Stewardship Education Resources and Support
Invest Your Time and Talent
Become a stronger steward through the Generous Church Leadership Course. This program was created through a partnership of four general United Methodist church agencies and was offered in the New England and New York Annual Conference by the United Methodist Foundation of the Northeast. Recently completing its first cohort, the 12 attending pastors, were invited to explore, encounter, and engage the theology of money, the pastor as generosity leader, nurturing generous leaders, and moving congregations to a culture of generosity through readings, presentations, conversations, and more.
Dive Deeper into Stewardship
The Generous Church Leadership Course isn’t just a class. It’s a pathway to greater confidence and clarity.
John Whitley, Pastor at Milford UMC noted, “This class helped me get a much clearer understanding of my relationship with money over the course of my life and how that intersects with my faith and some of the day-to-day realities of pastoral leadership and it was wonderful to get to work through this material in a group of fellow clergy!”
The class was facilitated by Rev. Dr. David Abbott, Foundation Director of Stewardship, and joined by Rev.’s Rebecca Cho, Ben Daggett, Kate Galop, Seok Hwan Hong, Ross Johnson, Barry Judd, Shannon Keeney, Sunjae Lee, Dongmyung Shim, Alicia Valez Stewart, John Whitley and Tim Wilcox. They faithfully gathered every month for community conversations around stewardship, a topic many faith communities associate with a fall campaign to raise money for the church’s budget.
Ready to Apply?
Pastors interested in applying for the program should contact David Abbott.
About the Program
Words of Inspiration
“Stewardship is the outward and visible sign of our inner and personal relationship with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Everything we do, say, think, and the attitude we carry towards ourselves and others, reflects the importance in our lives of God’s offer of a relationship with Him.”
– David Abbott
A Response
A Profound Impact
“What a powerful thought. What a profound thought! I found myself reading and rereading these statements. Stewardship as reflecting a relationship with God? Why that’s all encompassing. That’s not simply a matter of reaching for available dollars. God wants far more from me. God wants to be in a relationship with me. How enormously humbling. God wants to be in a personal relationship with everyone, of course. How to respond to such an invitation. How do these statements translate for me? What does stewardship mean to me from this perspective? While these questions I’m asking call for my own self-reflection, I’m aware I’m being called to act. And I don’t need to wait to do that. Act with more generosity of thought, word, and deed.”
– Ethel Tyson, Member Martha’s Vineyard UMC
Preaching & Teaching
Foundation staff work with churches on capacity building, campaigns and workshops. Contact David Abbott, Director of Stewardship, for more information or to schedule an appointment.
“I like participating in Foundation programs like [Giving[[Jesus]]Generosity] because they keep us grounded as to why we are here as a faith community.”
– Charlie Coleman | Goodwins Mills UMC | Lyman ME
“Last fall when that gentleman came to talk about ‘stewardship’ for the first time, I stopped looking at supporting the church as helping pay the bills and the budget but as a way to support something I feel is doing a great job for others. Our church is doing that.”
– Elaine Casey | St. John’s UMC | Dover, NH
Giving, Jesus, Generosity
Our goal is to empower laity to become leaders in the practice of individual and communal generosity as a spiritual discipline. Learn the biblical, personal, and practical perspectives of stewardship and generosity and how to apply it to the life of your faith community. For more information about GJG online workshops, contact us or email David Abbott, Director of Stewardship.