1. Faithful Stewardship:
A Pathway to Community
A Workshop for the St. Lawrence District, UUA
April 2011
Laurel Amabile, Stewardship & Development, UUA
2. Objectives
• To broaden awareness of the scope of
stewardship among congregation leaders.
• To identify ways to create and sustain
cultures of generosity among our families
and in our congregations.
• To offer experiential learning opportunities
through modeled application, reflection,
and idea sharing.
3. Our Learning Community
Faith in Action: Articulating faith
Community embraces values:
and integrates mission giving and generosity,
and values. UU principles, raise
Individuals live out awareness at the
and teach others. individual level.
Faith Identity Sharing the stories of
Formation:
the Faith Community:
Inspired by relationship to
the shared values, role models and
stories, and mission of experiences that
the faith community. reinforce the values
and inspire.
Relationship
Personal reflection:
Development:
Experiences and story
To the faith, its values,
message.
and to one another in
Identification with the
community. A
faith values and
communal sense of
community.
mission develops.
4. National Giving Data
• Religious people are 25 percentage points more
likely to donate money and 23 percentage points
more likely to volunteer time than secular
people.
• Families with higher incomes give more money,
but the percentage given decreases as income
rises.
• Teenage youth who attend religious services
regularly volunteer twice as much as those who
don’t attend.
5. Spending Statistics
• Young people, newborn to age 22, represent a $1 trillion
market in the U.S. marketplace, through their direct
spending and influence over family purchases.
• Children and youth, ages 8-21 spend approximately
$175 Billion a year of their own money.
• More children go shopping each week (52%) than read
(42%), go to church (26%), play outdoors (17%), or
spend time in household conversations (32%).
6. The pathway from scarcity to
abundance is called
community.
-Parker Palmer
Please join me on the pathway….
8. You & Money
What one word or phrase would you use to
describe your relationship with money?
(past or present)
How does money relate to your faith
and spiritual life?
How comfortable are you with regard to
money in your professional life?
9. Giving is personal. When we give
a gift of money we are giving part
of ourselves. Money is associated
with worth, both self-worth and
the worth we place on our
relationships.
~Faith & Fundraising Handbook
10. Holistic Stewardship in Our
Congregations
Transforming the culture of giving….
one step at a time.
11. Holistic Stewardship is……
Wise and visionary management of all
our resources:
– Money
– Possessions
– Land & facilities
– Time
– People
How might we best assess our
congregation’s culture of stewardship?
12. The Theology of Stewardship
Central to the Judeo-Christian traditions is
the idea that God is the source of everything
the world has to offer.
This relationship between God and the world
Is referred to as oikonomia, or the “divine
economy.” Our concept of economy is
derived from this root word.
13. Religious Giving Traditions
• The offering
From the earliest times, the offering
was considered the central act of
worship. Sacrifices were made by
the people in many cultures to express gratitude to the
gods, the earth, and a supreme God or Creator, as the
source of all life and abundance.
What awareness of religious stewardship might
we reclaim and put into practice in our lives
and congregations?
14. Stewardship & Generosity
Wisdom
How might we reframe the miracle story of the
Loaves and Fishes in ways that could shift the
culture of giving in our
Unitarian Universalist congregations?
15. Sharing our Stories
We have 52 Sundays a year to share the
stories of how our Unitarian Universalist faith
and congregation makes a difference in
peoples’ lives and the world.
What stories come to your mind?
17. Transforming Our Thinking
About Stewardship
• Stewardship is about relationships.
• Stewardship is a ministry.
• Therefore every conversation about
money is potentially pastoral in nature.
• Every experience of giving is a matter
of faith and a reflection of one’s
values.
18. Transforming Our Thinking
About Stewardship
Practices for Transformative Stewardship Leaders:
• Personal reflection
• See yourselves as role models
• Articulate the congregation’s
compelling mission and vision, clearly
and consistently.
• Tell the stories and invite others to
share theirs.
19. You must regularly cast a clear ,
compelling vision for the
church . The key to cultivating
donors for your church’s
ministry is vision.
~Aubrey Malphurs & Steve Stroope
Money Matters in Church, 2007
20. Casting the Vision
Does your congregation have a clearly
articulated vision?
If so, does the congregation understand
the connection between their giving and
the fulfillment of the vision?
If not, it is time to do that work!
21. Stewardship does indeed deal with money, but it
must be far bigger, far more holistic than that.
For money is the symbol, the powerful symbol, of
our ongoing need for control. But as we begin to
think of life in terms of what we have instead of
What we lack, then we can dare to let go of the
things that hold us back and strategize together
as faithful stewards instead of fearful owners.
~Faith and Fundraising Handbook
23. Generational Differences in
Charitable Giving
Understanding generational
differences helps us to frame
our stewardship and giving
messages and expectations
effectively and
appropriately.
24. Celebrate Generosity!
• Express gratitude when accepting the offering.
• Prepare a budget that represents the mission and
priorities of the congregation and honors
relationships with wider UU community.
• Give joyfully to the surrounding community by
giving away all or part of the offering to .
• Play “We’re in the money” when announcing the
results of Stewardship Pledging.
Do any other ways of celebrating come to mind?
25. Do what you can.
Want what you have.
Be who you are.
Love fearlessly.
~Forrest Church
27. Our UUA Covenant
Grateful for the religious
pluralism which enriches and
ennobles our faith, we are
inspired to deepen our
understanding and expand our
vision. As free congregations
we enter into this covenant,
promising to one another our
mutual trust and support.
28. Unitarian
Our Interconnected
Universalist
Community
Association
The Wider My
World District
My
Unitarian
Universalist
Congregation
My town My region
29. A Nested View of My UU
My UU Congregation Congregation
My town
My region
My District
My UUA
I belong to my church and my church belongs to me.
I belong to District and our District belongs to me.
I belong to our UUA and our UUA belongs to me.
31. $ IN
Undesignated Designated
Income Income
• Capital Campaigns
• Congregations (APF)
• Grants from Veatch Program
• Friends of the UUA
• Relief Funds & International
•Gifts/Bequests
• Ministerial Aid Funds
• Program Fees
• Scholarship & Ed. Grants
• Investment Income $ OUT • Restricted donor gifts
Includes:
• Services to Congregations
• Ministry & Professional Leadership
• Lay Leader resources & training
• Publications & curricula
• Website & electronic resources
• District services and grants
32. The Unitarian Universalist Association:
A Covenantal Partnership
Our Purposes
The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote
its resources to and exercise its corporate powers
for religious, educational and humanitarian
purposes. The primary purpose of the Association
is to serve the needs of its member congregations,
organize new congregations, extend and
strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions, and
implement its principles.
33. Why Should We Give to Our District
and Association?
• People who give generously in our
congregations act upon their religious
beliefs and values.
• Givers align their lives with the higher
purposes of Unitarian Universalism.
• Our giving in support of our UU
values makes a positive difference in
the world.
34.
35. Let’s Stay Connected!
Laurel Amabile, Director, Annual Program Fund
• Email: LAmabile@uua.org
• Phone: 207-239-7162
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/givingspeaks
– Stewardship and Development Office,
Unitarian Universalist Association.
– Focus is relationship-building throughout the
UUA and strengthening funding of our mission
at the local and national levels.
36. Your Thoughts & Feedback
• What concepts will you take back for use
in your ?
• What questions or needs linger?
• Any parting thoughts or feedback?
