Alban Weekly from The Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, United States "PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Crowdfunding Offers New Opportunities to Expand Congregational Giving-EXPAND THE FOCUS, AUDIENCE AND REACH OF YOUR STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS" for Monday, 7 November 2016

Alban Weekly from The Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, United States "PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Crowdfunding Offers New Opportunities to Expand Congregational Giving-EXPAND THE FOCUS, AUDIENCE AND REACH OF YOUR STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS" for Monday, 7 November 2016

Faith & Leadership
MONEY, STEWARDSHIP & FUNDRAISING

Adam J. Copeland: Crowdfunding offers new opportunities to expand congregational giving
Crowdfunding offers new opportunities to expand congregational giving
EXPAND THE FOCUS, AUDIENCE AND REACH OF YOUR STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS




BigStock / mast3r
Crowdfunding offers congregations a way to broaden their concept of stewardship, with opportunities to expand the focus, audience and reach of fundraising efforts, says an expert on stewardship and congregational giving.
Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe offer congregations a chance to reach beyond their usual network of church donors, expanding the congregation’s focus and impact, says Adam J. Copeland.
Initially popularized in the arts community as a way to raise money for specific projects, crowdfunding, or “crowdsource funding,” is part of the rapidly changing landscape of charitable giving, with important implications for the church, Copeland said.
“Usually, congregations are supported only by members of the congregation -- typically, only a subset of the congregation,” said Copeland, who teaches practical theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. “But many folks support intellectually the mission of our congregations,” he said. “Crowdfunding offers the opportunity to expand giving beyond those who attend worship.”
As the director of Luther Seminary’s Center for Stewardship Leaders(link is external), Copeland studies trends in religious giving and financial stewardship. Earlier this year, he wrote a free, downloadable booklet, “Crowdfunding for Congregations and Faith-Related Nonprofits,” available at his website.(link is external)
copeland_mug.jpg

Copeland has a B.A. in religion from St. Olaf College and an M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in rhetoric from North Dakota State University, with a focus on new media and religion.
He spoke recently with Faith & Leadership about crowdfunding for congregations and the changing nature of church stewardship. The following is an edited transcript.
Q: First, give us some background about crowdfunding in general.Crowdfunding, in its mainstream, online form, developed in 2008-09 out of the arts community, with artists asking for support for particular artistic ventures. They had an idea and they wanted to see it come into being, but they didn’t have the funds, so they asked their fans and others to help make the project happen.
Since then, it’s expanded to many different areas beyond the arts community.
I define crowdfunding generally as goal-based fundraising ventures conducted by groups or individuals using the internet to seek small contributions from a large number of people.
There are many different types of crowdfunding campaigns, and different types of goals and approaches.
Nonprofits have long used what we call peer-to-peer fundraising, basically inviting their supporters to raise funds on their behalf -- historically, through in-person contact. The CROP Hunger Walk, for example, historically was a peer-to-peer fundraiser that emphasized cash and checks.
But now, through the power of the internet, folks are fundraising on behalf of nonprofits or other organizations by setting up a website and inviting friends through different areas of social media.
Q: What does the development of crowdfunding mean for the church?Crowdfunding offers several opportunities for the church to learn and to engage.
First, the church can learn by looking at successful campaigns and appreciating what gets folks engaged and excited to give. Crowdfunding campaigns have an incredible relational quality to them. Folks share their ideas and open their hearts and invite others to give to projects that they’re passionate about.
Stewardship in the church can become overly intellectual, divorced from actual relationships and mission. Crowdfunding campaigns, when done well, have a delightful relational, personal quality.
Second, the church can learn from crowdfunding by exploring it and giving it a shot. Crowdfunding won’t support a church’s general budget, but it may help with a project or an idea that the congregation has always wondered about.
They can use crowdfunding as a sort of discernment tool by saying, in effect, “We think this is a great idea. We would like to see this exist in the world. But to do that, we need the support of the whole community.”
Then, by launching a crowdfunding campaign, the church discerns what the Spirit is doing in that community and whether there’s support for that particular project.
Q: You’ve said that the church budget is a “macro” goal and that crowdfunding works best for “micro” goals -- some specific project or vision.Yes. Crowdfunding works best when it’s focused on a particular goal that has a clear outcome and a potential that can be imagined and realized.
When churches do budgeting overall, we think in broad, macro terms.
In describing our mission, we might try to focus in on particular instances of how God is working in our communities.
But crowdfunding takes that to the extreme by narrowing in on a particular goal. It uses the principles that are in the acronym SMART -- ideas that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
That specificity and particularity can be inspiring. Crowdfunding campaigns tend to have a tangible, focused outcome with a very clear calendar in mind, so you’re not giving to support a cause forever and ever. You’re giving to bring a particular idea into the world.
Q: You suggest in the booklet that crowdfunding can be about more than raising money -- that it offers opportunities for a church to expand its focus, audience and reach -- part of a shift in how we even think about stewardship. Tell us about that.Often, when congregations talk about financial stewardship, we start with the notion that all of creation belongs to God. Then we talk about giving to the church, but we disregard the fact that our people are making giving decisions not only about our congregation but also about nonprofits.
Certainly, God is working in the church -- and God is working beyond the church. So I encourage the church to help members think about how to give beyond the congregation in ways that are important because of our faith.
When applied to crowdfunding, that approach can help us think of new possibilities for expanding the audience for congregational giving. Usually, congregations are supported only by members of the congregation -- typically, only a subset of the congregation.
But many folks support intellectually the mission of our congregations. Crowdfunding offers the opportunity to expand giving beyond those who attend worship. We can do this by focusing on shared values and offering a compelling vision for a particular mission that appeals to people in the congregation, their friends and acquaintances, and others outside the congregation who share those same values and ideas and mission.
We’re also in a time of many shifts in how folks think about religious giving and giving in general.
In the old paradigm, religious givers gave out of moral obligation or a sense of duty. They gave to the church because it was expected; it was what people have always done. Also, there weren’t that many other ways to give.
But now, we’re moving to a paradigm that emphasizes donor cultivation. It invites people to be partners in giving and help establish giving priorities for the congregation. It embraces giving to a particular mission.Giving is understood as creating change. It’s about furthering a particular idea or project rather than simply giving to the church budget because there is a trust in the institutional church and that its budget priorities are the right ones.
Crowdfunding reflects this newer paradigm of giving to particular projects, of giving as a sort of experimental act that invites folks to help create the change they want to see in the world.
At the same time, the number of places where folks can give has grown. The enormous rise of nonprofits, the growth of charitable giving to colleges and universities and other non-profits, has significantly expanded the possibilities for people to make charitable donations.
The church, for better or for worse, is in a place where the conversation about charitable giving is much broader than just congregational giving. And crowdfunding helps frame these new realities through a multiplicity of giving options.
Q: You’ve written that “crowdfunding supporters don’t give away money; they midwife dreams.” What do you mean?Crowdfunding supporters catch onto a dream.
The founders of Kickstarter(link is external), one of the leading crowdfunding platforms, talked about crowdfunding campaigns as folks who tell the world, “I’ve got this idea; I think it’s pretty cool; I want it to exist in the world.”
Then they ask the world if it agrees and will help the idea come to fruition.
This develops a sort of partnership. You’re not giving to an anonymous institution; you’re giving to help create this particular dream.
It uses very inspirational language. It’s about creating new life. It’s about helping. It’s about supporting folks who have an entrepreneurial spirit and an exciting vision for supporting community, coming alongside them and saying, “I want to see the fruits of your ideas in the world, so here’s my support.”
And by doing that, the people who support crowdfunding campaigns aren’t outside observers. Instead, they become part of the action. They get updates through the platforms. They often receive rewards or perks that connect back to the campaign. They become collaborators and partners in the venture rather than just making a one-time gift.
Q: How does this process work for a congregation? What would they do?Many congregations and nonprofits have launched successful crowdfunding campaigns.
Often, what happens is an entrepreneurial individual or a forward-thinking committee has an idea that isn’t supported by the church budget. Maybe it’s something they always wanted to do but couldn’t because of other giving and budget priorities.
So crowdfunding can become a type of experiment or discernment process to see if the congregation and those beyond it support this new project.
Successful campaigns tend to have a small group of committed individuals in a congregation working together. Campaigns that are launched by only one individual tend to be less successful.
Fortunately, congregations are already set up for group decision making and shared work. Our existing committees or stewardship teams or generosity initiatives can incorporate crowdfunding.
Q: What else makes for a successful campaign?Crowdfunding is still relatively new, so the marks of successful campaigns are still developing. Even so, we can see some similarities.
Good campaigns have a video on their crowdfunding page. The video can be short with basic production values. It communicates a sense of the passion of the folks who are asking for the gifts. It helps color in the vision and put a person behind the idea.
Successful campaigns also have very specific goals that are measurable and that folks can appreciate as attainable.
And then, they have this tricky intangible that appeals to folks both in the congregation and beyond. Crowdfunding campaigns get their momentum from people already connected to the people who are launching the campaign. For congregations, that’s members and their friends and family. Once momentum picks up, then the audience expands.
Q: So you’re pitching the potential audience a dream. You’re pitching them your vision, your idea for doing whatever it might be.Absolutely.
And one of the challenges and opportunities for congregations in thinking about their audience is the question of what language to use that both reflects our values and faith and also invites those with slightly different values, and maybe different faith claims, but who support what we’re doing and want to help us reach our goal.
The challenge for congregations is to think about who beyond their walls might be excited and join the passion of the campaign.
Q: What campaigns and congregations have done well? What models do you point to?The most creative I’ve seen -- and it’s mentioned in the downloadable PDF -- is Radical Hospitality and the Rooster Soup Company(link is external) in Philadelphia.
This was one of the most expansive and creative crowdfunding campaigns out there. A congregation, Broad Street Ministry, has a related nonprofit, the Hospitality Collaborative, that serves people in Philadelphia who are homeless. They partnered with local restaurateurs who were interested in starting a new restaurant, the Rooster Soup Company, which would generate proceeds that would go to support the ministry.
They had a goal of $150,000 but raised nearly $180,000 from 1,587 backers. The funds helped cover the startup costs.
It’s a great example of expanding an audience beyond the congregation. The campaign supporters were fans and customers of the restaurateurs.
Q: How does crowdfunding affect other forms of congregational giving? Does it negatively affect the stewardship campaign?For congregation members who are already regular givers, crowdfunding offers an opportunity to give beyond their usual support. Congregations shouldn’t worry that regular givers will stop so that they can support a campaign.
In fact, it may even strengthen their relationship with the congregation and increase their generosity.
That said, many congregations are surprised when they realize how many of their people don’t regularly give. So this could be an invitation to a first gift or an opportunity to give in a way that particularly connects to their passions or claims new possibilities for how they see the church at work.
A crowdfunding campaign might be a first step in a long journey of financial stewardship to the congregation.
Q: How does a church know whether crowdfunding is right for them? What do they need to think about?They need first to have an idea that can generate excitement around it. That’s the starting point.
Crowdfunding campaigns are less likely to succeed if the goal is something that the congregation has put off doing because there’s no will to do it. Replacing the heater is not going to be an exciting campaign.
But ideas with clear passion, exciting vision, and innovative or entrepreneurial spirit are the ones that can catch fire.
Once folks have developed that idea, then they can begin to figure out a plan to implement the campaign. A common mistake is thinking that your work is done once the campaign is launched.
That’s an important step, but so is supporting the campaign while it’s live. It’s social media shares, putting out a press release, putting it in the church newsletter and sending it to any folks who have a connection with the project. Building momentum is an important part of the campaign.
Finally, that discernment piece is often a win-win for congregations. Even if the campaign is not successful, they’ll learn something about how to ask for gifts, how the congregation supports innovative ministry, and even about what God is doing or calling them to do.
When it comes to crowdfunding, perfection is the enemy of the good. I would invite folks to take a leap of faith and go for it, and see what they might learn about the Spirit’s work. Read more from the interview with Adam J. Copeland »
-------
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: STEWARDSHIP & GIVING
Faith & Leadership
MONEY, STEWARDSHIP & FUNDRAISING
Sean Mitchell: Five questions Christian leaders need to answer about fundraising
Five questions Christian leaders need to answer about fundraising




Rawpixel
What’s your personal mission? That question is the first step in the ministry of fundraising, and helps keep the focus on serving God, not just raising money, writes the director of stewardship development for one of the largest PCUSA churches in the nation.
How do spiritual leaders lead through challenging times? They ask challenging questions.
Questions travel to places of the heart and mind that advice doesn’t. Good, thought-provoking questions can lead us to new understandings of ourselves, God and the church. That includes those dreaded questions about budgets and giving.
As director of stewardship development at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as a consultant, I equip leaders of church communities to foster generosity through initiatives ranging from planned giving to annual stewardship. I’ve developed a set of questions to ask stewardship leaders to help them in their work.
What is your mission in stewardship ministry? Notice, the question is not, “What is the mission of your stewardship ministry?” The question is about your mission, the reason for your being involved in stewardship ministry.
It is critical for you to know what unique role you play in this ministry and to be honest about how much of yourself you are giving to this work. When people, companies and congregations are on a mission, we know it. Missions are contagious. Is yours? How would people describe your mission in stewardship ministry? Contagious and inspiring, or apathetic and fearful?
Examine why you do what you do in stewardship ministry. Hopefully, you are giving it your best time and thinking. But if your mission is not based on a sense of calling, you will struggle, and your stewardship ministry will suffer because of it.
Think about ways you can have more impact. What might happen if your focus on stewardship ministry changed? Think and decide. Do you really want to be on this mission? Is it time to change your mission?
Do you know the reasons why people are not giving? It is valuable to become familiar with the answers to this question. People have reasons for giving, but they also have important reasons for not giving. Here are some common reasons I’ve encountered:

• They have never been asked directly. Sure, they may have been asked to give through a letter or email, but face-to-face requests in small group gatherings -- or even better, in one-on-one conversations -- is the best way to go.
• They believe they don’t have enough to give. Some people are in debt, some spend more than they should, and some people face both issues. These reasons need to be considered when planning a campaign. The challenge of the leadership is to help people re-evaluate their situations and determine ways that giving might still be possible.
• They don’t trust the leadership. Unfortunately, cynicism is prevalent these days. People often question their leaders’ truthfulness and scrutinize organizational decisions. How can you respond? Be authentic. Don’t hide the numbers. Tell potential donors exactly how the money is spent.

What is your elevator speech? These speeches are more relevant than ever. Knowing the unique purpose of your church or organization and being able to articulate this mission in 45 to 60 seconds is a skill one should actively cultivate.
Imagine a potential giver meeting with you or sitting beside you on the train in to work. The person might ask the following questions: “Why should I give money to the church community when I can give directly to causes that are meaningful to me in caring for the poor?” or, “How would our city be different if your organization was not here?”
If you can craft answers to these questions, you are on your way to creating an elevator speech that will elevate your community’s uniqueness and relevance in the minds of potential givers.
As you craft it, remember that every unforgettable elevator speech contains an expression of the organization’s uniqueness, the “why” behind its existence and its impact on the world.
Do you believe fundraising is a spiritual exercise? Whether they admit it or not, most people who are not professional fundraisers are afraid of asking donors to give. They fear being perceived as offensive, being rejected or being labeled as one of those “stewardship” team members.
Each of those things might happen -- and does. Still, the overall exercise is worth the investment of time and effort. Embrace fundraising as a spiritual act. It will help your church community or organization flourish in many ways.
Fundraising deepens relationships. It provides the opportunity to tell the story of how your congregation or organization can do more good works for the kingdom. And fundraising challenges your members to redirect some of their resources to support the group’s mission and ministries.
Fundraising matters. Don’t be afraid of it. Think of it as a gift and an opportunity to invest time in your community relationships and your spiritual journey.
What are you grateful for? Gratitude is at the heart of Christian generosity. We give in response to the grace of God. Hopefully, gratitude is one of the primary reasons one decides to serve on a stewardship committee.
In the absence of gratitude, the job can become anxiety-provoking and all about the numbers. Gratitude keeps the work centered on God’s ongoing faithfulness and the truth that the world belongs to God, not to us. The work of stewardship ministry is given to us by God, as a way for us to inspire more generosity and care in our world.
Are you grateful for the opportunity to participate? Do you believe this is an important ministry to God? I hope so. I hope you can reach the place where the prevailing undercurrent becomes gratitude rather than simply a desire to raise more funds.
Be grateful. This is what it means to be a leader in fundraising ministry. Do everything in response to God’s grace. Give your money and your acts of leadership in response to God’s grace.Read more from Sean Mitchell »
-------
Stewardship and simple thinking
Something about stewardship campaigns inspires simplistic thinking even in leaders who, on other subjects, are quite capable of grappling with ambiguity. Stewardship is complicated. It includes everything from dilemmas facing households in a shaky economic time to the pledge-dampening effects of large endowments. One can—and many of us do—reduce these issues to simplistic opposites: abundance versus scarcity, generosity versus selfishness, faith versus the world. But real stewardship requires dealing with more complicated issues.
The annual stewardship campaign touches taproot issues for most congregations.

• What special purpose do we serve? Would we be missed?
• What other good might we accomplish with our dollars?
• Are there expenditures we have continued out of habit?
• What way of life are we inviting people into?
• Whose lives do we mean to change, and in what way?

Such questions can be answered only through fierce, honest conversation, and addressed only through trial and error. Instead of struggling and making others struggle with these issues, we all too often choose an easy out. Either we resort to simple admonitions—”Give, Give, Give”—or we abdicate and say something that can mean anything—like “Give till it feels good,” or “Do what you feel called to do.” Clergy often punt entirely and say, “Fund raising is a lay responsibility.”
We clergy find shortcuts especially tempting because when raising funds we play the dual roles of counselor and beneficiary. Whether we support our congregation’s fund drive passionately, bashfully, or passively, congregants are fully conscious of our interest in the outcome and take what we say with a grain of salt.
In the face of such skepticism, it is easier to shout loud platitudes than to risk fuzzing up the issue with ambiguity. On fund-drive weekend, clergy are like the preacher who wrote in the margin of his manuscript: “Weak point—pound pulpit.” Whether we pound that weak point home or shy away from it or stand aloof, we miss the opportunity to struggle with the moral challenges of stewardship in their complexity and depth. In the process, we fail to invite congregants to struggle with us.
Another reason we are tempted to duck complexity at stewardship time is that many congregants prefer it that way, and seduce us into leaving them in slumber. Like Israelites in the time of Samuel, most people prefer a king who will “go out before us and fight our battles” to a leader who points out that we need to meet our most important challenges ourselves, together.
There is a difference between occupying a position of authority and being a leader. Authority, Ron Heifetz has asserted, is a contract for services: the group puts people in positions of authority and expects them to provide benefits, solve problems, and succeed in its behalf. Real leaders—whether operating from positions of authority or not—do almost the opposite: they hand work back to the group and make it struggle with its own issues. Skillful leaders learn to hand the work back at a manageable pace.
As candidates, politicians give the impression that they know how to solve all kinds of thorny problems from education to transportation to health care. Glad someone is willing to lift these concerns off our shoulders, we elect them. After the election, they disappoint us on every score. In truth, no one has one right answer for these very complex problems. No answers exist, because these are not “problems”; they are, in Heifetz’s words, “adaptive challenges.” Smart, correct decisions will not solve them because their causes lie too deep in our national identity and character and habits. To address adaptive challenges, we need to adapt; no leader, brilliant or not, can do that for us. Adaptive issues do not get solved when leaders come up with 100 percent “right” solutions.
Clergy and lay leaders duck the complicated aspects of stewardship because congregants reward us for seeming confident and self-assured, and may even punish us for reminding them of ambiguities. We do well to consider how leaders we admire in our religious, national, and global past have chosen to respond to immediate applause. “You can fool some of the people all of the time,” said Lincoln, “And all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Wise followers know when they are being pandered to and appreciate a leader who will tell the truth about the challenges leaders and followers must face together.
If you are a clergyperson reading this as you prepare a fund-raising sermon, or a lay leader getting ready to make the fall pitch for money, I suggest you go ahead and pander. Tell them God rewards a generous giver (to your congregation) and that all your problems will be solved (with money).
But next time—or this time, if you have a few months’ lead time—gather some of those wise heads and ask yourselves what challenges (other than a lack of dollars) face your congregation. Look beyond the need to maintain real estate, meet payroll, or continue customary programs: what changes in the world are gradually rendering your ministry irrelevant? What are the glimmers of a new ministry that need attention? What fresh ideas are your structures of decision-making squelching? What human needs cry out, and how could you respond?
By raising such disturbing questions early, with the right people, and at the right speed, you might find yourself, next time you prepare a fund-drive message, less tempted to take refuge in the simple answers and more willing to call on people to join in addressing the real challenges of stewardship.
_____________________________________________
Dan Hotchkiss is a senior consultant at the Alban Institute. “Stewardship and Simple Thinking” originally appeared in the September/October 2009 issue of Clergy Journal(logosproductions.com) and is reprinted with permission.Read more from Dan Hotchkiss »
-------
Faith & Leadership
MONEY, STEWARDSHIP & FUNDRAISING, VOCATION, BIVOCATIONALISM
Ken Carter: Rediscovering ancient-future practices of stewardship
Rediscovering ancient-future practices of stewardship




There are three New Testament models of stewardship: the beggar, the patron and the tentmaker. Can we re-imagine these roles for a new age? asks a UMC bishop.
The numerical decline of the mainline churches in the United States is by now well-documented, as are the implications for structural reform, worship, recruitment and retention of younger generations, and the training of clergy.
My sense, however, is that we have given less attention to the funding shifts in our present reality. Because of our demographics (an aging membership with accumulated assets), our financial resources have remained somewhat constant. However, this too is beginning to change, as a consequence of the economic collapse as well as growing human needs and diminishing social services. Each of these trends has affected funding patterns of congregations and ministries.
Recently, I was listening to a lecture by Grant Wacker of Duke Divinity School, and, almost as an aside, he noted three stewardship models in the New Testament: the beggar, the patron and the tentmaker (or bivocational ministry). He returned at once to his topic, but I was inspired to reflect on these ancient-future practices for funding mission today.
My growing conviction is that we will need to rediscover these practices if we are to support and sustain vital witness in the years ahead. Here are some of the problems and possibilities of each model:

• The beggar. We have all encountered a person on a street corner seeking money for a basic need. The beggar has a passionate stake in the mission (personal survival or support for others). Some people are moved by the appeals of beggars; others are not. The strength of this model for stewardship lies in its passion and intensity, and the immediate relationship between the message and the need. In the New Testament, Paul appeals to the church at Corinth to support the needs of their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 9(link is external)). The weakness of this model lies in its sustainability; over time, we often become deaf to the appeals of the beggar -- note the cultural stereotype of the televangelist! Donor fatigue limits the ability to respond to continuing crises.
• The patron.The patron is someone with means who is inspired to fund a cause. It is clear that Jesus traveled with patrons, often women, who helped to support his ministry (Luke 8(link is external)). Those who lead Christian institutions are well-aware of the impact of an infusion of resources: an innovative initiative can begin, a neglected area of ministry can be served, a new population can be reached. In the past generation, Lilly Endowment Inc., The Duke Endowment and others have made significant contributions toward theological education and lifelong formation of clergy. Most congregational and judicatory leaders over time develop relationships with patrons who make significant mission possible. While the typical pastor has little training in development, along the way the skill of cultivating patrons becomes as integral to the practice of effective ministry as preaching, teaching and shepherding. There are,  however, some weaknesses in the patron model: the leader or organization can become dependent on an individual or an endowment; over time, the actual mission can become distant from the original intent of the donor; and the presence of an influential patron can have a flattening effect on the participation of persons at the grass-roots level.
• The tentmaker. In his letters to the earliest churches, Paul clearly states at times that he is supporting himself and taking no funds from the actual congregations (Acts 18(link is external); 1 Corinthians 9(link is external)). In the New Testament we find a model for ministry that is bivocational; at times the leader is supported by the congregation, and at times he or she is sustained by some other livelihood. A great strength of the tentmaker model is purity of motive. Paul writes that he is doing the mission for its own sake and not for personal gain.

I think that the bivocational model is one that the mainline churches of the United States will increasingly embrace. In my own tradition, United Methodism, more than one-third of our local churches in the United States have fewer than 35 persons in worship on a given Sunday. These communities are often vital expressions of fellowship and service in their contexts; at the same time, they cannot sustain full-time clergy leadership.
An additional strength of bivocational ministry is its stability. As a pastor develops a business or assumes an additional professional role in the community, he or she is more rooted there and is able to give smaller congregations continuity.
The churches of the New Testament flourished in a disorderly, chaotic and missional environment. In contrast, the mainline churches of the United States have depended, for more than a generation, on a predictable stream of revenue that flowed from individuals shaped by a church culture.
This church culture itself was a product of a society composed of healthy institutions, and such a context assumed financial giving as an act of social conformity. I recall, from early in my ministry, the “circuit rider” stewardship model, in which laity would choose the names of their friends, visit them, take the “saddlebag,” which would contain a blank pledge card, and ask for their promise of giving for the coming year. As a member of a civic club, I participated in a similar practice. We were a homogeneous group. A few basic institutions were central to our lives, and financial giving to them was expected.
We find ourselves now in a culture more closely aligned with the first-century communities where the earliest churches and missions were planted. A changed context calls for a fresh exploration of models for funding ministry.
Rediscovering the ancient-future practices of a missional movement, and re-imagining the roles of beggar, patron and tentmaker in our own time, may help us to support and sustain the renewal of our congregations and institutions. Read more from Bishop Ken Carter »

FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
Preaching and Stewardship: Proclaiming God's Invitation to Grow
by Craig A. Satterlee
Both new and veteran preachers alike find the annual stewardship sermon a challenge and are eager for encouraging, practical advice. In Preaching and Stewardship, Craig Satterlee offers a nuts-and-bolts handbook on preaching stewardship, raising issues preachers need to consider when preparing stewardship sermons and offering advice on how to address them. Satterlee argues that stewardship preaching must include a bold and concrete proclamation of God's love, will, and justice, as well as an invitation to grow as stewards in response to this proclamation. He focuses each chapter on a question preachers ought to ask themselves as they prepare the stewardship sermon, beginning with, 'What do you mean by stewardship?' and 'Why should we give to the church?' In chapters 3 through 6, he explores what the Bible says about stewardship. In chapter 7, he names some of the assumptions both preachers and worshipers bring to the stewardship sermon. The final chapter a variety of ways congregations can support the stewardship sermon. Satterlee illustrates the premise of each chapter with anecdotes from congregational life. Preachers who desire examples of stewardship sermons will especially appreciate stewardship sermons he shares from various preachers to illustrate points in the main text.
Learn more and order the book »
-------

Follow us on social media:

VISIT OUR WEBSITE
Alban at Duke Divinity School

1121 West Chapel Hill Street, Suite 101

Durham, North Carolina 27701, United States
-------