In August of 1996, our pastor of 23 years resigned to entertain opportunities elsewhere. It took 5 months to find an Interim minister. The past five years had seen a zero percent growth in the number of members and the Church Budget declined ten percent.

Just around stewardship time this fall we were presented with some information regarding the PNC and the Terms of Call. If we were to call a minister of the caliber we wanted, it would take more money and benefits then we had budgeted. Also, the church was in a crossroads of sorts and needed help organizing our Christian Education programs.

So we embarked on a Stewardship program of epic proportions (at least for us). The budget would have to increase from the 140,000 to 200,000. Our campaign lasted 4 weeks. We used the Chair of stewardship, two lay people (one for numbers one for heart) and the minister.

With God's help we raised the pledges to 170,000. With the unpledges and miscellaneous funds and offerings we were going to make the budget. All this with an Interim Minister.

Dr. David E. Fray, Pastor
Presbyterian United Church of Christ, LeMars, Iowa

The best success I have had in increasing stewardship awareness has been to use a process of building our church budget which uses the participation of the entire congregation. We meet four times before actually putting the budget together. During these four meetings we explore our Christian identity as a congregation; celebrate the gifts God has give us (alongside the "barriers" which keep us from fully realizing our gifts); brainstorm new ideas and ministries which God might be leading us toward; and finally, prioritizing these ministries.

During the whole process, small groups are utilized so each participant has the opportunity to hear others and be heard. Throughout, the atmosphere is kept focused on the positive, emphasizing that every congregation has many gifted people and every congregation has an identity given it by God. The goal is to help people reach out and get Christian identity.

Finally, the budget itself is designed to reflect the ministry of the church—not salaries, real estate, and administrative costs. All salaries, building costs, and administrative costs are allocated to the ministries they support. Consequently, the focus is on ministry. This gives us the opportunity to constantly reinforce the point that we are merely stewards of God's gifts to us. The only reason we have been so blessed is to answer God's call and do outreach ministry. The above format is a natural way to reinforce this point.

The first time I tried this particular process, giving to the church increased twenty-six percent, with pledges up from fifty-one percent to ninety percent. I wouldn't try to claim that all congregations would experience such increases, but in my particular case, the openness of the process helped open some doors to increased participation which were greatly needed.

Ellen Taylor
Stewardship Committee,
First Presbyterian Church, Oregon, Illinois

This is my first year on the Stewardship Committee and I am looking forward to the challenges ahead. My personal success story is simple. We became members of the church 1-1/2 years ago, my husband was also baptized at that time. Actually, my parents were members there while we were growing up, my dad served on session, etc., so it felt like going home to me. Lots of the same faces as there were 20 years ago, but many new ones also.

Just a short 1-1/2 years later, here we are; tithing (for the first time), teaching Sunday School, in choir, on committee, and my husband just ordained as an elder, serving on session. WOW! I have to say I have never felt closer to God than I do now. Yes, we are busy, we have four kids, three of them under 5 years old, one 11, but that is all the more reason to be involved with the church as much as we can. With the demands of our society, I'm not sure how we made it before we became involved with the church. It certainly gives us a focus, perspective and direction in a crazy world!

Christ is definitely alive, and working in our family (and church family) daily, and I sing praise for this. I now have an extended family through the church, one that cares about all of us, and that is a great feeling. I think with four kids, we really didn't have a so called "social life" anymore, but since joining our church, we have the richest "social life" of all through Jesus. We are blessed, and we feel it is our duty to strive to be good stewards.