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In This Issue
Not Your Parent's Offering Plate
Stewardship Resources You Can Use
Grateful Congregations
PRAYER
Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost.
Ignatius of Loyola
(1491-1556)

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This e-resource is a ministry of the
Office of the General Secretary ABCUSA
November 2010
Greetings!

Welcome to the autumn issue of GENERO$ITY,  an American Baptist e-resource for pastors and church leaders who are involved in the important ministry of "nurturing generous disciples to serve as the hands and feet of Christ."

More than any other season, this is the time of year when my husband wants to be invisible.  Really.  He does not want his presence detected in any way - by noise, smell, sight or movement.  As an avid outdoorsman and successful hunter of whatever-is-in-season, he owns more than a closet-full of camouflage clothing and gear specifically designed to make him difficult to detect when he is out in the woods.   Even his thermos, always filled with hot coffee, is camouflage!

Being camouflaged serves a distinct purpose for hunters who want to blend into the environment, but not so for disciples of Jesus.  Living as camouflaged Christians is the antithesis of all we are called to be and do in the name of Christ.  In his words to the believers at Colossae, Paul reminds us to distinguish ourselves by being clothed with compassion, kindness, love and peace, so different from the attitudes we often encounter in our daily rituals (Colossians 3:12-17).  

We are entering the season in which our consumerist tendencies and habits make it even more difficult to distinguish ourselves from the surrounding culture.  Most of us could stand to make a few changes in what we think we need to possess, as well as in the attitudes we exhibit on a daily basis.  During the seasons of Thanksgiving and Advent, let's leave our Christian camouflage behind as we allow Paul's words to inform our ongoing transformation.  "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17, emphasis mine.) 

Soozi Whitten Ford, Stewardship Facilitator
Mission Resource Development
American Baptist Churches USA

 Book Review
Not Your Parent's Offering Plate (by J. Clif Christopher) reviewed by Donald M. ScottNotYourParentsOfferingPlate
J. Clif Christopher has written a very helpful book aimed at pastors and other thoughtful local church leaders. Far from being a pie in the sky, theoretical or academic treatise, "Not Your Parents' Offering Plate" offers very practical and usable suggestions to church leaders regarding their church's stewardship ministry....Christopher [in]cludes the top ten things he would do if he was again a local church pastor. For example, he writes of preaching on money four times a year, having weekly stewardship testimonies, offering financial planning classes, spending more time with major donors. He also includes an illustration of a missional budget which is one of the best I've seen...(read more)
Stewardship Resources You Can Use
Bulletin Inserts
During this season when many churches are focusing on plans for the coming year and conversations are common around stewardship issues, feel free to use these bulletin (or newsletter) inserts:
Reflecting on the widow's mite
Appropriate for Stewardship Sunday (November 14)

Here are two resources you may find helpful if your church uses an annual stewardship emphasis as one part of its overall plan for educating and nurturing persons to be generous disciples.  Both may be ordered online from Judson Press.
Adv in Thanksgiving logoA newly redesigned version of a popular church stewardship resource, Adventure in Thanks/Giving is a simple and easy-to-use program that invites participants to name the hopes and dreams they have for their church's ministry in the coming year and to share them with one another.  It is designed to be directed by three leaders working with the pastor and includes an all-church celebration dinner, the sharing of stories by individuals who have been blessed by giving, worship and communication resources, and much more.  Adventure in Thanks/Giving is available for purchase now either as a file download or as a CD.  Click here for more information and to order.

Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation includes informative articles for church leaders as well as a center pull-out stewardship program.  The 2010 theme is "More Than Enough," and the eleven articles in this issue include:
  • "Sharing Abundantly - A Theological View"
  • "Stewardship With Generation Next"
  • "So You're The New Stewardship Chair"
Click here for more information and to order.
Grateful Congregations and United Mission
Reflecting on the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17, Ron Vallet writes, "God's grace extends to 'aliens' and 'strangers' - to 'clean' and 'unclean.'  In the sight of God, we are all sinners, 'unclean.'  We are all 'fellow lepers.' Yet God's grace through Jesus Christ has healed us and given us access to God.  From disgrace to amazing grace! 

To practice gratitude changes an individual's life.  To practice gratitude also changes the character of a congregation...read more
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  • share your ideas, questions, and resources for future issues.  To do so, simply hit "reply" to this message, or send a separate e-mail by clicking here;
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Gratefully Celebrating God's Abundance,


Soozi Whitten Ford, Stewardship Facilitator
Mission Resource Development
American Baptist Churches USA



2010 Mission Resource Development, American Baptist Churches USA
This resource is provided to you as a ministry of the Office of the General Secretary ABCUSA
 because American Baptists are united in mission through United Mission.
Thank you for your gifts to United Mission!