By Mary Griffin

Grant Abbott once said that most people who return to church as adults come with the same beliefs they had when they left the church at about age 12.  That certainly applied to me.  The words and the music were the same, but apparently I was supposed to have a relationship with God that had nothing to do with my mother's opinions.  Besides that, they kept asking me to pledge, and I had no idea what they wanted me to pledge. What, you want me to pledge money?  The building looked pretty old -- wasn't it paid for by now, or who owned it anyway?  Didn't they just pay the preacher out of the collection plate every Sunday?   

I can't advise anyone about spiritual things, but I've figured out pledging in the last 27 years.  Ray and I have pledged money, Ray has been the treasurer, I've been an usher and a money counter, we've run fundraisers, and I've worked with the bookkeeper and the church accounting system.  Which is to say, I've seen it from several angles.

• We pledge money in the fall, as a congregation, so that we'll know how much money we have to work with in the coming year.  The church building is paid for, but we have other fixed expenses such as salaries, heat, insurance, and so on (salaries are way more complicated than just handing the preacher the cash out of the plate). We try to have reserve funds for things like clogged toilets and too-snowy winters. No one wants their pledge to pay the electric bill or water bill, but it's hard to have the church open without electricity and water. Basically, when you pledge money, it makes it easier for the vestry to figure out a budget and easier for the church employees to do their jobs.  Unlike Congress, we can only count on spending what we have.

• It also helps the bookkeeper and the money counters when you pledge, simply because pledgers go in the computer system, and it's easier for us to record your donations.  We have to make a photocopy of every check that is not from a pledger. You may think you don't give enough to bother with pledging, but if you're going to give anything over $1.00 to St. Matthew's in the coming year, just pick an amount you can commit to and fill out a pledge card for it.  If you give more, it's okay.

• Most people give by check.  If you don't tell us what the check is for, we assume it's for your pledge and enter it as such.  The money counters don't know, and don't care, what your annual pledge is.  We don't know, and don't care, how often you give money.  We just want to  get your intentions right: is this for your pledge, flowers, a retreat, a staff gift or what?  Many people send in their pledges through on-line bill pay systems.  This works very well: the money counters just add those checks to the weekly collection.  

When I first came to St. Matthew's, the 12-year-old in me thought people dropped money in the collection plate according to their love of God and what was available in their wallet.  Now I see promising to give money, and giving it, as an act of faith with the group we call a congregation, and the first step in witnessing to the world our Christianity.  My pledge enables my priest and my congregation to be the face and voice and hands of God in our world.