Dive deeply into the spiritual practice of stewardship.

Good stewardship is never about guilt or coercion or simply meeting the budget. Good stewardship is about discipleship, generosity, and spiritual growth.

Things go better when we are proactive, responding and planning, rather than reacting and panicking. Having an Annual Stewardship Plan enables you to know when and how will you put the stewardship best practices of Inspire, Invite & Thank into action as you help grow generous disciples.

Please read the following carefully to avoid scheduling problems for your team.

How does it work?

Phase 1:

• Gather your Learning Team of three people, plus the minister or key lay leader if you don’t have a minister.
• The module is made of four 2-week cycles over 3 months. Each cycle begins with a 2-hour online Learning Session. There are two choices for your Learning Session each time. Your Learning Team should attend the same Learning Session.
• The following week, your Learning Team will join a small group cohort for 2-hours on-line to for interactive discussion about the learning and practical projects and assignments on which you have been working.
• In each cycle you will have a couple of small projects and/or assignments to help you put your learning into practice.
• After completing the four 2-week cycles and the Learning Evaluation form, you will receive a customized Stewardship Best Practices Report for your community of faith. You will also schedule a Coaching session with your coach.

Phase 2:

• The first coaching session is to set your goals and finalize your Annual Stewardship Plan for your next steps on the stewardship journey.
• A minimum of three more coaching sessions will be scheduled, one every 3-months, for ongoing support, accountability, and planning, as you implement your Annual Stewardship Plan.
• Celebrate your success!

What’s in it for communities of faith?

In addition to the online learning, the practical assignments that follow will help you

• reflect on giving and generosity as part of your faith
• gather and interpret some of the giving data from your community of faith
• build a stewardship team in order to start making stewardship a priority in your community of faith
• receive a 15 percent discount on all stewardship resources from the United Church Bookstore (opens in a new tab) 
• a promo code will be given to you at the online session

Dates/Times for the learning Sessions

• February 6 12:00 - 1:30pm ET  "Introduction"
• February 20 12:00 - 1:30 pm ET "Inspire"
• March 5 12:00 - 1:30 pm ET "Invite"
• April 9 12:00  - 1:30 pm ET "Thank"

Cohort Meeting times

For the small group meetings, you’ll join with teams from other Communities of Faith who are in the same region of the country. Please consult with all your team members, and ensure you select a meeting group/time that is targeted at churches in your part of the country.

Cost: 

Invitation to participate in "Grace Economics"

The expected tuition fee for a course of this complexity would be $100 per congregation. However, we understand that congregations vary enormously in their ability to contribute to the costs. Therefore we invite you to choose a tuition fee that fits the means of your own Community of Faith -- anywhere from $0 - $200 for this course.

Note that ONE PERSON ONLY from each congregation should use this registration form to sign up. When you’ve registered you’ll receive an email with a direct link to the course, which should be shared with all other members of your team. If other members of your team use the link in the email, you won’t be charged an additional tuition fee.