Stewardship Harvest 2008
Website: www.christchurchbrampton.ca Email: christchurchbrampton@bellnet.ca Tel:
A Prayer for Stewardship Gracious Lord, we dream of
furthering your community and ministry through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
2 Where does the money go?
3 Our Goals
4 How do you decide how much to give?
5 The
Last Word
Stewardship
is nothing less than a complete life-style, a total accountability and
responsibility before God. Stewardship is what we do after we say we believe,
that is, after we give our love, loyalty, and trust to God, from whom each and
every aspect of our lives comes as a gift.
What Is It
Not?
Stewardship is not fundraising. It is not giving to meet a need when we
are asked to do so. It is not about
giving to meet a budget. It is not an
optional extra for Christians but an essential element in following God. The purpose of stewardship is giving
rather than fundraising. How much money can be raised is a secondary objective.
The primary purpose of stewardship is to help people learn the act of giving—to
grow spiritually through their generosity.
Reasons To Give:
X The Bible tells us so
“On
the first day of every week, each
one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving
it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” (1 Corinthians
16:2)
With this instruction,
Paul tells the church at Corinth (and us) to give intentionally (“on the first
day of every week”), in proportion to what has been given to us (“in keeping
with his income”) and in response to having received, not in response to an
immediate need.
X Abundance
In Malachi 3:10, God
says:’ “Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the
LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”’ He
goes on to say exactly what form the blessing will take: “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your
fields will not cast their fruit.” (v 11) Sometimes we are afraid that if
we give, we will have to do without for ourselves and our families. But God
wants us to live abundantly. He wants us to have all we need and find
fulfilment in our lives. And the reason
for all of this is: “Then all the nations
will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land.” (v 12) When
God’s people are blessed by Him, they should give Him glory for what He has
done through praise and thankfulness.
X
Thanksgiving
When Jesus healed ten
lepers, only one turned back to praise and thanked him. Jesus was disappointed: “Jesus asked,
‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to
return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’" (Luke 17:17-18)
Jesus wants us to thank him for the gifts
we are given. Sharing those gifts by supporting ministry to others is one
important way to thank him.
Your
Contacts:
|
Wardens 2008 |
|
|
Stan Szepesi |
Jeffrey
White |
|
Gwen Valliere |
Peter
Volkes |
|
Stewardship Committee 2008 |
|
|
Dot Joshua |
Andrea
White |
|
Jane Riske |
Elizabeth
Walker |
|
Jeff Smith |
Al
White (Chair) |
|
Gwen Valliere |
Martha
Whittaker |
Reasons
Not To Give:
X
The
Church already has lots of money. Look at all the renovations going on, not to
mention the restoration of the organ!
Actually, the renovations and organ restoration are funded not by general
funds, but by generous donations and memorial gifts placed in the Heritage Fund
and in special project funds for just these purposes. We are very blessed to
have received sufficient gifts to do these important projects. None of those
funds cover the regular operating costs of the church, which are what fund our
ministries and outreach.
X There must be overspending somewhere. Can’t we cut
back on photocopying or something?
Actually, our expenses have been relatively flat over the last several
years. A great deal of work has been done, very successfully, in making sure
that we run this church as economically as possible. The reason we have a
deficit is not that our expenses are too high; it is that our general offerings
have not kept pace with our growth and increased cost of living.
X
The
money will come from somewhere. I don’t need to be the one to give.
Actually, even if that were true, you would be depriving yourself of
the spiritual benefit of giving a portion of what God has given to you. Each
person is accountable to God for the stewardship of the gifts He has given to
us.
X
I
already give to many good charities. Why should I give to the church as well?
Actually, giving to causes that are accomplishing God’s work is indeed
an important part of your stewardship, and you should indeed give to such
agencies, organizations and individuals. That giving should not however replace
or diminish your commitment to your local church.
X I can’t afford to give what the church needs.
Actually, you’re not alone. When Jesus was teaching a crowd of five
thousand and it came time for them to eat, the disciples despaired. “We have here only five loaves of bread and
two fish” (Matthew
Just because we do not understand
how Jesus will solve a problem does not mean we shouldn’t do what he tells us.
And what he tells us is “Bring them here to
me”. Whatever you have is what Jesus wants you to give.
2.
Where Does the Money Go?
We
at
In our Spring Stewardship
Newsletter we focused on our various ministries and what we collectively
accomplished in 2007. To briefly
summarize we are members of a community that
desires to follow Christ and grow in knowledge of him (Christian
Education & Faith Formation), is committed to worshipping God (Liturgy
& Worship), has a strong commitment to one another (Parish
Life, Pastoral Care), and engages in significant ministry to others (Local
Community Outreach & Service). Now
let’s take a closer look at our Mission Statement and see how it too becomes
alive through our action.
“A caring Christian community,
celebrating God, proclaiming Christ and serving others in the power of the Holy
Spirit"
We
are a caring Christian community that
provides emergency
assistance, individual and family counselling and ministry at major life
transitions. We celebrate our faith with
members of various local institutions including Peel Manor, Burton Lodge,
Woodhall Speciality Care, Southbrook Home, and the Ontario Correctional
Institute to name but just a few. Our clergy
and pastoral visitors keep in contact with a number of parishioners in
their homes or while in hospital.
We celebrate God in an
infinite number of ways that are as diverse as celebrating the Eucharist within
the church on Sunday mornings to celebrating the Eucharist atop Rattlesnake
Point. Our fellowship is known to
include skating,
canoe trips, excursions, dramatic productions, bazaars, golf tournament, and
retreats. God is with us at our parties
whether organized by the Fellowship, Parish or Sidemen’s Group or organized
to celebrate a specific event such as the Children’s Christmas Party or the
Resurrection Party. God and our faith is
also celebrated in a quieter manner in services throughout the week, in private
homes and in specialized liturgies including house blessings, bereavement and
wedding anniversary celebrations
We how proclaim Christ! Programming for all age
groups and levels in Christian formation continues to flourish at
We serve
others both locally and globally. Our Diocesan allotment extends our reach around
the world in mission. Many of you actively
support a number of Christian charitable organizations such as Faithworks,
Primates World Relief and Development and World Vision, amongst many others. We actively support local outreach
organizations such as Knight’s Table, Regeneration, The Bridge,
The Family Life Resource Centre, The Dam,
3. Our Goals
Are you prepared to meet the obligation of a committed member of
Simply
put, we are asking, all members of
X
Deepening your relationship with God as it is demonstrates
that your security lays not in your material wealth but in God
X
Providing crucial information for the Wardens in the
decision-making process relating to the budget.
Often how we conduct the “business” of the church is as important as the
“business” itself. We need to know what
financial resources are available so that ministry can continue and indeed
expand.
What are goals
of the 2008 Stewardship Focus?
The
2008 Stewardship Goals are twofold:
1.
All families on our parish list will participate in our
Stewardship Focus by completing and returning their pledge card indicating
their commitment to
2.
We will be able to pass a balanced budget at our 2009 Vestry
to be held in February thereby firmly acknowledging God’s plan by eliminating
the deficit.
Yes, I am prepared!
While Stewardship is a complete
lifestyle of total accountability and responsibility acknowledging God as the
Creator and Owner of all, October has been designated as a focus period. In the Harvest mailing you receive a letter
asking you to review your current offerings and make a pledge for your 2009
offerings. All families are asked to
hand in their pledge cards by the end of October.
"More." More. These four
letters constitute one of the most powerful words in the English language.
Very smart people stay up at night trying to figure out ways to convince
us that we are (or ought to be) discontent, and that we would experience
true satisfaction if we just had more. All day long we are bombarded by
the prophets of more. "Use me, buy me, drive me, wear me, try me, put
me in your hair." Serving the “more monster" can never satisfy
our souls. Yet in the short run, saying no to more can be difficult, even
frightening. What does it take to tame the monster of more? What does it
take to transform a heart from greed to generosity? For most of us, it
will not come simply by acquiring more knowledge, applying more willpower,
or even by studying more Scripture, as important as those things are. The
more monster is too strong. We need a way of training. We need a tangible
and routine way to say, "Sorry, money, you are not on the
throne. You will not be the god of my life today." What we need, God
has provided. It's called tithing.
From “Giving” magazine, 2005, by John Ortberg
“Everyone must give according to what he has inwardly
decided; not sadly, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
For
many the giving of a tithe (10% of our income) is seen as legalistic. In
reality, the tithe is an acknowledgement that all we have, including the
remaining nine-tenths, belongs to God.
Whether
we settle on 10% or 5% or even 2% of our income, or if we calculate what we
earn per hour and determine to give 1 hour per week (or 2 or 3) of what we have
earned, it is vitally important that we give intentionally and in
proportion to what we have received. Everything we have, everything we earn,
everything we are given – it all belongs to God. And we never really own it. It
is entrusted to us. So we should give a portion of it, the first fruits, back to
God.
What
would it look like to give 1, 2 or even 3 hours per week of your income?
|
Annual Income |
1
hour of
Weekly Income* |
2
hours of
Weekly Income* |
3
hours of
Weekly Income* |
|||
|
Yearly |
Monthly |
Yearly |
Monthly |
Yearly |
Monthly |
|
|
$30,000 |
$864 |
$72 |
$1,716 |
$143 |
$2,571 |
$214 |
|
$40,000 |
$1,143 |
$95 |
$2,286 |
$190 |
$3,429 |
$286 |
|
$50,000 |
$1,429 |
$119 |
$2,857 |
$238 |
$4,286 |
$357 |
|
$60,000 |
$1,714 |
$143 |
$3,429 |
$286 |
$5,143 |
$429 |
|
$70,000 |
$2,000 |
$167 |
$4,000 |
$333 |
$6,000 |
$500 |
|
$80,000 |
$2,286 |
$190 |
$4,571 |
$381 |
$6,857 |
$571 |
|
$90,000 |
$2,571 |
$214 |
$5,143 |
$429 |
$7,714 |
$643 |
* based on 35-hour work week
The
important thing is that whenever you receive money, the first amount you spend
should be for God’s work. It should be the amount you have already decided to
give (not just what is left over) and you should give it with a smile on your
face and joy in your heart.
Need more information? Still not sure what Stewardship is? Have a question concerning our finances? Please speak to anyone on the Stewardship
Committee or any of the Wardens. The
question or concern that you might have may be shared by others so please give
us an opportunity hear you!
We invite you to reflect with thanksgiving on all
the gifts God has entrusted to you:
·
Consider how you spend your time, and how you might spend
more of it doing God’s work.
·
Consider your talents: God has given each of us abilities
and passions. How can we use them to further the reign of Christ?
·
Consider your treasure. If you do not already practice
intentional giving, consider whether now might be a good time to start.
“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping
with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to
be made.”
(1 Corinthians 16:2)