Stewardship and Financial Development Annual Report

Mr. Andrew Gustafson
Associate Conference Minister for Stewardship & Financial Development
2005 Report

It is a privilege to serve the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ and it’s mission to nurture local church vitality and the covenant among our churches. The spiritual growth of individuals and congregations that occurs when they live into their faith through stewardship is a joy to behold!

The Stewardship Ministries of the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ nurtures local church vitality by providing services and resources to assist local congregations in inspiring generosity by their members towards the local and wider mission of their churches in their annual pledge drive, in preparing for capital fund campaigns, and in organizing planned giving efforts. Additional help is provided in the areas of church investments, budgeting and other financial matters.

Nurturing the Covenant
The Stewardship Ministries nurtures the covenant among our churches by providing multiple resources and programs for interpreting the mission of the Massachusetts Conference and wider United Church of Christ, coordinating the visits of missionaries, and overseeing Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) Basic and Special Support and special fundraising for the Conference.

Here are some of the things we did to nurture our covenant by promoting giving to Our Church’s Wider Mission:

• The annual pledge letter was based on percentage giving, and asked churches to grow towards giving 5% of their operating expenses.
• Members of the Stewardship Commission wrote personal notes to churches in their areas to encourage increased giving to OCWM.
• We dedicated the pledges to OCWM in worship at Annual Meeting. Members of the Stewardship Commission assisted with calls to churches to get their pledges in so they could be part of the dedication. We reached new highs in both the number of pledges and the amount pledged.
• The Narrative Budget was redesigned into a colorful poster that used personal testimonies of why churches gave and what was being accomplished by the giving. Proportional giving was highlighted by listing the top 25 givers as a proportion of their income.
• The top givers in total dollars were acknowledged and thanked at the awards dinner on the Thursday night before Annual Meeting. Pastors and Mission chairs were invited.
• The Stewardship Commission has examined the issue of OCWM giving guidelines, and is suggesting a simplified guideline of a minimum of 5% of current expenses with the ultimate goal of 10%.

Nurturing Church Vitality
Here are some of the things we did to nurture local church vitality through Stewardship and Financial Development:

• We have created the Transforming Stewards Program, which has now been put out to the churches in the mailing and on the web site. Instead of a $1 per member per unit fee used under the old Stewardship Associates program, churches are asked to increase OCWM Basic Support by 10% of the increase in pledges they receive.
• This fall instead we offered ‘Stewardship University’ here at the Conference Center. This both allowed a great variety of workshops, brought people together from around the state, utilized national staff (Don Hill of UCC Financial Development Ministries & Nelson Murphy of United Church Foundation), and by being here at the Conference Center, elevated the Conference as the source of services. This was very successful and will be repeated next year. One attendee stated that after attending Stewardship University and applying it in her local church, pledges jumped by 42%! Other workshops have been offered at the request of Area Ministers, in the Southeast, Northeast and West areas.
• Individual consulting services were provided to churches at their request on stewardship, capital campaigns and planned giving. I regularly preached on stewardship and participated in planned giving seminars, usually as ‘2nd hour’ events on Sundays.
• New resources have been developed as well. At Annual Meeting ‘Stewardship Resources on CD’ was given out to each church as a thank-you for supporting OCWM. ‘Guide to Capital Campaigns”, “Endowment Policies’, ‘A Directory of Stewardship Services & Resources’ and ‘Visiting Stewards Guide’ booklets were created.

We could not have accomplished any of this without a true team effort. This year we said a fond and sad goodbye to our Director of Planned Giving, Stephen Silver, our Administrative Assistant, Lynda McGarrahan-Blunt. We welcomed our new Administrative Assistant, Pat Niness. The members of the Commission for Stewardship, the OCWM Advocates, the Stewardship Consultants, and the Planned Giving Associates continue to offer invaluable help and support. Thank you!