An all-time stewardship favorite has been updated with practical help for congregations planning their financial response programs. “How to Improve Financial Stewardship” outlines the seven most popular financial response methods used by ELCA congregations: commitment at worship, relay, fellowship meal, small groups, mission festival, special event and personal visit. Each method includes a timeline, brief job descriptions for leaders and other helpful tips. To order “How to Improve Financial Stewardship,” call Augsburg Fortress at 800/328-4648 and request ISBN 6-0001-7457-8 for $4.95.
Ready to try a fresh approach to receiving member financial commitments each year? When your stewardship committee is considering the next response method, provide a variety from which to choose. Since its introduction five years ago, the annual stewardship magazine, “Giving,” has become a popular resource for its innovative and easy-to-follow financial response method inside each issue. A collection of the stewardship response methods from the center of each of the first five issues of “Giving Magazine” is now available. The “Giving Magazine Response Method Set” contains these five stewardship resources, each with detailed planning guides: “Dessert First: Celebrating God’s Blessings,” “Share the Gift,” “All God’s Children Need to Give,” “Let God Lead As You Gather and Give: A Guide for Discernment,” and “Remember: Year-Long Stewardship Emphasis.” I have a limited number of these shrink wrapped sets available in my office. I will give them out on a first-come-first-serve basis. (Call Keith in the Synod Office, 223-5312) They can also be ordered from Augsburg Fortress at 800/328-4648 and request ISBN 6-0001-7668-6 for $4.00.
Preachers and stewardship leaders looking for the latest thinking on congregational stewardship will want to check out the new on-line version of the ELCA’s “Stewardship Now” newsletter. Use this monthly Web newsletter to inspire your congregation’s leadership and stewardship committee. Share your favorite sections as part of your meeting’s opening devotions. Reprint portions of it in your congregation’s newsletter. Incorporate the ideas into your sermons.
Author, Tuck Aaker, is a retired businessperson and former ELCA synod stewardship specialist. Each month features three articles, and previous issues are archived. Topics include stewardship with people on fixed incomes, turning members into leaders, understanding one’s mission, the importance of embracing change, and focusing on priorities and attitudes. Visit http://www.elca.org/dcm/stewardship/ and click on the on-line newsletter at the far left. No sign-up is required. Articles change the first of every month.
The Stewardship of Life Institute at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg has begun a new weekly electronic newsletter, SOLI/ Update. SOLI/Update will give subscribers links to all the Website’s latest materials, which are added weekly, as well as a message exclusively available to subscribers. On www.stewardshipoflife.org, pastors and laypeople will find a wide variety of practical and inspirational resources to promote stewardship as a faithful response of gratitude to God’s abundant generosity.
SOLI/Update is available for free subscription by clicking on the link posted on the website or sending a blank e-mail message to solilist-subscribe@listserve.com. The Stewardship of Life Institute is an ELCA-affiliated non-profit organization devoted to teaching, inspiring and equipping Christians to live out stewardship as more than just financial support to the church