THE CHURCH
OF ENGLAND
Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday 2007
Guidance Notes
As you are most likely aware the Diocesan Synod in November 2004 unanimously passed the following motion:-
That this Synod:
a) thankful to God for his generosity to us and noting the continued pressure on the finances of the Church and call to growth, challenge Church people to give in proportion to their income and recommend 5% of take home pay as an initial target at which to aim for giving to the Church, being mindful of the continuing responsibility to share our abundance with those who have little both at home and in the two thirds world:
b) encourage the Church, as good stewardship of its resources, to exploit to the full tax efficient giving through Gift Aid and the Government’s other arrangements to support giving to charities.
c) propose to establish within the Diocese one Sunday each year on which all parishes will be encouraged to review their financial resources and their giving of money to God’s work within the context of teaching about the Christian stewardship of money.
The papers in this pack are to help individual parishes undertake part c) of the motion, and have been prepared by the Diocesan Mission Resources Adviser, Dennis Lloyd (023 92899676). I have of course relied heavily on the magnificent work that Gordon Uphill and Andrew Alder did in previous years. Having only taken up this post in mid August I deemed it best to build on the shoulders of Giants. Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries, and note that the enclosed Response Report form should be returned to me at the Diocesan Office by 31 December 2007.
Why do we need a Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday?
It is obviously good to thank God for all that he gives us and to review how to best use those gifts.
Experience from both this diocese and others clearly indicate that when parishioners are invited to review their giving and use of gifts on an annual basis the level of giving increases quite dramatically.
It is also a fact that financial giving, as a proportion of income, in the Portsmouth Diocese has historically been lower than the average in the Church of England.
Feedback from previous Stewardship and Thanksgiving Sundays indicate that on average the increase in numbers of financial donors was in excess of 10%, with an even larger increase in actual giving.
So the material in this pack is about, giving your parishioners the opportunity to review their level of giving, and their offers of time and talents. It is however, a review,and although it is hoped that most will increase their giving in line with increases in their income, it must be recognised that not everyone’s income increases every year.
How do we do it?
Included in this pack are a suggested article for your parish magazine/newsletter, a draft letter to parishioners, and two separate response forms, so that parishes who prefer can concentrate on giving, although I hope that most parishes will take the opportunity of inviting all their congregation to review their offerings of money, time and talents.
This is not a full scale Stewardship Giving Programme. However,to be effective some preparation work will be required, in particular to create a list of all the people that you will need to contact. The electoral roll is a starting point, but you will need to compare it with other lists in the parish to identify those who are not on the roll but are part of the church family. So look at lists of planned givers (for confidentiality you will probably need to seek the help of your stewardship recorder to do this). And consider whether you have other lists. Or are there people that come quite regularly but are not listed anywhere?
After your launch in October you will send/hand everyone a copy of your chosen leafletswhich contain response forms. Depending on how your parish usually does such things, this may be by asking everyone to pick up an addressed envelope after a service, using road stewards to deliver addressed letters, or by setting up a small group to deliver by hand. I would not recommend posting letters, unless there is no other option – for instance someone who lives a considerable distance outside of the parish.
I suggest that you set up a large “post box” at the back of the church to receive responses, which must be treated as confidential. But also remember to include an address that the response can be posted back to if parishioners so wish.
What is the timetable?
I suggest that Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday should be celebrated in every parish on either the second Sunday in October, or the third Sunday if the second is not convenient.
This leaves plenty of time for responses to be gathered, and Irecommend that thanksgiving for these responses is given at the offertory on Advent Sunday.
I suggest that each parish sets up a small stewardship team of 4 – 6 people, depending on parish size, as soon as possible. They can then prepare the list of names referred to above, liaise with the incumbent about services, and arrange the article in the parish magazine – I suggest the latter is published as close to Stewardship Thanksgiving Sunday as possible.
They will also need to prepare an envelope addressed to each member of the congregation, and decide on what leaflets to use. You may wish to include a message from your priest.
This will leave plenty of time for you to “stuff” the addressed envelopes: and remember to include a small pre-addressed envelope to put the response in. You can either print straight onto envelopes or prepare labels which say something like:-
What happens afterwards?
In the pack you will find aResponse Report form, which I ask parishes to complete and return to the Mission Resources Adviser by 31 December 2007. We would like to be able to measure the effect of parishes’ efforts, but realise that some parishes may not wish to take part because they have only recently completed a full Stewardship/ Giving review. In that event please show the figures for your full review on the response form.
Published by the Mission Resources Adviser,
Diocese ofPortsmouth, 2007
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