“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
March Madness
It’s Holy Week.
It’s spring (Lent literally means “spring,” after all).
It’s tax season.
It’s busy.
The new year has barely begun, and we’re already feeling the crunch to get things done before the vacations begin, when everyone’s schedule is full of gaps instead of being so jam-packed as it is currently.
Take a breath, Beloved. As author and reluctant believer Sara Miles recalls in her book Take This Bread, “Got to slow down to speed up … Remember (Sara): Slow down. When it’s busy, slow down.”
My primary school teacher told me at the tender age of 7 that March “comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb.” This particular year it will go out with the Lamb of God trampling death underfoot, a reminder that though the busyness of life feels as if it will take your life, your life is already safe in the Crucified and Risen One.
So, you can slow down a bit. Your rush won’t save anything.
Today, think on this: what are the three tasks that must be done in short order? Just the top three. Focus on them, complete them, consider that a win.
Since I’m director for Congregational Stewardship, sometimes people ask me if this work is all about finances and budgets, and I’m quick to remind them that “stewardship” literally means something like “tending,” and not just in the economic sense.
Life is a testament to our stewardship: how do we steward our mouths, our hands, our pocketbooks, our bodies, our praise, our time?
Stewarding your time in those seasons of life when it feels like time is of the essence is one of the hardest things to do, but it may be the most necessary.
Below you’ll find some practical ways to think about stewardship, but if you’re too busy to read them all now, save this email and come back to it later.
After all, a wonderful story must be told this week, and we haven’t very much time in this life to tell it. So, in case you need it, you have permission to slow down a bit. Come back to this email next week and tend to your time.
After all, Beloved, got to slow down to speed up. And resurrection is coming soon.
Pax,
Tim Brown
Director of Congregational Stewardship
P.S. Congregational Stewardship has a Vimeo page! If you ever miss a webinar (though we encourage you to show up for these in person if you can!) or miss a presentation, we are doing our best to capture them all on our ELCA Congregational Stewardship Vimeo page. They’re perfect for stewardship teams wanting to do some continuing education or for councils curious about what’s happening in the realm of stewardship. |
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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
Cultivating Generous Congregations: Spring Cohort!
How do we, as communities of faith, change our thinking on stewardship and generosity to meet the challenges of the moment? In partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, the ELCA is offering congregations the opportunity to reexamine their stewardship thinking and imagine ways to act on their findings in their communities. The six-week webinar “Cultivating Generous Congregations” will offer virtual cohort sessions where congregational leaders can discuss, dissect and collaborate on how generosity might work in their contexts. The cohort now costs just $350 per congregation plus workbooks ($40 each). Sign up soon!
Register here.
For a deeper look at what the webinar entails, watch this brief “Cultivating Generous Congregations” video.
Please contact the Rev. Larry Strenge and the Rev. Tim Brown if you’re interested in participating! They will work with your synod to get you registered for the spring cohort. |
Mark your calendar:
“Cultivating Generous Congregations”
Spring 2024
Tuesdays, April 16–May 21
5 p.m.–6:30 p.m. Central time
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Webinar: Creating a Stewardship Team (and Then Empowering Them!)
Wondering how you might go about creating a team that focuses on the stewardship efforts of your community? Looking for a practical guide to launching a team and focusing its work?
In cooperation with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, the ELCA presents a practical guide to starting a stewardship team with purpose, hosted by the Rev. Tim Brown. This is a free webinar, and there is no need to register in advance! Show up with your questions and curiosities.
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Mark your calendar:
“Creating and Empowering a Stewardship Team”
Monday, May 13
6:30-7:30 p.m. Central time
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 899 3649 0900
Passcode: 993518
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Stewardship Conference: Stewardship Kaleidoscope — Portland
In partnership with the Presbyterian Foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the ELCA Stewardship and Generosity team is proud to present a three-day conference dedicated to digging deeply into stewardship and generosity, utilizing workshops and plenaries that highlight diverse and authoritative voices from across the PCUSA, the ELCA and partner church bodies. This year we’ll be in Portland, Ore., exploring what “makes stewardship weird,” and hearing from a number of voices engaged in both practical and cutting-edge thoughts around fueling ministry.
Stewardship Kaleidoscope offers real tools for real ministry and is perfect for both rostered and lay leaders. The mission of the conference is to ignite generosity, give practical tools for cultivating congregational generosity, expand leadership capacity for stewardship leaders, and cultivate adaptive approaches for funding Christ’s mission throughout the world.
Limited partial scholarships are available! Contact the Rev. Tim Brown at [email protected] if interested.
For information and registration (opening soon!), click here. |
Mark your calendar:
Sept. 23-25
Portland, Ore.
$325 individual rate
$125 virtual rate
Group discounts available for those from the same congregation
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| STEWARDSHIP RESOURCES |
Are you looking for stewardship resources to fuel your ministries and your imagination? Here are a few places to find guidance and support:
What does “sustainable ministry” look like in the church landscape today? How can communities of faith think outside the box in fueling the vital ministry efforts God has entrusted to them? Our colleagues over at Faith+Lead, out of Luther Seminary, discuss this on their Pivot Podcast in Episode 62: “Funding Forward: New Business Models for Ministry.” Check it out!
Wondering how to talk about legacy gifts in your congregation? The number one reason that individuals fail to leave a gift to any nonprofit organization in their estate is because they are never asked for one or are confused about how to do it. The ELCA provides free consultation and resources and facilitates these conversations through our regional gift planners. The ELCA Foundation can help walk your community through the steps on setting up estate and legacy gifts to ensure ministry for years to come. Find your regional gift planner here, and reach out to start exploring how you can help your community think far into the future.
Feeling creatively stagnant? How we steward our imaginations is part of holistic living, especially because ministry requires ingenuity, and that can sometimes feel on short supply. Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity is a well-known and well-loved work intended to spark and replenish creativity in anyone, especially in a fallow season. Take a look, put the principles into practice and see if you don’t start stewarding your imagination in new and invigorating ways.
Have a great stewardship resource? Send tips on articles, books, movies and other media to [email protected]. The best gifts are those that are shared! |
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| STEWARDSHIP IN THE TEXT |
Finding organic ways to speak about stewardship can be difficult, especially in relation to the lectionary texts. Not every sermon should be a “stewardship sermon,” but on any given Sunday, stewardship themes arise from the biblical witness and can be highlighted. Remember that stewardship is about how we live our lives, not just how we use our finances. Stewardship is a life trajectory.
Below are just a few readings for Eastertide and the following Sundays that might inspire thoughts on stewardship:
Acts 4:32-35 | April 7
Though most churches might choose to focus on the Gospel reading for today, in which Thomas is shown the risen Christ, an alternative to that well-worn Scripture would be the reading from Acts appropriated for today. The early Christian community was one of extreme mutuality, holding “everything in common.” The resurrection of Christ allowed them to boldly share! How does God call us to hold things in common these days? In living the resurrection life, how might we let go of our need for control over time, money, prestige and power, and share it as a community of faith in new ways?
1 John 4:7-12 | April 28
Love is a matter of stewardship. How we offer or withhold our love is spiritual in nature, and the epistle for this Fifth Sunday of Easter invites us to consider how we are and are not loving God and others in very practical ways. How does your community show love to God? To one another? To those outside your community? How can it better show that love? Today’s letter from 1 John is a prime opportunity to ask this ever-real question with boldness.
John 3:1-17 | May 26
The reading for this Sunday inspires a stewardship critique more so than any other, because we know that the three persons of the Trinity share mutually with one another in every way. The Doctrine of the Trinity is complicated and a bit convoluted, but each person of the Trinity pours into the others in ways that create and cultivate life. Our life together in community is also complicated and a bit convoluted, but we are called to live in mutuality with God and one another in life-giving ways.
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