Stewardship Resources

available at the Episcopal Resource Center

Below is a listing of most of the resources on stewardship that Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of Atlanta are welcome to borrow and/or preview at the Resource Center, located at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Georgia.

Email Linda Scott , Resource Center Coordinator, or phone her at 404-601-5353 to talk about your stewardship material requirements.

Curricula / Programming

Episcopopoly, A Game About Stewardship: A fun way to learn how time, talent, and treasure impact mission Episcopal Media Center, 2003. Patterned after the original Monopoly game but has a mission-focused objective rather than a greed objective. Players will learn all about stewardship concepts and come away with a deeper understanding that the Episcopal Church is everywhere in every community across the country.

Evergreen Program, The: A Stewardship Plan for Episcopal Congregations co-authored by the Rev. Canon David H. Roseberry and the Rev. Kevin Martin. From TENS & Vital Church Ministries. A plan to increase giving through personal touch, flexibility, its year-round use.

Financial Planning Workshop Video Series: A Family Budgeting Seminar An 8-session video curriculum on teaching the practical applications of God’s financial principles. It is designed in a Bible study format and is intended for use in conjunction with The Financial Planning Workbook. It includes four video cassettes, the Planning Workbook and Instructor’s Manual, all written by Larry Burkett. 1991.

From Scarcity to Abundance: Stewardship Discipline by Mark Beckwith (TENS)

Joyful Giving Stewardship Program: A Manual for Stewardship Development Programs in the Congregation (Morehouse, 1996) This manual guides you through a year-long process – from teaching your congregation the fundamentals of Christian Stewardship, to hosting successful, creative commitment programs. Program workbooks include:

1. The Personal Note Commitment Program A program featuring a series of handwritten letters and notes sent with personal witness stories to each household represented in the parish.

2. The Festive Meal Commitment Program written by Thomas R. Gossen and Lonnie Schreiber. In this program, members of the faith community gather to enjoy a festive celebration of their spiritual life and ministry together, to hear an inspirational speaker witness to his/her stewardship journey, to foster a sense of thankfulness for God’s blessings, and to encourage all to respond in thanksgiving with financial pledges.

3. The Cottage Meeting Commitment Program written by Thomas Gossen and Bruce Rockwell. This program centers on gathering as many of the faith community together as possible into separate small groups of eight to twelve people. They reflect on their spiritual lives, hear one of their members talk about his/her stewardship journey, foster a sense of thankfulness, and respond in thanksgiving with financial pledges.

4. The Faithful Member Home Visitation Program written by Thomas Gossen and Bruce Rockwell. This program centers on recruiting and training members of the faith community to make a limited number of personal visits to the homes of other members.

5. The Home to Home Commitment Program written by Thomas Gossen and Bruce Rockwell. This program centers on organizing, recruiting, and training members of the faith community to route a Neighborhood Pledge Packet to a series of homes of other members in their neighborhood. The Neighborhood Packet contains a message on stewardship theology, a personal note, goals and dreams of the congregation, and an invitation for a response as a financial pledge.

Living Our Covenant with God: A series of six conversations for small groups written by Teresa Parsons, Office of Stewardship, 2002. Based on the 2002 theme for stewardship, Our Covenant with God, this six-session program looks at scripture to help us understand better the covenant relationship God seeks to have with us, and what it means in shaping our lives today.

Living With Money: An ecumenical adult education program for congregations Episcopal Media Center and the Morehouse Group, 2003. Everyone has a “money life.” From our earliest years and throughout life our attitude toward money influences who we are and what we become. How do we understand the role, power, and impact of money in our lives? What does the Bible say about money? These four video programs feature nationally know money experts exploring the issues around money. Includes two video tapes, leader’s guide, and participant journal. (3 sets)

· Program 1: What is money?

· Program 2: Know your money life

· Program 3: Making peace with money

· Program 4: Balancing life’s ledger

Ministry of Money: Exploring Money and Spirituality by Jan Sullivan Dockter. Money & Faith Study Circle Handbook A Ministry of Money study circle is a group of 6-10 individuals who gather on a regular basis to discuss issues of money and faith. Meetings are structured around scripture, other thought-provoking readings, and discussion. This 9-week study circle curriculum is designed to be a first step in getting a group organized and talking about issues of money and faith.

Star System Materials for Stewardship The Star System, written by Robert H. Bonner, sets a context for the stewardship dimension of our spiritual journey. The five booklets below provide orientation and structural support for all stewardship education, training, and motivation.

The Star System for Stewardship

The Action Plan

The Mission Statement

The Parish Narrative

A Time for Vision: A Stewardship Handbook for Vestries

A Proven Stewardship Education Approach for Larger Congregations

A Proven Stewardship Education Approach for Small Congregations

Stewardship: the Challenge of the Prodigal Son by Mark Beckwith (TENS)

Stewardship and Giving: How to Increase the Financial Support of Your Congregation by the Rev. Kevin E. Martin (TENS and Vital Church Ministries) A workshop for stewardship chairs that offers a different way to think about the annual pledge drive. Its focus will be on your donors and is not a stewardship formation program, but a process based on proven fund-raising principles.

Treasure Chest of Stewardship Resources A combination of the last three editions of this publication that were prepared by Bruce Rockwell of the Diocese of Rochester. His work was done under the auspices of the Office of Stewardship of the Episcopal Church Center. It contains sermon themes, bulletin inserts, adult and children’s education materials, and an overview of various stewardship program ideas for the Pentecost season of years A, B, and C.

World’s Oldest Financial Planner, The A script, written by Tom Long from “Friends of the Groom.” A humorous and fast-paced collection of scripture, story, and song concerning money.

Videos

Affluenza: Medical Alert! An outbreak of Affluenza has been reported in your area. (57 mins.) KCTS-TV, 1997. Affluenza is a new epidemic many suffer from, but few are aware of. Scott Simon (National Public Radio) hosts this amusing, but informative and important look at over-consumerism and materialism and their effects on our society today and in the future. Symptoms include: swollen expectations, hyper-commercialism, shopping fever, a rash of bankruptcies, fractured families, chronic stress, social scars and resource exhaustion. Some are turning to voluntary simplicity, one of the many “cures” explored. A follow-up video is also available called “Escape from Affluenza.”

Children & Stewardship or “Will Our Children be Stewards?” (35 mins) Videotapes presentation by Terry Parsons, Missioner for Stewardship and Discipleship t The Episcopal Church Center, on March 9. 2002 at the Bishop’s Annul Conference for Stewardship in the Diocese of Kansas. We begin to realize that the messages we send our children during their formative early years will greatly influence their habits for the rest of their lives. The discussion is about what parents can do with their children, not about getting children to put more money in the offering plate. Good for use with stewardship leaders and with Christian educators of all age groups.

Curing Affluenza This is a six-video curriculum featuring Tony Campolo which deals with “Affluenza”. “Affluenza” is defined as the American epidemic of shopping, overwork, debt and the pursuit of money. The theme of the “cure” is found in the Bible: “Sell all you have and give it to the poor.” Rev. Campolo discusses with others just how we can attempt to follow that mandate in today’s world. Each video is 20-25 minutes long and includes a discussion guide. Titles include:

1. Abundant Life: What Is It?

2. Money: How Poor Does Jesus Want Us to Be?

3. Time: How Much Do I Have to Give Away?

4. Stuff: How Much Can I Have?

5. Support: What Will Help?

6. Next: What Do I Do Come Monday Morning?

Escape from Affluenza (57 mins) KCTS-TV (1998) A follow-up to Affluenza, this video uses expert commentary, thought-provoking vignettes and humor to show people how they can reduce their consumption and simplify their lives. It is hosted by former reporter Wanda Urbanska, who with her husband, gave up their hectic life in Los Angeles to move to the small community of Mount Airy, North Carolina. She co-authored the book Simple Living: One Couple’s Search for a Better Life.

Life of Stewardship (26 mins) Episcopal Church. Bishop William Burrill of Rochester, in this instructional video, insists that stewardship is a way of living all of life. Delivered in five sections with time for discussion in between.

Loose Connections (15 mins) Friends of the Groom/ Episcopal Network for Stewardship. We don’t intentionally set out to make a muddle of our relationship with God. It’s just that if we don’t step back and tighten up our connection to God, we lose our way. A woman waiting in a car repair center has an encounter with a stranger who says his name is Jesus. Stewardship is only one of several subjects their discussion touches on.

Marked as Christ’s Own: Baptism and Stewardship (28 mins) Episcopal Church. Bishop William Burrill of Rochester visits a variety of locations from a waterfall to a shopping mall to describe stewardship in the light of the Baptismal Covenant. Divided into five-minute segments, this video explores both stewardship and the meaning of baptism.

More Fun, Less Stuff: The Challenges & Rewards of a New American Dream (30 mins) Center for a New American Dream, 2002. Hosted by Danny Glover. These days, the American dream seems to be about an endless chase for “more” – more money, more materials goods, bigger houses, biggers cars—bigger everthing. Meet ordinary Americans who are creating a new model for business, institutions and consumers. Be inspired by their stories and learn simple ways you can get started living your own new American dream.

Outpourings of Love, Images of Stewardship (28 mins) Epis. Church, 1989. This program traces the path that church offerings travel as they benefit ministries in the US and abroad: retired missionaries, orphans in Haiti, prisoners, the hospitalized, and seminarians and chaplains in their training to spread the Gospel.

Questions of Faith: Whose Money Is It? Part of the Questions of Faith series of 20-25 minute discussion starter videos featuring responses from prominent contemporary thinkers. This question leads to others such as: Why is it hard for us to talk about our money? What does your faith have to do with your money? and, How can we be faithful in a consumer society?

Widow’s Mite, The (20 mins) Trinity Parish. The irrepressible Myrtle Higbee (played by Mary Kay Place), of Faceville, Georgia, happily prepares for a dinner party while recounting the curious string of events that took her from a life as a sharecropper’s daughter to a pillar of the community. This humorous monologue raises provocative questions about piety, hypocrisy, and stewardship and would make a comfortable transition into a planned giving discussion. Study guide.

Audio Tapes

Stewardship As A Conversion Issue by Bruce Rockwell of the Diocese of Rochester, September 12, 1995, speaking to clergy of the Diocese of Atlanta. (2 cassettes)

Stewardship: Our Covenant with God April 1998 Diocese of Atlanta/ National Stewardship Conference tapes:

Opening Session: A Reason to Give, The Rev. Tony Campbell.

Theological Foundations in Stewardship, Part 1, The Rev. Doug Meeks

Theological Foundations in Stewardship, Part 2, The Rev. Doug Meeks

Theological Foundations in Stewardship, Part 3, The Rev. Doug Meeks

God the Economist, Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5, The Rev. Doug Meeks

Closing Eucharist Sermon, The Rev. Tony Campbell.

Websites

www.sharesavespend.com - Website created to help people of all ages develop and maintain healthy financial habits, and to offer advice on creating financial values based on the Share-Save-Spend™ approach to money. Sign up for weekly e-newsletter.

www.ministryofmoney.org - a loving, prophetic Christian ministry which encourages all persons to become free from their attachment to cultural values regarding money and to live out joyfully God’s call for their lives and resources.

www.TENS.org - link to The Episcopal Network for Stewardship. Find resources, conferences, consultants and more.

Stewardship for Children

Take the Pizza and Run: and other stories for children about stewardship by Barbara DeGrote, Augsburg, 1992.

Curricula

Growing a Grateful and Generous Heart Everything good is a gift from God. Living the Good News has developed this heart-transforming program to help the entire family grow in their understanding and practice of stewardship. Four sessions include a Leader’s Guide, Parent/Family Resource and Children’s Papers. Leader’s Guide includes four children’s levels (Preschool/Kindergarten, Grades 1-2, 3-4, & 5-6, intergenerational activities, handouts, and more.The introduction is by Terry Parsons, Officer for Stewardship for the National Church.

Video

Questions of Faith for Youth: How Much Stuff Do You Need? (20 minutes, for older youth). The Youth version of the regular Questions of Faith series for adults. Each video in the set of six poses a question that is responded to by high school and college students along with other young adults from across the country. Each video is about 20 minutes long and comes with a study guide.

New and Basic Books on Stewardship

Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving stewardship ministry in your congregation (Augsburg, 2006)

By Charles R. Lane

A straightforward, easy-to-read stewardship guide. The emphasis is on mission, not mintennce; discipleship, not membership; and the giver’s need to give, not the hcurch’s need to receive. The author advocates a biblically based primary relationship with Jesus Christ that includes open, basic, plain and ongoing talk about money.

Creating Congregations of Generous People (Alban, 1999)

By Michael Durall

Argues that annual pledge drives inadvertently perpetuate low-level and same-level giving in congregations.

(The) Evergreen program: A Stewardship plan for Episcopal congregations (TENS,2005)

By David H. Roseberry

Tools, techniques, and training to enable congregations to increase income through sound Biblical teaching, effective programming, and high quality leadership.

From Scarcity to Abundance: A Complete guide to parish stewardship (Alban, 2006)

By David M. Ponting

Practical handbook for parish stewardship practitioners. A theological framework ties together money management, year-round stewardship, budgets, planned giving, and more.

Grateful and Generous Hearts: A Pilgrim’s stewardship adventure (Morehouse, 1997)

By John Westerhoff

A resource on stewardship for the use of vestries, stewardship committees, new members, stewardship programs and study groups.

Growing Up Generous: Engaging youth in giving and serving (Alban, 2000)

By Eugene C. Roehlkepartain

The book creates a mosaic of what is happening—and could happen –in American Jewish and Christian congregations to cultivate in young people a deep and lasting commitment to giving and serving.

Offerings of the Heart: Money and values in faith communities (Alban, 2005)

By Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit

Rabbi Zevit shows the rich thought and experience Hebrew scriptures and traditions contribute for all who seek to be faithful in the use of money in their communities. A deep understanding of generosity and giving is brought to bear on the practicalities of budgets, planning, and reaching out in deeds of justice and mercy.

Prodigal Sons & Material Girls: How not to be your child’s ATM (Wiley, 2003)

By Nathan Dungan

The book exposes the culture of spending that victimizes our children and young people and helps us learn to lead the young people we care about toward more satisfying values and behaviors.

Remember the Future: Financial and asset management for congregations (Church Publishing 2006)

By Gerald W. Keucher

A method for sound leadership and asset management in clear, easy-to-follow chapters: leadership, assets, investments, buildings and maintenance, buildings and income and stewardship.

What Kids Really Want that Money Can’t Buy: Tips for parenting in a commercial world (Warner Books, 2003)

By Betsy Taylor

Offers a badly needed helping hand in offering ways to meet our children’s real needs. Kids want acceptance and attention--they want you. Find out how to help your child navigate his or her social world, how to distinguish friendship from popularity, and how to build a positive self-image and sense of uniqueness.

Plus others that have been classics for years…

Imaging God: Dominion as stewardship by Douglas John Hall

More Blessed to Give: Straight talk on stewardship by John MacNaughton

More than Money: Portraits of transformative stewardship by Patrick H. McNamara

On the Pilgrim’s Way: Christian stewardship and the tithe by John K. Brackett

Plain Talk about Churches and Money by Dean R. Hoge

Responding to God: the life of stewardship by Turner N. Clinard

Stepping Stones of the Steward by Ronald Vallet

(The) Steward: a Biblical symbol come of age by Douglas John Hall