​Edinburg First United Methodist Church
What is a Stewardship Campaign?
Stewardship Campaign is a time for planning and reflection. It's our time to think of how we want to be involved in the church over the course of the next year, how we want to grow closer to God, and to make a commitment as to what we as a people and a church hope to achieve.
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Stewardship is planning our goals, financial, personal, and time to what we'd set out to do. This time will help us connect you to the resources for what you want to be involved in, and help us plan for the next year in terms of giving and groups.
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More than anything, this is a time for praying on where God calls you for the coming year.
Our Overview
You already know that this is our “stewardship campaign” month. It all begins here, with this verse from Genesis. “I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.”
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To be honest, I could care less about being “famous”, but what God is really promising is that Abraham will be known as one who is faithful to God and a means of God’s faithfulness to others. That – that I would love. I would love for our life as a church family and our reputation as a church community reflect God’s abundant provision and our eagerness to bless others in God’s name and by God’s power. It can be fun to be known as the “Pumpkin Patch/Bread Church”, but how much more wonderful to be known as “that church where God does great and crazy things”?
We were created to be blessed by God and to bless others. As God’s people, God’s sons and daughters, we are called to bless others. Jesus tells us that he, fully God and fully man, savior of us all, came NOT to BE served but TO SERVE others. It is the rhythm of the economy of heaven. We receive, we give. We give, we receive. We are blessed, we bless others. We bless others, we are blessed. In the economy of heaven, there is no lack. That’s a hard eternal-truth to believe when what we see in the physical/temporal world is that they are so many in need. We will press into that biblical truth in our sermon series. In the Kingdom of God, there is more than enough.
We are blessed to be a blessing. And the first response of being blessed is to thank God and bless God in return, our tithes and offerings. After we bless God with our tithes and offerings, then we bless others with gifts above and beyond the offering/tithe. It’s the biblical support of “first mile and second mile” giving. Our pledge cards will be different this year. One side will be our pledge to bless God (our tithes for the daily running, work of the church) and the other side will offer the opportunity to pledge to bless others through the specific ministries of EFUMC.
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- Michelle Vernone, pastor at Edinburg FUMC
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