Stewardship Myths
FROM THE RECTOR
This Sunday at St. Paul’s is Celebration Sunday. At the end of all three services, you will have an opportunity to complete an estimate of giving card and bring it up to the altar and give it to God as a gesture of your faith. This week, as you think and pray about what part of your income you will share with God’s work in the coming year, I offer for your consideration these myths about stewardship, which I have encountered over the years.
Myth#1: I don’t need to fill out a card because the church already knows how much I give. Every year, we start fresh. What you put on your card is what goes into the budget. Even if you have faithfully given the same amount for twenty years, unless you fill out a card this year, the vestry will not assume that you will continue to make that gift. For us to take full advantage of your generosity and build a budget that reflects your gifts, we need to hear from you.
Myth #2: Stewardship is about raising money for the church. Your annual giving represents over 75% of the church’s operating budget, but the goal of stewardship is not to raise money but to grow faith. Stewardship is first and foremost a spiritual practice. Whether we are devoting to God the first portion of our time, talent, or treasure, we practice good stewardship to deepen our relationship with God. By making God the first priority in our financial lives, we learn to trust in God’s goodness and provision, even when markets are down, expenses are up, and jobs are hard to find. Think of your giving not as an obligation to your church but as a tangible commitment of your life to God.
Myth #3: Putting something in the offering plate each week is more important than filling out a giving card. In this case, it depends. If what you are putting in the plate each week represents a proportional, sacrificial, first-fruits gift of your income, the giving card does not matter (except to help the vestry make a budget). You are already shaping your financial life around your relationship with God. More often, however, people think that tossing a few dollars into the plate without much thought is the same thing as practicing faithful stewardship. It’s not. While it does not matter whether your weekly gift is $1.00 or $1,000, what matters is whether your gift represents an intentional commitment to God. Putting something in the plate each week is an important way of presenting yourself to God at the altar, but spiritual growth requires more than a mindless habit.
Myth #4: You should give your tithe completely to St. Paul’s. This year, someone told me that they were surprised that I tell the congregation that it does not matter whether you give to St. Paul’s or to another organization that carries out God’s work in the world. It doesn’t. What matters is that you are devoting a sacrificial portion of your income to what God is doing in the world and that, through those gifts, you are offering yourself more fully into God’s work. That means that you should give to those organizations whose work you take part in—the communities through which you participate in God’s transformation of the world. For almost all of us, our congregation is the principal place where we do that, but, if you are a part of God’s work through other organizations, I hope you will make them a part of your stewardship.
Myth #5: The church’s endowment makes my giving unnecessary. Your giving to St. Paul’s matters for two reasons. First, it is a means by which you grow spiritually. Even if our church’s budget were fully funded by the endowment, I would still ask you to give a sacrificial, proportional, first-fruits amount because that is how your faith grows. Second, income from the church’s endowment makes up only 10% of our annual budget. Your giving makes up 77% of that budget. Every penny that you give to the church is used to carry out God’s work in the world. The endowment is an important way to use your assets to ensure the long-term health and vitality of our parish. Through an estate gift, you can contribute to the ministries of our church in perpetuity, and I hope you will remember St. Paul’s in your estate plans, but your annual gift is the primary way we carry out our programs every year.
Myth #6: Filling out a giving card obligates me to a contribution I may not be able to sustain. No one knows exactly what next year will bring. Giving to God is a way to inspire confidence, not anxiety. If your financial circumstances change, you should also change what you give to the church. That is why we avoid the term “pledge card.” Instead, we call it an “estimate of giving card.” While your estimate helps the vestry set a budget, we will never ask you to fulfill your pledge if your situation has changed. All you need to do is call me or Leslie Alexander, the Parish Administrator, to change or cancel your estimate of giving at any time.
Myth #7: I do not have enough money to make a financial gift to the church. Neither God nor our church cares how big or small your gift is. What matters is that you make God a priority in your life. Even if your gift is one dollar per month or less, any sacrificial gift—the kind that requires you to give something up for God’s sake—is a faithful offering of yourself to God. Sometimes I hear people say that they want to give their time and talent because they do not have enough treasure to give. I think volunteering at the church is a great way to deepen our faith, but I also think making a financial commitment, no matter how small, is essential for our spiritual growth.
Myth #8: The clergy and vestry care how much you give to the church. There are only three people at St. Paul’s who know how much you give: the Parish Administrator, the Rector, and you. The only time I notice or think about how much you give is when I write thank you notes after Celebration Sunday. When my phone rings in the middle of the night because someone has a pastoral need, their giving is the last thing I care about. Being present with people in moments of joy and in moments of grief is the greatest privilege I have as a priest. If I allowed someone’s giving to influence how I cared for them, I would not be faithful to God, nor would I be able to enjoy what I do. I care about your gifts only because I know that they are a way for you to grow in your faith—just as I care about how often you come to church, say your prayers, and read the Bible.
Myth #9: Clergy do not give to the church because they get paid by the church. In addition to our gifts to other organizations, our family gives 13% of our gross income to St. Paul’s because, just like you, our stewardship is a spiritual practice. We give to God because we want to grow in our faith, and we give to St. Paul’s because it is the place where we take part most fully in God’s work in the world. All of the clergy I have ever worked with are also faithful givers. My income does come from your gifts, but the vestry does not base my stipend on how much you give. When I invite you make a financial commitment to God, therefore, I do so not with my own self-interest in mind but because I know from personal experience that stewardship is a powerful way to grow our faith.
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday. If you cannot join us in person, you will have an opportunity to turn in your estimate of giving card online, through the mail, or by bringing it to church in the weeks ahead. Thank you for all you give to God and to our church. Every time we offer ourselves more fully to God, God shows up in new ways. Our parish is generous, and your generosity is a channel through which God’s work takes place. I am proud to be your Rector and look forward to what God will do through us in the years ahead.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner