stewardship season that lasted at least seven weeks. During this time, the church collected $852,000 in pledges. This year our campaign lasted four weeks and we collected $1,025,000 in estimate of giving pledges.
This is an amazing increase in one year’s time (and in a down economy, no less).
In conclusion, thank you for your participation and answering God’s call to give as an act of spiritual growth. We have handed these results over to the Session and staff of our church family to faithfully consider how we should be good stewards of these resources in 2010.
It was a privilege to be a part of this season in the life of our church. Thanks be to God.
Michael Smith
Consecration Sunday Team Chairperson
