Friday, July 30, 2010

Synod StewardShop Events

The Rev. Melanie Wallschlaeger has been working really hard to help bring you these stewardship workshops...and the fantastic ELCA and synod speakers! Please invite your congregational rostered leaders, stewardship team, finance team and future stewardship leaders:
STEWARDSHOP
Skill-based Workshops for Stewardship Leaders

Are you striving to move from paying the bills to living the mission?
Are you looking for ways to improve your fall response?
Are you trying to re-energize year-round stewardship?
Are you looking to grow well-formed stewards?

Free skill-based stewardship workshops will be offered in five churches around the Southwestern Washington Synod. All pastors, lay professionals, stewardship leaders, finance teams and future stewardship leaders are invited to attend these practical and experiential workshops. Each StewardShop will include a plenary session and question and answer time with Keith Mundy, Stewardship Consultant. In addition, each participant may choose to attend two of the six workshops offered at each location (workshop descriptions below).

To register, please contact the Synod Office at 253.535.8300 or email the congregation name, participant name(s) and email(s) to: swwsynod@plu.edu. These no-cost workshops are sponsored by the Southwestern Washington Synod and the ELCA.

Workshop presenters:
+ Mr. Keith Mundy, Assistant Director for Stewardship, Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit of the ELCA
+ Rev. Dr. Melanie Wallschlaeger, Synod Director for Evangelical Mission, Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit of the ELCA
+ Rev. Jim Leistikow, Director of the Lutheran Planned Giving Consortium of Western Washington
+ Ms. Margie Fiedler, Vice President of Marketing, ELCA Mission Investment Fund
+ Rev. Sarah Roemer, Mission Interpreter

Help to bring life and energy to your congregation’s stewardship program by registering now!

Here is where to be: (choose one)

Thursday, August 26: 6-9pm Dungeness Valley Lutheran, Sequim (dinner included)

Saturday, August 28: 9am-Noon Peace Lutheran, Tacoma (snacks included)

Sunday, August 29: 3-6pm Amazing Grace Lutheran, Aberdeen (snacks included)

Monday, August 30: 6-9pm Trinity Lutheran, Vancouver (dinner included)

Tuesday, August 31: 6-9pm Gloria Dei Lutheran, Olympia (dinner included)

Dinners are served at 6pm on weeknights.


StewardShop Workshop Descriptions: (choose two)

Conducting an Effective Annual Response

Does your congregation do an annual response? Here are three proven approaches (Walk with Jesus, Make It Simple, Consecration Sunday), and the secrets for them to be most effective. In addition to these, other stewardship resources and consultation services will be made available before and after the event. Simply go to the stewardship resource table or talk with one of the presenters.

Getting to Year Round Stewardship
Is your congregation stuck? Are you trying to move from the once-a-year ask to being joyful stewards year-round? Here are some fresh and practical ways to reshape the culture and calendar of your congregation.

Giving from Font to the Grave: Nurturing Children and Youth in Stewardship
How does a congregation grow young stewards? Are your youth prepared to be good stewards as they become adults? Come see practical approaches and tools to grow well-formed young stewards in your congregation. Begin now to grow steward leaders, by teaching them about money. Bring a Sunday school or confirmation leader with you.

How to Use a Narrative Budget
Do your members ask, ‘Where does all that money go, anyway?’ Are you concerned about the large portion of the budget that goes for facilities or staff? The Narrative Budget, or Missional Spending Plan, provides clarity and focus based on specific ministry priorities for your congregation. Come learn the steps and practical guidelines for an approach that can help grow giving.

Leaving a Legacy through Planned Giving
Are you looking for ways to sustain and grow the ministries of your congregation? Do you want to strengthen your congregation’s financial capacity for the future? Planned giving can provide these and more. Come learn how planning today, by both your family and your congregation, can create and support ministries in the future. Topics include: How to jump start your endowment committee, best practices for growing mission endowments and legacy gifting; plus how to invest money that helps the church grow.

Storytelling and Mission Interpretation: “It’s as simple as a story!”
We tell stories every day; stories shape our lives. They thank, inform, teach, inspire, connect and invite. When the stories we tell proclaim how God is making a difference in our lives and the lives of others through the church, our stories become a way to understand how God transforms and utilizes the prayers, tithes, offerings, volunteer efforts and special gifts of the people in your church.

Come learn basic storytelling approaches, discover how something as simple as telling a story can inspire and transform your congregation, and how Mission Interpretation can strengthen your congregation members to become even stronger advocates and supporters of the mission and ministries within your church, our synod and the world.