Second Province Stewardship Conference Held in Albany
Diocesan Press Service. April 21, 1975 [75155]
ALBANY, N. Y. -- Fifty clergy and lay leaders from the Second Province were exposed to a variety of theological and practical ideas about stewardship and church fund raising during an April 15-17 conference in Albany.
The conference was sponsored by the Episcopal Church's national office of development and stewardship at the invitation of Bishop J. Stuart Wetmore, president of the province that includes dioceses in New York and New Jersey. According to Dr. Oscar C. Carr, Jr., national executive for development and stewardship, such provincial conferences are being made possible throughout the church by a $25, 000 grant from Trinity Parish, New York. The Rev. Harry V. Nevels, vicar of St. Augustine's Chapel of Trinity, represented the rector and people of the parish at the conference.
"A steward is not to be a hoarder, he is to be a multiplier of gifts," said the Rev. Robert M. Cooper of Nashotah House, Nashotah, Wisc., during his opening talk on "The Biblical Basis of Stewardship. " Father Cooper said what we do with the gifts we have received is important. "Our lives are given us to give away," he said. "Jesus," he commented, "is always an embarrassing gift to us because he always demands to be given away. "
Father Cooper's talk was followed by three presentations of stewardship and fund raising efforts that have been successful in various parts of the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. James Sanders, rector of St. Paul's, Selma, Ala., described the stewardship plan that was developed in the Diocese of Alabama "because of a need there."
"We wanted to create a resource that would cost a congregation something but not as much as outside professionals," he said.
According to Father Sanders, the Alabama Plan is not so concerned with initial large increases in giving as in developing continued patterns of increase. He said participating in the plan almost always brings out new leadership for a congregation, increased attendance, provides the congregation with a "success experience" and "gives them a good feeling about themselves. "
He said he and other consultants trained as part of the plan are available to assist congregations outside Alabama.
" The Every Member Canvass is the bread and butter of stewardship," the Rev. Canon Ebert W. Hobbs, executive assistant to the Bishop of Ohio, told the conference. "When you challenge people to do something better you should write into that challenge a way for them to do it," he said in describing the Covenant Plan stewardship program that has been successful in Ohio and other places.
"We need to talk in terms of developing a program people can respond to, not a budget, " said Canon Hobbs. " I believe people respond to a specific challenge. " He said stewardship is a normal part of the parish process, and indicated he has "known lives to have been changed and known people to have found Christ" through effective stewardship.
"You must seek the giver and not the gift," said the Rev. George Regas, rector of All Saints, Pasadena, Calif. Mr. Regas called fund raising "personal witness " and he shared with the conference the organizational techniques that have created healthy stewardship and fund raising in his congregation.
"Many people think good stewardship makes fund raising unnecessary," said Mr. Regas. "If you substitute stewardship for fund raising, you will be under financed and encourage token giving. "
Each conference participant attended three workshop sessions, one with each speaker. They also heard Sheldon H. Crocker of Houston, Tex., describe how attendance at a similar conference in the Seventh Province last year had caused him to completely change his treasurer's report to the Diocese of Texas Convention to include stewardship. At the end of the meeting, Suffragan Bishop Charles B. Persell of Albany was principal celebrant at a Eucharist.
"What you need to do when you get home is to sort out what you have heard here, " said Canon Hobbs to the conference. "Don't try and use everything right away." Dr. Carr urged conference members to "motivate others at home -- at the diocese, the vestry and parish -- to allow some of the ideas exchanged at the meeting to be put into practice. "