TENS Conference
Emory University, Atlanta
June, 2014
This conference, entitled “Walking the Way”, was this year’s program presented in two phases – a pre-conference meeting for a day and a half, and an open conference for a day and a half. The pre-conference is designed especially for diocesan stewardship leaders, with the other session for all comers. However, the registrations go all over the place resulting in a general mixture of attendees in both sessions. The Rev. Don Muller attended both and the Rev. Joe Parrish attended the second session.
When one attends such an intense program on a given topic such as stewardship, one should expect some fine takeaways that have practical use back home. Looking back on the presenters and their materials, there were some presentations that fit that category, yet others that fell short of making the winners’ list.
Those that hit the winner’s list are:
· Generosity and Stewardship
· Growing Healthy Stewards
· Walking the Way Program
· The Circle of Stewardship
Generosity and Stewardship
The first day (pre-conference) is conducted as a plenary for all attendees and is dominated by a single presenter using three sessions and consuming most of the day. This was well done. Led by the Rev. Karl Travis, Rector, First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, he devoted almost all of his remarks towards the impact of our varying generations on the church. The first two sessions dealt with many useful, but general topics tying stewardship into God’s realm.
“God is what stewardship is about!” “Money, generously shared with God, is the Issue!” He offered the notion that consumerism is the bane of stewardship today. People are intent on buying stuff we do not need, with money we do not have, to impress people we do not like!”
Rather than to realize that you are marked as a child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and with Christ forever…hence, that is where our attention and our generosity need to be focused. This, he explained, fits in closely with “giving first and giving generously, your heart will follow”.
He shifted to a discussion of change…we live longer; technology advances speed up our life and our rate of knowledge; our culture (for many) cannot keep up. We need to be attentive to this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the church and the political world have this unwise goal to keep everyone happy part of the time.
Karl then moved into the discussion of the competing generational shifts and conflicts that abound.
He offered some general descriptive comments about his generational theories which, incidentally, are widely promulgated, noting that there are basically four different descriptors that we have seen, and it is likely they will recur cyclically. They are:
1. A Civic generation that produces leaders…the GI Generation ( born 1901-1924)…heroes
2. An Adaptive generation that followed…The Silent Generation (1925-1942)…artists
3. An Idealist generation…The Baby Boomers…(1943-1960)…prophets
4. A Reactive generation…Gen Xers (1961-1981)…nomads
5. A new Civic generation…the Millennials (1982-2004)…heroes
6. A new Adaptive generation…the Homeland generation (2004 – present)…artists
This resulted in about five hours of excellently prepared and presented materials, by a very easy-going and delightful leader.
Several additional pearls left with us are:
· Maintain a complete data base of annual stewardship giving, with various breakdowns that can be sorted.
· Publish the names of pledging units, not to include $.
· If using letters include the amount of the ask!
· Keep the publicity up front, throughout the year…websites, newsletters, Sunday bulletins and on bulleting boards
Growing Successful Stewards
Peter Misiaszek is relatively new in his role as Stewardship Chair in Toronto. He encountered a diocese with an average annual giving per household of just over $1200…far less than is the case in NJ. After spending a good deal of time getting oriented, he discovered some tough realities…giving was perhaps satisfactory, but certainly not ideal. While there had been a recent 3 % increase in giving, it resulted from members that are declining at the rate of 2.1%. Incidentally, Toronto has a separate fund raiser for FaithWorks, which is used for social outreach. $1.8M has been raised.
Their website makes available a download, “A Program to Encourage Sacrificial Giving in Your Parish’, which he hopes will get wide distribution.
They have introduced a Covenant, bought into by the parishes. They have introduced 18 different stewardship measurements to enable more effective analysis.
The have aggressively introduced Pre-Authorized Giving (PAR), which has the giver make a contract with the bank to send the pledged amount to the church on a weekly, or monthly basis. This clearly abides with paying from “first fruits”!
They strive to ensure that annual giving is sufficient to provide at least 70% of the operating budget income.
They are using an ELCA stewardship relay program. This promotes team involvement in the annual campaign. The ELCA website apparently explains the program.
Walking the Way Program
Central to the conference was a workshop entitled “Walking the Way”, which was presented by the Rev. Lauren Johnston and Kristine Miller. It describes another form of doing the annual stewardship campaign. This describes a six week journey, utilizing a variety of materials that will be available on the TENS website (www.TENS.org).
Circle of Stewardship
This is a very useful presentation that links all phases of stewardship – portrayed in a circle – to supportive scriptural references.
TENS, Continued
Open Conference
Workshops - continued
Luke Timothy Johnson:
A bit of feedback on two workshops led by Luke Timothy Johnson, that I did attend. Professor Johnson is R. W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University.
Johnson comes from the viewpoint that stewardship is a matter of sharing our possessions. He began by walking us through a recent sermon he presented based on the Widow’ Mite (attached). He parsed the entire manuscript, offering the details of his thoughts as he built the story. This was an excellent review.
Again, he focused on the fact that it is all about disposing of our possessions…faithfully. He said that preaching should generate questions, not answers. Faith demands that we deal with the realm of the problematic, while seeking to understand the realm of the mysterious. To do otherwise can cause us to suffer in mediocrity, which breed neglect.
His second workshop was entitled Faith and Possessions, and is based on his book, ”Sharing Possessions”, which I have since purchased and have begun to read. He depends heavily on Luke/Acts to form his thinking.
Faith is paramount. We must learn and understand the faith of Jesus. The challenge of faith is to share!
· Our use of possessions is central to our faith
· Possessions increase throughout our lifetime
· Our sharing of our possessions is based on our discernment of the moment, as we listen and observe
· Our responses may never be right…we may never know
It’s all a matter of the needs of our communities and the use of our possessions
We are left with these questions…
1. What does it mean for us to share our possessions?
2. What does it mean for a congregation to share its possessions?
3. How can a church be a stand of resistance?
4. How do we respond to the call of God?
5. Can we be in agreement with the Jewish philosophy…to have the assembled community share to meet the needs of that community?
TENS, Continued
Open Conference
Keynoter – Joan Chittister
The Spirituality of Philanthropy: Ministry of Money
“Clearly, the purpose of wealth is not security. The purpose of wealth is reckless generosity, the kind that sings of the lavish love of God, the kind that rekindles hope on dark days, the kind that reminds us that God is with us always.”
Biography
Joan Chittister is one of the most articulate social analysts and influential religious leader of our times. For 40 years she has put her energy intoadvocating for the critical questions impacting the global community. Courageous, passionate and charged with energy, she is a much soughtafter speaker, counselor and clear voice across all religions. A best-selling author of more than 50 books, columnist and noted internationallecturer, she has received numerous honors for her work on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues and church renewal. She currentlyserves as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the UN, and was an advisor for the groundbreaking report,“A Woman’s Nation,” led by Maria Shriver.
She is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA, and the animating force behind Monasteries of the Heart, a web-based movement sharingBenedictine spirituality with contemporary seekers, and the executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality.
Joan began her remarks by saying that nothing we can do will change the past, but everything we do will change the future! We must apply the theology of work to our spirituality and to our possessions.
DO SOMETHING! Work should be sanctifying – full of joy and expression. However, some work is a fraud…a scam…w/o a conscience. Good work is the ticket to humanity…it is the doorway.
There are seven principles to the spirituality of work:
1. Attend to the repair and maintenance of our environment
2. Bring creativity to all that we do
3. It will add value to our lives
4. It draws us out of ourselves
5. It upbuilds character
6. It will allow you to make a difference
7. It will emerge into our search for the human value of my efforts
All of these principles are endemic to our stewardship…they are deeply connected. They will underlie our philanthropy and the challenges of tomorrow, including:
· A vision for tomorrow
· New ideas
· Discovery of the not so obvious, like arts in the ghettos
· The manifold special needs that exist.
It’s up to you. Individuals give 80% of charitable dollars…two-thirds of which goes to some religious institution.
The quality of our lives depends on our giving.
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