Vicki Nelson, Stewardship Support, on ways to inspire giving when time seems short in supply.
The years start coming, and they don’t stop coming.
If you've seen the movie Shrek, you may have heard those lyrics sung by Smash Mouth. And it’s true, time has a way of being hard to pin down. It just keeps coming. A similar axiom often shared with the parents of young kids is, “The days are long, but the years are short.” How can time be like this: long and short, full of potential and easy to waste, infinite but somehow never enough?
If you serve in leadership in your faith community, you’ve probably experienced time’s hard-to-wrestle-with nature. Most communities of faith have at least an impressive 52 Sundays of worship each year. You may enter the church building (or a virtual space) dozens or hundreds of times in that period. There are seven-ish liturgical seasons to discover, along with 66 books in the Bible—many of which are explored in the three-year lectionary cycle. We all restart our work in September, and often again in January. There are lots of opportunities to try new things or make changes…
...and yet, there are many things that we leave until we absolutely have no other choice—or never get to at all. In too many communities of faith, stewardship is one of those things. Maybe the nature of time in your community means you haven’t had a stewardship season for years, or you’ve never had one at all. For others, autumn seems like a logical time to talk about generosity and gratitude because of Thanksgiving, but when we leave the discussion until the fourth quarter, we may be missing out on a lot of momentum that can come from front-loading those conversations and teachings.
As I support communities of faith working on stewardship, it’s clear that groups that focus on it in the first half of the year build commitment, a deeper appreciation for their church’s ministry, and in some cases, more consistent giving throughout the year that can prevent a looming deficit in November. An October giving program isn’t a bad thing, but it shouldn’t be the first time in the year people in your congregation are hearing about giving, or being asked to give consistently. Talking about generosity should start in January and continue throughout the year.
An annual meeting is a great opportunity to kick off a season of stewardship: to tell inspiring stories, express gratitude for people’s generosity of time and money, and invite an increase in giving. Exploring these themes through worship, in a mailout, or at a luncheon or gathering deepens people’s understanding of giving as a spiritual practice and helps them to see their emerging discipleship.
There are some great resources on the United Church’s Stewardship in Worship page that can help you get started, including multi-week worship materials for Lent, Eastertide, and more.
If it’s been a while since you’ve considered stewardship at all, that’s all right—the worships are many, but those years fly by. We have online training where you can learn current best practices and work with a coach to integrate them into the life of your congregation. Check out current offerings here, or get in touch with the stewardship support person in your region.
Most of all, remember that those years do keep coming, and a congregation’s culture of gratitude and generosity requires regular tending to. So consider slowing down and investing some extra attention and energy into the spiritual practices of giving and generosity, and in carrying on those conversations throughout the year.
Vicki Nelson is Community of Faith Stewardship Support for Pacific Mountain, Chinook Winds, Northern Spirit, Living Skies, and Prairie to Pine Regions of the United Church of Canada.
The views contained within these blogs are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of The United Church of Canada.