Northeast Ecumenical Stewardship Council 2017 Conference

Online registration has now closed for this event.  However, we are accepting Walk-Ins on Friday and Saturday. Food choices may be limited, but please join us if you can.

Embracing Stewardship:  How to put stewardship at the heart of your congregation's life

March 24-25, 2017

Regency Hotel & Conference Center, Boxborough, Massachusetts

242 Adams Place, Boxborough, MA 01719-1799 (Formerly Holiday Inn Boxborough I-495 Exit 28)

A 2-day conference on Stewardship for clergy and lay leaders

Embracing Stewardship will help you strengthen your congregation’s stewardship ministry. Mindful of generational perspectives and attuned to the world in which congregations live, the four keynote presentations this Conference offers will provide pathways your congregation can follow to deepen your members’ understanding of themselves as stewards of the bounty of God. In addition, two workshop opportunities will also be offered!

Keynotes by Charles R. (Chick) Lane and Grace Duddy Pomroy

Chick and Grace provide two distinct but complementary voices, each supporting their shared conviction, that stewardship belongs at the heart of each individual and congregation.  Chick and Grace are the authors of Embracing Stewardship: How to put Stewardship at the Heart of your Congregation’s Life.  Many of you will know Chick Lane from his previous book, the hugely successful Ask, Thank, Tell.

The Keynotes will cover these areas and many more:

• Biblical basis for stewardship ministry
• The Good Samaritan as a stewardship model
• Talking about money when you aren’t asking for any
• Generations and stewardship
• Telling your congregation’s stewardship story to your congregation
• Saying thank you
• Expanding the ways of giving to your congregation 

All participants in the conference will receive a copy of their book Embracing Stewardship.

Early Bird pricing ends March 3, 2017

Registration closes Tuesday, March 21, 2017

WORKSHOPS

Each workshop will be offered twice on Saturday.

 1.     Your Ministry Story, Bonnie Marden 

Transform your line item budget into an inspiring ministry testimonial!  Share the good news about your ministry and its impact while also communicating the congregation's financial stewardship message to current and prospective members.  Learn best practices and options for a "narrative budget" to transform information about dollars into testimonials about all your mission and ministry.

Since 1993, Bonnie Marden has equipped clergy and laypersons with leadership and organizational development skills for visioning, stewardship, managing transitions and team building.

 2.     Enhancing Stewardship by Embracing Mission!, Rev. Jim Thomas

This workshop will focus on a path to enriched stewardship by reconnecting to your local community in mission and purpose. To paraphrase Frederick Buechner, God calls your faith community to the place where your passion and your community’s needs intersect. With a stronger community connection and a sense of purpose, your setting will be seen as ‘value added’ to your community, which will result in greater participation and financial support in the future.

Rev. Jim Thomas serves as the Associate Conference Minister for Stewardship, Church Vitality, and Finance for the Vermont Conference, United Church of Christ. On the Conference staff for the past twelve years, he consults with local congregations on Stewardship, budgeting, vitality, growth, planned giving, strategic planning and more.

3.     Endowments:  The Advantages of Planning Ahead. Gary Melville and Rufus Cushman

This session will address the oversight and management issues of endowments.  Endowments can be a catalyst for church growth, or a recipe for stagnation.  Without planning ahead, the default outcome is usually the recipe for stagnation. Before we ask for endowment gifts we need to understand the basics of managing and administrating a donor centered planned giving ministry.  

Gary Melville is the Director of Development for the United Methodist Foundation of New England and Rufus Cushman is a retired Trust Officer.

4.     Generosity and Justice: Making the Connection, Elizabeth Grady-Harper and Christa Lee-Chuvala

 What is the point of generosity? As people and communities of faith, our call from God is to use our resources to work against injustice, bearing witness to God’s reign on earth. In this way, generosity and justice are intimately linked. In this workshop, we will discuss ways that we as individuals and congregations can bring radical giving and just action together. 

Elizabeth Grady-Harper and Christa Lee-Chuvala are the co-directors of the Boston Faith & Justice Network, an organization that brings Christians from different traditions together to live simply and give generously in pursuit of a just world.  

5.     Expanding Visions of Stewardship, Dede Fitch

Stewardship really is about more than the pledge campaign. In this workshop you will learn some easy and painless ideas to get people talking about stewardship in meaningful ways.  We will present ideas for engaging your congregation in conversation about all the ways we can use our resources for abundant living—not just to support our churches, but to support ourselves and our families, to care for our communities and our environment, and to promote peace and justice in our world. These activities can enrich your “traditional” stewardship efforts by providing themes for a year of programming that will culminate in your annual pledge drive.

Dorothy (Dede) Fitch was raised as a Methodist, joined the UCC as a young adult, and has worshipped in the Episcopal Church since 2012.  Currently a member of St. Timothy’s on the Hill in Fairfield, Connecticut, she has explored stewardship concepts with congregations in the UCC and the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. Having found her work on stewardship to be integral in helping her clarify her own core values and beliefs, Dede maintains that the most fundamental stewardship question is not “How much should I give?” but “How should I live?”

6.     Electronic Giving Increases Church Revenues, Steve Abdow

Studies have shown that implementing electronic giving well at a church can increase overall giving by 10-30%. We have a huge opportunity to increase revenues by taking advantage of technology that is readily available, here to stay, and familiar to most of us. It’s easy to implement and use, simple to maintain, and cost effective.

Steve Abdow is the Canon for Mission Resources in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. He is also the treasurer of the Massachusetts Council of Churches and a member of the board of the Episcopal Church Building Fund.  

7.     Called to Generosity, Stacy Emerson

At the heart of Christian discipleship is the call to generosity.  Generosity extends love and care in streams of mercy through how we spend our time, the decisions we make, the ministries we embrace.  In this workshop we will explore stewardship and the church’s mission as a “Call to Generosity.”

Rev. Stacy Emerson is the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church West Hartford and Stewardship Facilitator for the ABCUSA.  She is also currently serving as the chair of the Board of Directors of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center.  She and her husband, Kevin, have two children, Sam and Katie, and they all love to travel, read, and play