BEING CREATIVE YEAR-ROUND
Last
week, I read the last of the eight rules for effective church leadership laid
out in the booklet put out by VANCO, titled The Complete Guide to Church
Stewardship. It was to BE CREATIVE. In being creative, Vanco listed several
ideas that could be creative ways to “do stewardship.”
In
looking over Vanco’s list, I realized that the creative list could be a great
way to be talking about stewardship year-round.
January First Fruits
February The Gift of Love - Our Brothers and Sisters Keeper
March Ministry Team Spirit
April Miracles and Wonders
May It’s our Anniversary (heritage
Sunday)
June Planting Good Seeds
July Virtual Messages/Social Media
Sunday/The Conversion
August College Alumni Day
September The Unexpected/ Brick Layers
October Financial
Testimonies
November A
Praise of Thanksgiving
December The
Christmas Gift
The first quarter of the year would include First
Fruits, The Gift of Love and Our Brothers and Sisters Keeper and Ministry Team
Spirit.
First Fruits - Often in the first service of the
year, we do a Wesleyan Covenant Servant, or have a Watch Night Service on New
Years Eve. To use the concept of first fruits, you could use actual fruit, to
show the congregation how giving can multiply over time. When we bring our
first fruits as a celebration, our harvests continue to grow. The idea is that
we have more than enough fruit (money) to get everything done.
The Gift of Love makes sense for
February since it is the month that has Valentines Day. Ideas about love, renewals
of covenants (marriage/commitment) or covenants with God or with the church
(commitment cards) are a great way to celebrate the gift of love. I thought the
idea of Brothers and Sisters Keeper also made sense here when we’re celebrating
love. There are too often persons in the church and neighborhood that are in
need. People may come to church when they need help with medical bills or
utility bills or rent payments. Perhaps something relative around the idea of
the pastor’s discretionary fund would be cool!
Ministry Team Spirit – Starting out early
in the year to celebrate the ministries that they church is involved in, and
talking about spiritual gifts would be a wonderful way to celebrate what you
have and encourage people to use their gifts for the benefit of God. Assessing
what ministries are best for any individual is a good way to tie all of this
together. It will celebrate who and what you already have and hopefully pique
the interest of those not yet involved. Talking about volunteering and what is
accomplished because of volunteers.
I will consider other ways you can be creative over
the next few weeks!
If you wish more information on anything
you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org. I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.
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