Stewardship

The Diocese of Atlanta Stewardship Commission provides a team of consultants that travels to parishes and also conducts workshops on a regular basis.

The diocese also maintains a corporate relationship with The Episcopal Network on Stewardship (TENS), which allows all parish clergy and lay leaders to access its services.

Commission chair is Mal Underwood, a member of Church of the Ascension, Cartersville.

To contact a member of the diocesan staff about stewardship, write to Canon Alicia Schuster Weltner.

After Annual Council: Reflections on Resolution R09-3

By Mal Underwood, Chair

The Diocesan Commission on Stewardship authored and offered Resolution R09-3 at the 2009 Annual Council.  In essence, this resolution urged delegates to:  (1) confirm the tithe as the minimum standard of Christian giving; (2) personally commit to the tithe or working toward the tithe over five years; and (3) sign a form stating that they had committed to do so.  For those feeling uneasy with signing their name, a provision to use “anonymous” instead of their name was offered. 

It was disappointing to the commission that the resolution was negatively remanded to Council out of legislative committee on Friday then voted down twice in the Council legislative session on Saturday with no discussion from the floor.  Our disappointment was not primarily due to the resolution’s failure to achieve a majority vote; it was more due to a sense of wonder : “What is the problem?”  Are we really that afraid to do what is clearly commanded in the scripture? And is it really such a bad or fearful thing for the leadership of our parishes to commit to the tithe and be willing to publicly state their belief?

I have heard much discussion over the years in my consulting work in this ministry about the meaning of the tithe – whether it is 10 percent or some other number, whether it is before or after taxes, whether it is personal, controllable income or total household income, or whether all of it should go to the local church or some other charitable purpose.  My response is consistent – Jesus tells us to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  Then he leaves it to us to discern the meaning of his words. 

After spending much of my adult life giving to God out of my leftovers, I finally did what I wish I had done years before and put it in God’s hands to lead me in this matter.  Through prayer and scripture study my personal conversion resulted in a clear understanding on my part that a minimum of 10 percent of my personal gross income was to be my monetary tithe to God for His work in the world.  A great majority of this goes to my local church, but some of it goes to God’s work in other areas.  I committed a minimum of 10 percent of my time and talent as well.  I cannot say with certainty whether this is “correct” in a debate over the definition of the tithe.  I can say with absolute clarity that with the matter in God’s hands I never have to worry whether or not I am in His will.  If I find out later in heaven that I wasn’t required to give 10 percent of my gross income, then I am in a most enviable position of giving more than required and that is just fine with me.  I cannot out-give God.

The scripture repeatedly calls us to faith in God’s grace and mercy.  Many of these commandments are about giving and generosity and are followed by amazing and wonderful promises.  I urge you to read Luke 6:38, II Corinthians 9:6-12, Proverbs 11:24-25, I Timothy 6:17-19, and my all-time favorite, Malachi 3:10. Mostly I urge you to pray and put your decision in the hands of the One who creates, owns and provides everything for our good.  He will lead you where he wants you go.  And there will be no lack of clarity as to the definition of the tithe or reluctance to shout your beliefs from the mountaintops. 

The time is now for an alternative to spend, spend, spend

A response to "Families and Money" conference with Nathan Dungan

By William T. Deneke

According to the American Psychological Association, 75 percent of all Americans list money as the No. 1 source of stress in their lives.   I thought of that statistic as I walked into Child Hall at the Cathedral of St. Philip for the Sept. 12 “Families and Money” conference sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.  Nathan Dungan, charismatic founder of Share Save Spend and author of Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM (John Wiley), unfolded for us an approach to the stewardship of money that was not only engaging but outright empowering. 

photo: Speaker Nathan Dungan prepares diocesan teens for their research trip to Lenox Mall, part of the "Families & Money" event. (John Sewak Ray)

Dungan, who has worked with several dioceses, and extensively with Colorado, offered a way for families to manage money according to their values rather than concede to the distractions of consumerism.  At a time when our moral compasses regarding money seem to have been swirling around in chaos, this is good news.  Really good news. 

I was not surprised to learn of the intense pressure to spend we all experience.  A trip to any mall offers an instant passage into spend-your-money-and-fast land.  It was more revealing to learn how little we do as families to teach our children how to manage money according to the values of our faith.  Even simply going over a monthly financial statement with our children in order to show them how we share, save and spend seems to be a rare occurrence.

The conference offered some useful tools and got a lot of us to think about how we manage money.  With the average American experiencing over 5,000 advertising expressions each day, it is not too soon to think about how we connect our faith to money.  In the words of Nathan Dugan, “We need nothing short of a values and habits revolution to help us achieve Financial Sanity. The time is now for a counter-rhythm to the messages of spend, spend, spend and ‘It’s all about me.’”

I suspect we will be hearing more from Share Save Spend.  And I hope a lot of us in the diocese seek out this opportunity to look at how we are managing money as God’s stewards.  It could free us from powerful temptations and unwanted stress.  It could teach us more about living in the abundance of grace rather than trying to spend our way into the promised land of consumerism.

For more information on Nathan Dungan and Share Save Spend, visit www.ShareSaveSpend.com.  To learn how the Diocese of Colorado has engaged the program, check out www.coef.org/, then click on Strategic Initiatives and the Free to be Faithful DVD.

The Very Rev. William T. Deneke is rector of Holy Trinity Parish, Decatur, and dean of the East Atlanta Convocation.