Stewardship Committee Convenes in St. Louis
Episcopal News Service. December 12, 1978 [78352]
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- "Money is the principal spiritual problem of our time," said the Rev. Robert M. Cooper of Nashotah, Wise., in opening a two-day meeting of the Episcopal Church's Stewardship Advisory Committee in St. Louis on November 30-December 1.
Dr. Cooper, professor of ethics and moral theology at Nashotah House, urged a national stewardship policy for the Church which recognized that "the principal concern of stewardship is freedom.... Stewardship is a strategy for getting free."
Twenty-nine clergy and lay persons were convened at this meeting by the Rev. Canon W. Ebert Hobbs, chairman of the Stewardship and Development Committee of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.
The group also heard a report by the Rev. Henry J. Free, Jr., Stewardship Officer at the Episcopal Church Center, a former business executive and lay leader recently ordained.
Father Free reviewed the role of stewardship in the national church since the tenure of the late Oscar C. Carr, and reported that an Executive for Stewardship and Development would be selected early in 1979 who would work with the Venture in Mission staff through the General Convention at Denver in September, 1979, and thereafter assist the Venture campaigns which will be carried out in the 1980-81 period.
Other presentations made at St. Louis included a report on Estate Planning by the Rev. Glenn Eaton of Portland, Ore., and a case history -- with learnings -- by Robert Duke of the current $30 million campaign for St. Paul's School which he is directing.
Canon Hobbs was the principal dinner speaker, summarizing the "highly encouraging" current status of Venture in Mission, the church's fund raising/renewal campaign.
Canon Hobbs also led the group in an examination of the stewardship goals and objectives for the next triennium, now under study by the Executive Council. Present at the meeting were three other members of the Council's committee: the Rt. Rev. Albert VanDuzer of New Jersey, the Rev. Robert F. Royster of Lakewood, Colo., and Frank Foster of Arlington, Mass.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included:
- tithing and/or proportionate giving as a means to full stewardship
- the need to avoid any set pattern or plan for parishes which wish to develop their own stewardship formula
- the importance of continuous training in stewardship at both the parish and diocesan level; parish leaders are likely to move, and some diocesan consultants tend to "burn out" with over-use
- the importance of teaching stewardship -- theology and practice -- at seminaries
- the need to remember that inflation has created real crises in parish funding which must be recognized before they can reach out in mission
- the importance of some kind of proposal or resolution about stewardship for the General Convention in Denver next year
- the need for "follow-through mechanisms" to build on stewardship drives and establish year-around giving patterns
- the importance of recognizing the identity of giving and spiritual renewal
- the theme of the 1979 Every Member Canvass is to be "The Measure of Love"
- the establishment of an ecumenical stewardship resource center under the auspices of the National Council of Churches at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill
- a short manual on "How to Conduct an Every Member Canvass" has been written by the Rev. Peter Norman, Director of Development at Seabury-Western and will soon be published by the Stewardship Office.
Those attending were:
- The Very Rev. J. C. Michael Allen, St. Louis, Mo.; The Rev. Donald E. Becker, Raytown, Mo.; The Rev. Carl W. Bell, Philadelphia, Pa.; The Rev. John Clark Buchanan, Mount Pleasant, S. C.; The Rev. Charles Cloughen, Jr., Jamestown, R.I.; The Rev. Robert M. Cooper, Nashotah, Wis.; The Rev. Donald L. Cramer, Gainesville, Ga.; Mr. Sheldon H. Crocker, Houston, Tex.; Mr. Robert Duke, Concord, N.H.; The Rev. Glenn A. Eaton, Portland, Ore.; Mr. Frank M. Floyd, Chicago, Ill.; Mr. Frank P. Foster, Arlington, Mass.; The Rev. Henry J. Free, New York, N.Y.; Mr. John Goodbody, New York, N.Y.; Mr. John B. Harlow, Tulsa, Okla.; The Rev. Canon W. Ebert Hobbs, Cleveland, Ohio; The Rev. Canon Gethin B. Hughes, Los Angeles, Calif.; The Rev. Melissa Newlin, New York, N.Y.; Ms. Sharon-Lee Kantor, New York, N.Y.; Mr. Mike Leach, New York, N.Y.; The Rev. Peter M. Norman, Evanston, Ill.; The Rev. Robert A. Rizner, Orlando, Fla.; The Rev. Robert F. Royster, Lakewood, Colo.; Ms. Victoria B. M. Sanborn, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. Ruth L. Schmidt, Tumwater, Wash.; The Rev. Paul J. Taylor, Kalispell, Mont.; The Rt. Rev. Albert VanDuzer, Jr., Trenton, N.J.; Mrs. Kay Wootten, New Castle, Del.