Stewardship 2017

Stewardship 2017Acts 2:46-47: Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

It’s that time of year again…Fall. The squirrels are collecting nuts, the trees are getting ready to turn bright colors, the kids head back to school, and the Emmanuel Stewardship team is working on the fall stewardship program. This past year some of the team attended four Saturday stewardship training sessions sponsored by the New England Synod and hosted by churches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We learned a lot; especially that people want to give generously when they value the cause they are contributing to and know their money is being well spent. We learned that it is in most people’s nature to be generous. When you love God and know God loves you, you want to give back.

This spring we conducted a short survey of the congregation and heard from some of you what you value most about Emmanuel: we learned that for many of you Emmanuel is not only where you put your faith into practice but it is your church family and you are grateful for the love and support you have received over the years. We also learned that you give generously to many charities such as schools, local police and firefighters, nature organizations, animal welfare, public television/radio, health causes, and Lutheran charities.
The goal of the fall stewardship program is to show you how your offering is used, to ask you to think seriously about what your church means to you, and to invite you to make a giving pledge for 2018. We need your giving to keep our church doors open, provide a meaningful worship experience, educate our kids in God’s love, support each other in times of need, and contribute to the mission and service projects of our neighbors, our Synod, and our national church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Your pledge is important because it gives us a reliable source of income to accomplish everything we need to do in the coming year. This fall’s stewardship program will span the month of October culminating on Sunday October 29 when our pledges will be collected during worship, and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation will be celebrated.

The Stewardship theme drawn from the Bible verses above is “with glad and generous hearts.” We believe that out of the dynamic Christian community that we share comes life transforming service to the world. During the Sundays of October we will examine this theme and focus on a different aspect of it each week including:

Faith Generosity Community Service

You’ll be hearing more from us this fall. We hope you will listen carefully, think seriously about what the church means to you, and give with glad and generous hearts.

The Stewardship Team Peg Flood, Kendra Lassen, Lorraine Lynch, Rebecca Sol, Pastor Amanda Warner