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The Diocese of Caledonia is committed to being a faithful steward of the gifts entrusted to us. To help accomplish this, we urge every Anglican in each parish to:

Take stewardship seriously! Every parish should have a program for teaching people about stewardship.

Do...

1. … begin every stewardship meeting with Bible Study and prayer. It is a must foundation for this work.
2. … remember that stewardship is year round and, most importantly, a way of life.
3. … begin year round education and talk of money, time, talent, and resources.
4. … name what you are doing and what you are dreaming about. Make a case for thankfulness and abundance in the life of your parish.
5. … dream big! Dream dreams people will find unbelievable, dreams most people can't imagine.
6. … preach, teach, live abundance mentality. Abundance is seeing, believing, and saying that we have all we need to do everything God is calling us to do. Our faith calls us to rebuke scarcity at every turn.
7. … use a consultant from outside you congregation whenever possible and use them early. Consultants can be objective and can give you insight that can help your congregation move beyond what has always been.
8. … talk about giving as a response to the gifts we have been given as thanksgiving rather than guilt. Challenge people to really calculate what percentage of their income they give to the Church. Many people have never done this. It might be too scary!!
9. … advocate that the firstness of a gift. We give the first, the very best, of what we have been given, not what is left over.
10. … talk about your story regarding money, the struggle with stewardship, proportional giving. And get other people to tell their stories. We are afraid to talk about money. And yet, an American Express study revealed that 66% of Americans spend more time thinking about money than they do about sex, health, or relationships. In fact, we spend roughly 80% of our time earning, spending, and thinking about money. How could something so prevalent not have an impact on our spirituality. It does!