December 3, 2014

Volume 1, Issue 1

Special Interest
Articles:
Is Your
Congregation
on PAR? Now
is a great time
to consider it.
(Page 2).
There is a new
M&S Campaign
coming to all
pastoral
charges in
February. Do
you know about
it yet? (Page 3)
Have you
considered your
legacy?(page 6)

Stewardship
ewsletter
Greetings from the Stewardship Crowd
Title
DivisionsStaff
Hi Delegates,
Weve missed seeing you this Fall since there was no District
meeting. We hope you and your congregations are doing well and
you are continuing with the work tasked to you as a District
delegate. Here are some resources to help you in your work.
Lorraine Elliott & Gloria Myles (District Stewardship Chairs)

What is Christian Stewardship?

Christian stewardship is ......... everything we think, say and do
after we say "We believe"

Inside this Issue:

PAR Update

M&S Update

A Call to Action 3
Gifts with Vision 3
Latest Blog
Legacy Giving

4-5
6

. Stewardship is .............
How we spend our time
How we care for our body and make healthy choices
Our priorities around money

How we manage our relationships

How we care for the environment
How we practice our faith
How we choose to employ our talents and gifts

Looking for an excellent website for Stewardship Resources?

Check out www.stewardshiptoolkit.ca

Stewardship

Page 2 of 6

Pre-Authorized Remittance

In the last two years

nine new congregations
have signed up for
PAR.

PAR, or Pre-Authorized
Remittance, is a direct debit
program that allows people
to support their church
through an automatic
monthly withdrawal from
their bank account.

Once a month, all PAR

givings are debited from
givers accounts and then
the total, less a service
fee, is electronically
transferred to local church
accounts.

The United Church

administers the program
following the giver's wishes
(e.g., X amount for local
church expenses and X
amount for the Mission and
Service Fund).

The advantage to the

giver is that you can plan
your gift in advance, and
continue to support your
churchs ministry even
when you are away.
Givers who give by PAR
give more because

they never miss a Sunday!

Churches benefit from PAR
because givers tend to give
more, and because income
is spread throughout the
year, rather than 70% of
offerings coming in the last
Quarter.
If your Church does not offer
PAR, why not consider it?
Contact Roger, Clyde, or a
member of your District
Division of Stewardship, for
a workshop, or for more
information.

PAR Campaign Update

In 2012 the East and West
Divisions of Stewardship
began a PAR Campaign.
That is, we decided to
focus on educating
pastoral charge members
about the Pre-Authorized
Remittance Program and
how it can make a
difference to both a
congregations cash flow
and givings.
In NL Conference in 2012
we had a total of 744

givers who contributed by

PAR. Two years later,
there are now 915 PAR
givers in NL Conference.
That is a 23% increase in
two years!
In the last two years nine
new congregations have
signed up for PAR. That
marks a 30% increase in
the number of
congregations that offer
Pre-Authorized
Remittance.

If your congregation still

does not offer PAR, or, if
your congregation offers
PAR but would like to
increase the number of
people who avail of it,
please contact your
District Stewardship
Division.

Mission & Service Fund to Date

th

As of November 28 the
Mission & Service Fund is
tracking just a little lower
than the same time last
year. (-0.43%). Here in
NL Conference we have
remitted an amount just
1% lower than last year.
The good news so far

59% of Pastoral Charges

in the Conference have
sent in more than they did
to the same date last year.
It is very important that
Charges make a regular
remittance of their M&S
offerings to National.
Monthly is ideal, but

quarterly is good.
Charges will have till
st
around February 1 to
send in all remaining 2014
M&S donations to
National. To get credit,
please make sure your
M&S dollars get sent on
time.

Stewardship

Page 3 of 6

Mission & Service: A Call to Action

Only 45% of those who
contribute to the local
church ministry also
support the ministry of the
larger church by giving to
the Mission and Service
Fund. That is a disturbing
statistic especially when
we consider how much we
in Newfoundland and
Labrador benefit directly
from M&S; and how
wonderful ministries within
the province, like hospital
chaplaincy and local
church support grants, can
suffer when givings are
down.
Another alarming statistic:
the Mission and Service
Fund has been treading

water for over twenty

years. Although total
givings have remained
around 30 million dollars,
because of inflation the
cost of all our ministries
have increased
substantially.
It is time to act! It is time
to build up the ministry we
do together as a
denomination. Life
changing and effective
ministries are in need of
what we can offer.
In February we will be
launching a Nation-wide
M&S program called A
Call to Action. Our goal
will be to both increase

M&S giving and givers.

Every pastoral charge will
receive materials in the
new year to carry out their
own individual program.
The program is designed
to be easy to use and will
include inspiring videos
from the Moderator, as
well as some local
resources.
Please watch for the
program and please
use it on your charge.
Together we can make a
difference.
For more information on
this program, contact us.

A Gift for the Person who has Everything

Have you begun your
Christmas shopping yet?
If you are like me you
have started, but are
struggling to find that
perfect gift for someone
who seems to have all
that they want.
Today it is often a
challenge to find
appropriate gifts for family
and friends because we
live in a society where
many of us no longer wait
till Christmas to get what
we want. Further, a large
number of us are doing
pretty well financially and

have the means to get lots

of stuff for ourselves.
So, we shouldnt be
surprised when we hear
someone say, Oh, dont
worry about me, I have all
I need. Yet, we feel we
need to give something
and something
appropriate.
Well, if that person is an
active member of one of
our United Church
congregations, maybe we
dont have to look too far.
Maybe a Gift with
Vision would be just the
right thing!

Gifts with Vision

catalogues have been
mailed to every pastoral
charge. If you havent had
a look yet to see what
wonderful opportunities for
Mission exist, please do
so. You can make a
difference in the lives of
those who need a hand up
this Christmas, and
honour a friend or family
member at the same time.
For more information, or
to see an online
catalogue, go to:
http://programleadershipd
evelopment.weebly.com/gi
fts-with-vision.html

Inspiring short Videos, featuring

Rt. Rev. Gary Patterson, are part
of the program.

Stewardship

Page 4 of 6

Why the Church Needs More from Us

Have we thought about

how inflation is having
a major effect on our
ability to do ministry?

I have a friend of mine

who tells the story of
growing up in a big family.
They were members of
their local Church, and as
such, they regularly went
to worship, and regularly
contributed to the
Church's ministry and
mission. Mom and Dad
would wake us children up
on Sunday mornings, get
themselves and us ready,
and just before leaving the
house Mom would write
out a cheque for $20 and
put it in the offering
envelope. That went on
for years. Today, many
years later, the children
are grown up, have
moved away, and have
their own families. Mom
and Dad however
continue their Sunday
practice. They get up, get
themselves ready for
church, and Mom writes
her cheque to go in the
offering envelope. Can
you guess how much?
Thats right, $20.

discomfort to talk about

money, and our lack of
asking, have not
encouraged members like
these to prayerfully reconsider their giving
regularly, and certainly not
annually. The question
that is being raised in
many churches these
days is, can the Church
afford its members giving
the same year after year?
The answer, of course, is
no! We know the answer.
We have struggled with
the reality of it for years.
We all realize that we are
losing more contributing
members than we are
gaining. We know that
newer members tend to
give less than long time
church members. But
have we considered the
ever changing spending
power of our regular
contributions? Have we
thought about how
inflation is having a major
effect on our ability to do
ministry?

God bless the individuals

who have made this
commitment and practiced
it so much that it has
become an unconscious
act of compassion. There
are many such individuals
in our churches on
Sundays. The challenge
is, we as churches, in our

When I was a teenager I

would marvel at how
much you could buy for a
dollar years ago. Mom
and Dad told me that
when they were teens
they could buy a soft
drink, a bar and a bag of
chips for a quarter. The
two oclock movie at the

theatre was 10 cents!

Why, when I was a teen
things cost more than
double that! Think about
today then, how much can
you get for a dollar today?
Not a lot! The reason -inflation!
Back to my example
above. If this Mom and
Dad were giving $20 a
week say thirty years ago,
they were giving a
significant amount!
Today, not so much. Over
the last thirty years
inflation has risen by an
average of 2.5% per year.
So to buy what $20 could
then, you would have to
give $41.31 today. More
than double! Ok thirty
years is a lot. Lets not be
so extreme. Lets just see
what the change in $20 is
over ten years? The
answer is $23.96. True,
that is not as dramatic, but
the same result is
produced a decline in
spending power. A
Congregation with a
budget of 100,000 will
need, just to keep
everything the same,
$102,500 next year ... and
$105,062.50 the following
year.
(Cond on page 5)
So what is the answer?
How do we get folks to
consider this fact? I think
we need to talk about it
and the best way to do
that is to do some
Stewardship Education in
our churches. This is best
practiced, in my opinion,
with an Annual, or even
Semi-Annual Stewardship
Campaign. Give your

Stewardship

Page 5 of 6

Why the Church Needs More from Us (Cond)

So what
is the answer? How
increase their giving?
Inside Story
Headline

The truth is
many of us in the church may not
have thought a lot about it. We
have become creatures of habit,
contributing about the same as we
did last year and the year
before. But friends, at some point
that may need to change. Best to
start now.

do we get folks to consider

this fact? I think we need to
talk about it and the best
way to do that is to do some
Stewardship Education in our
churches. This is best
practiced, in my opinion, with
an Annual, or even SemiAnnual Stewardship
Campaign. Give your
members an opportunity to
prayerfully reconsider their
present level of giving? Is it
possible they might be able to

This was originally printed as a Blog

on Rogers Webpage. See
http://programleadershipdevelopment.
weebly.com/my-blog

The Rising Cost of a $100K Ministry

140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
2.5%
inflation

40,000
20,000
0
2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

To just keep a $100,000 budget with the same spending power, in ten years a charge would need
to raise $124,886.30.

Leaving Your Legacy

United Church
Bookstore
Need Stewardship
Resources? How about
Advent Folders,
Christmas Cards, or some
Christmas Gift ideas?
Contact either Leona at
the St. Johns office, or
Joan at the Grand FallsWindsor Office.
Leona
St. Johns 1-877-9540386
ucbookstore@nfld.net
Joan
GFW 1-709-489-5101
newlabwest@nl.rogers.com

For 89 years, The United Church of Canada has built

its legacy as a prophetic, uniquely Canadian, voice in
the world. It has made the ministry of Jesus a reality
where and when it has been most needed, both in Canada
and around the world.
And this legacy will continue, no matter where the
United Church is headedand no matter what form it will
take.
Why not become part of this legacy? You can do your
part by establishing a legacy gift. Perhaps a bequest in
your will, or the purchase of a United Church gift annuity, or
through the gift of a life insurance policy, designating the
area of the churchs mission that moves in your heart.
For more information on the many ways that you can
lead the legacy into the future, contact:
Clyde Flight, Financial Development Officer
Newfoundland and Labrador Conference
709-722-9935
CFlight@united-church.ca

Mandate of the Stewardship Divisions

To provide leadership and resources to pastoral charges within
the bounds of East and West Districts in the areas of
congregational stewardship and the Mission and Service Fund.

Members of our Stewardship Divisions

West Stewardship

East Stewardship

Lorraine Elliott (chair)

Joy Batstone (secretary)
Pansy Martin
Iris Hoddinott
Tony Newell
Guy Fillier
Joyce Hart
Marion Stratton
Angela Hann
Ernest Paddock
Clyde Flight (FDO Staff)
Roger Janes (Staff)

Gloria Myles (chair)

Jocelyn Cook (secretary)
Maisie Johnson
Lillian Mulley
Fannie Hudson
Isabelle Cole
Lorraine Giles
Donna Hann
Melinda Legge
Essie Green
Clyde Flight (FDO Staff)
Roger Janes (Staff)