Beginning January 3, St. Matthew' s will offer a practical  class on exploring personal finances from a Christian perspective.  Taught by Dwight Zscheile and John Tillotson, it covers topics such as debt, saving, insurance, retirement, real estate and giving.  The course requires registration beforehand - to learn more and sign up online, please follow this link. There is a $93 fee and partial scholarships are available. Below is a personal reflection by church member Dan Glienke on what he and his wife Kim learned from the Financial Peace University course:

We began looking to plan a way to bring our finances more in line.  Later that year Kim and I went to visit her uncle and family in Franklin, TN.  On Sunday we attended church with them, on our way out I picked up a flyer which listed Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps.  Once home, we read baby step 2 - payoff all your debt from smallest to largest using the debt snowball.  Talking to Kim about it, she was on board - she is naturally financially conservative, however I was an average American - only worried how much the payment was.  I've been following Dave Ramsey ever since, reading his books, listening to his show and taking the training.  I'm sure I annoyed Kim from time to time with a new thought about something I've learned.

Over the next five years we worked our way through the baby steps and now we are on baby step 6 - paying off our house early.  It was hard at times, in the end we have found the greatest giving and wealth building tool is our income, but as Dave says "if it is all committed to payments you will not be doing much of either."

By the Rev. Blair Pogue

If you have had those experiences, or want to learn how to create them for other people, you are encouraged to come to the Circles of Trust information sessions
January 10 at noon in the Library and over dinner after the 5:30 pm service.  At these sessions Shannon Livingston-Harris and I will give a brief overview of the Circles of Trust ministry, especially what it is and why we think it is important for St. Matthew's to offer it.

The mandatory training sessions for this ministry are Monday, January 25 and Monday, February 8 from 6:30-9 pm in St. Matthew's Library. They will be led by spiritual directors from the Christos Center for Spiritual Formation. Anyone interested is welcome to go through the training, regardless of whether or not you are interested in serving in the Circles of Trust ministry. Those who want to serve will then be a part of a monthly spiritual direction group where they will experience what it is like to be a listener, as well as the person seeking guidance. When the group of listeners are ready, we will officially launch this ministry.

Over the years, many individuals have come to me seeking answers to important questions: what career path does God desire for me? Should I move away from family, friends, and my church community to accept a new job? What is the new thing God is stirring up in me? It has been such a privilege to walk with these persons, and I have often asked their permission to have 2-3 members of our faith community join me for up to two hours, offering an atmosphere of prayer, expansive leading questions, and silences, in which those seeking to hear God's voice and direction can listen in a safe environment without distractions or agendas. These sessions have been some of the holiest moments I've experienced at St. Matthew's.