Dear Friends,
Stewardship in any season can be stressful for pastors. It can feel awkward—“I’m asking people to pay me!” It can feel unspiritual—“Jesus chased the money changes out of the temple!”
The Cultivating Generous Congregations Seminar for pastors and lay leaders offers an opportunity to explore faithful, practical, and tested ways to promoting generosity in our congregations. We will draw on current research, seek guidance from the wisdom of scripture, and discuss the best practices in church-based fundraising.
The seminar will improve the “bottom line” of your congregation. But I want to be clear that this bottom line is about more than money. Mission and ministry remain the real bottom line of our work. This seminar will help pastors and leaders engage generosity as a spiritual practice.
Please sign up now for the Cultivating Generous Congregations Seminar. The program will be taught by the Rev. Andy DeBraber, Generosity Officer of the national setting, and myself, Andrew Warner, Generosity Outreach Officer. We’ll meet for six online sessions over the course of the spring: 6:30pm to 8:00pm EST on Tuesdays—Feb. 9, Feb. 23, Mar. 9, Mar. 23, Apr. 13, and Apr. 27, 2021. Between class sessions, Andy and Andrew will provide materials to help you analyze the culture of your own congregation and learn how to create change. By the end of the seminar, pastors and leaders will be equipped to lead effective fundraising and you will have a strategy to guide your success moving forward.
Be sure to recruit at least a team of two for this program. Changing the culture of your congregation requires more than one dedicated leader. Success depends on engaging a team of leaders from your congregation.
Register today: The CGC Seminar is $150 per participant. Register here by January 15, 2021: https://cvent.me/87ywNA.
Yours in Faith,
Andrew Warner
Generosity Outreach Officer
United Church of Christ
Testimony:
Rev. Trent Williams, Friends Congregational Church UCC
I attended Cultivating Generous Congregations in September 2018. Since that time, I’ve helped lead our congregation through two annual pledge campaigns, as well as the launch of an endowment program. I can honestly say that CCG was one of the best and most useful professional development opportunities of my career. It offered practical, spiritually rich, and adaptable guidance that I was able to immediately implement in my ministry setting.
At CCG, I learned how to tell a story that is compelling to donors and connects them to the mission and ministry of my congregation. Through intensive focus on my own relationship to money and an opportunity to explore the theology of stewardship at work in my life and my congregation, I gained insights into how to better lead the members of my community in reflecting on their own spiritual and financial commitments. I also gleaned practical insight into shaping themes and materials for annual and on-going stewardship efforts.
For my congregation, the results have been extraordinarily successful. Our pledges increased by a combined $80,000 over two years, and we have been able to grow our budget by 25% over the same period. We are also in the beginning stages of launching an endowment fund to help us plan for financial sustainability over the long term. I cannot recommend Cultivating Generous Congregations highly enough, and I hope that you will consider participating.