PNEC Stewardship Series

WHAT TO DO IN JANUARY -From the Penn Northeast Conference Stewardship Team

Once each year churches have an opportunity to begin a year-round stewardship program.  That opportunity comes at the beginning of the new year.  For most churches, that will be in January.

This article begins a new monthly series which will feature the steps for local church stewardship, mission, and financial leaders to take each month in order to increase the amount of money available for ministry and mission within the local church and throughout the wider church.  These month-by-month suggestions are based on Christian Enlistment Sunday being on or near the second Sunday in November.  Churches who conduct their Christian Enlistment at a different time of year can adjust their schedule accordingly.    

Are you looking for a break in January?  A chance to slow down?  An opportunity to regroup?  Or will you immediately be caught up in a new round of activities?  Or maybe in detailed planning for Lent and Easter?  January might not be the busiest month in the year for your stewardship and mission leaders, but there are some things that can be done this month.  Here’s what to do in January, with some resources you can use:

1.     Evaluate the past year’s Christian Enlistment efforts.  What brought good results?  What accomplished less than what you had hoped for?  What might be done differently next time?  What worked so well that you should do it again this year? 

2.     Set and announce the date for this year’s Christian Enlistment.  Will it be the second Sunday in November?  If not, choose another time.  Whatever date you select, that’s your target date.  In another month or two you’ll begin planning backward from that date to prepare for the “big day.”

3.     Decide who will be responsible for planning and conducting the Christian Enlistment.  Your governing board?  A subcommittee within your governing board?  An existing stewardship or finance committee?  A new stewardship and mission committee?  An ad hoc committee yet to be named?  One or two key individual leaders?  Further leadership decisions might be made as you go along during the year, but in January someone needs to be designated to get things started.

In the months to come, beginning in February, there’ll be more, much more, to do.  These three simple steps, taken in January, will go a long way toward setting the stage for what you’ll be doing in the months to come. 

Compiled by Bob Lewis, Stewardship Team, Penn Northeast Conference, UCC

610-351-7791; edinucc@yahoo.com

To have a member of the Penn Northeast Conference Stewardship Team meet with the governing board

or a committee from your local congregation, contact:

The Penn Northeast Conference Office at: 610-826-3113 or AlanM@pnec.org

 

 

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