Stewardship

For a number of years Mt Pisgah has lacked specific focus in the area of Stewardship. At the beginning of 2010, the Stewardship Branch was reinstituted by Church Council. The Branch has recently defined its purpose and current goals which are below:     

 

Branch Purpose: To provide leadership, education, and awareness in the area of Christian Stewardship.

 

Branch Vision: All members and friends of Mt Pisgah will understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, by practicing good Christian Stewardship, and manifesting their understanding with tangible commitments of prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness.   

 

Branch Guiding Principles, Our Membership Vows: Each member, or those seeking membership, will be expected to embrace and uphold these vows.    

 

 

Prayer – We will have an active prayer life. We will reach out to God with prayers of praise, forgiveness, guidance and direction, community and relationship, intersession, peace in our world and our lives. We will then actively listen for God’s response.

 

Presence – We will be here. God is here is time we gather together. We will be here with Him. We will attend worship, fellowship, Sunday School, Bible Study, other educational opportunities, events, mission projects, and other activities supported by Mt Pisgah.  

 

Gifts – We will give of our financial resources and our spiritual gifts. We will strive to give a minimum of a tithe to the ministries and long term debt of the church.

 

Service – We will give of our time. We will proactively find at least one area where we can lend our service to the ministries of the church. We will leverage the spiritual gifts that God has given to each of us.

 

Witness – We will be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We will “go and tell”. We will actively engage others in our faith and live as an example of Jesus Christ and His teachings.            

 

Guiding Scriptures: Mark 12:30-31; James 1:22 

 

Mark 12 ³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  ³¹And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

 

James 1  ²²But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only

 

It is out of love for God, love for one another, and the realization of God’s infinite love for each of us, that we can truly understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is out of love that we are called to action. Let it not be said we are merely believers, but rather good Christian stewards of all that God has abundantly given us.           

 

Branch Composition:

Branch Steward (1)

George Adams (current Steward)

Standing Members (as recruited by the Branch) (4-6)

Current Members:

Deanna Kirn

Mike Lewandowski

Charlie Simmons

Tom Wilkinson

Lay Leader (1)

Elizabeth Farrell (current Lay Leader Liaison)

Pastor (1)

Servant Teams (as required based on plans and focus areas; may be new or may be existing Servant Teams currently aligned with other Branches)

Ad hoc Members (Other Branch Stewards or other branch representatives who join for a short period of time based on particular focus area)

 

 

1. Develop annual Stewardship Plans and focus areas. Revise goals.

 

2. Provide input to new member orientation / education  

 

3. Seek synergy opportunities with other branches which incorporate commitments, understanding, or education in prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness (as noted specifically on goals below)

 

4. Develop and execute education and awareness plans regarding stewardship

 

 

 

1. Enhance the prayer life of each member (conjunction with the various prayer ministry teams)   

 

 

1. Increase attendance in worship by 10% (conjunction with Worship Branch)

 

2. Increase attendance in Sunday School by 10% (conjunction with Discipleship Youth, and Children’s Branches)

 

3. Increase attendance in other small groups by 10%

 

 

 

1. Provide oversight for “campaigns” related to financial commitments (conjunction with Finance Branch)

 

2. Increase giving by 10% through greater focus on tithing, percentage giving, and other ways to give (conjunction with Finance Branch)

 

3. Increase members’ knowledge of their Spiritual Gifts (conjunction with Nominations and Leader Development / Congregational Care Branches)   

 

 

 

1. Increase service by active members such that all are serving in at least one area in the church (conjunction with Nominations and Leader Development / All Branch and Servant Team Leaders)       

 

 

1. Increase members’ knowledge and understanding of what it means to be a witness for Jesus Christ (conjunction with Discipleship Branch / Missions Branch)