Mara Rivera (Winneconne), Marcia Thomas (Abbottsford), Susan Zencka (Stevens Point), Gail Irwin (Preble Park, Green Bay), Max Ballard (DePere), Richard Moore (Neenah) and Sarah Moore-Nokes (Presbytery Staff) have just returned from attending a Pilot Stewardship Training Program sponsored by the Synod Of Lakes and Prairies with partial funding by the Board of Pensions at Mt. Olivet Conference and Retreat Center in Farminton MN. Our leader for the two-day seminary was Howard White, a consultant with The James Company. Many of you know that Winnebago Presbytery is currently working with The James Company here in Wisconsin and Don Shultz has been present at our Presbytery meetings to present on a variety of stewardship topics. (Mark you calender for May 8th when the topic will be Consumerism and Christianity!) While in Minnesota the gathered group of Pastors, CLPs (Commissioned Lay Pastors) and Synod and Presbytery staff considered the difference (or perhaps fine line) between stewardship and fund raising, the basics of budgets, the difficulty of keeping a compelling vision in front of an organization, the fears that keep people from giving money and time, and the strategies that help church leaders model stewardship in all areas of ministry. We definitely didn’t all agree all the time and we had some passionate discussions. We also learned that we represented many, many different ministry contexts and that programs and strategies that work in one context sometimes don’t make any sense in other.

What is your congregation doing about stewardship? Is it a year long process? Two weeks in November? A word that no one wants to hear?