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October 3, 2018 News

October 2018 Vestry Papers: Practical Stewardship

Dear Friends,

What is your parish’s stewardship style? Is stewardship a word that elicits anxiety or excitement? How often do you hear it each year? Are issues of transparency, sustainability and new ministry discussed with stewardship? In this issue, we bring you ideas and practices that go hand-in-hand with stewardship in places where generosity, transformation and joy are present.

Are you struggling with trying to implement year-round stewardship practices at your parish? In Three ways to Perk Up Year-round Stewardship, Linda Buskirk shares practical and fun ideas to invigorate your congregation’s understanding of giving.

Focusing energies on new missions and transformative ministry instead of on simply raising funds can breathe life into your Christian community. In We’re Building A Mission Here, Greg Syler explains why it’s critical to focus on who God is calling us to be now, and not be shackled by past practices.

Good stewardship and sustainability go hand in hand for most churches. In Stewardship Is Key in Latin America and the Dominican Republic, Robert Stevens and Julio Holguín share the Diocese of the Dominican Republic’s work toward economic independence and growth in mission and ministry. This article is available in English and Spanish.

What does transparency mean and why is it so important for the healthy functioning of an organization? In Financial Transparency, James Jordan examines some inhibitors and enablers of transparency, and tells us why keeping parishioners informed and engaged is so critical.

We hope that you have found the Episcopal Church Foundation’s Vital Practices website to be a useful resource in your ministry. We are proud to be able to offer this online resource free of charge to lay and clergy leaders like you.

This year marks our eighth year of the Vital Practices website. Vestry Papers, blogs, a monthly digest, tools and webinars: all this and much more is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to read yourself or forward to a colleague.

ECF Vital Practices will remain free of charge, but we are asking you as a long-time reader and patron, to please to make a contribution of $8, $18, $80, or $800 in honor of our eighth year of this resource.

Thank you for your readership, ministry and generosity.

Faithfully,

Charis Bhagianathan
Editor, ECFVP

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