Stewardship

What I do,
with all that I have,
after I say,

"I believe."

God loves you and wants you to have a joyful, productive life. Remembering that everything you are, everything you have are gifts from Him is part of becoming a Christian. What we do with these gifts becomes part of our daily spiritual life.

Most often people think of money first. Sometimes we refer to this as "treasure" because it seems more polite. "Treasure" is needed to further the ministries of the wider church and St. John's. We have salaries to pay, utility bills, church school supplies and so on. The Vestry is charged with being a good steward of your pledge and ensures that money is spent with great care and attention to the mission of the church.

What happens to my pledge?

Out of every $100 Pledge $49.62 pays for Clergy $14.55 Lay Personnel $19.26 Building Costs $11.20 Ministry of the Diocese $3.60 Administrative Costs $1.16 Parish Ministries $0.61 Outreach

These figures were taken from our Actual 2005-2006 Fiscal Year expenditures and adjusted to reflect our recent Stewardship Campaign and the 2006-2007 anticipated budget.

Time and Talent

Money is only part of Stewardship. God also gives you time and talent. St. John's is blessed with many talented people who give their time regularly to ministry. Buildings and Grounds, Christian Education, Soup's On, Visiting Eucharistic Ministers, and many more committees and work groups are made up of volunteers. Most of these people didn't think they had the time or special skills necessary to do the job, but the Holy Spirit thought otherwise. Our church couldn't survive without them.

When we decide to make Stewardship part of our spiritual life, priorities change. When we are open to the lessons taught by Jesus, we can learn a lot about what we should do with our time, talent, and treasure. When we grow in the Holy Spirit, we are joyful and eager to do the work he has given us to do.

Episcopal Relief and Development

The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. We are blessed with many riches that our brothers and sisters in Christ simply do not have. Clean water is something many of us don't even think about, yet many in the world go without. Through the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund, you have the opportunity to make a donation to the relief effort of your choice and help care for God's people. Episcopal Relief and Development responds to human suffering around the world. We provide emergency assistance after disasters, rebuild communities, and help children and families climb out of poverty.