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Last updated 3rd December 2024

Stewardship and legacies

Christian Stewardship is not a programme, nor is about raising money.  Instead, it is part of our lifelong discipleship journey.

Stewardship is a way of life in which we regard ourselves and our possessions as being held on trust from God, to be used in His service. God has made us His stewards or managers of everything He has given to us: our time, our abilities, our possessions, our money, our whole lives.

Stewardship for Christians is not about giving so that the church can “make ends meet” but, rather acknowledging how generously God has given to us and then generously giving back to God and seeing His church grow as it is resourced for mission and ministry.

The clergy study mornings and the Generosity Gift and Grace course, might have got you thinking about when your church last thought about stewardship and when you last gave people an opportunity to review their giving.  Our Stewardship Resourcing Officers, Stephanie Rankin and Christy Sawyer are available to come and meet with your PCC and help you think through your current situation and how you could run a stewardship programme that works for you.  In preparation for that meeting, they will put together a report to help you which she will talk through with your PCC.  Click here to see an example report.

Stephanie supports parishes in the Lancaster Archdeaconry and Christy supports them in the Blackburn Archdeaconry.  If you would like either of them to meet with your PCC then you can contact them

Generosity Gift and Grace is a five session DVD based study course produced by Blackburn Diocese to help parishes think about Generosity.  Copies are available for all parishes, so if you do not have one, please email sarah.marston@blackburn.anglican.org and she can send one to you.  You can also download all the materials from our website here.

Giving in Grace

Stephanie and Christy are available to come and meet with your PCC to talk about what Stewardship means, discuss some observations about the parish finances and giving, and give an overview of how to use the resources within the "Giving in Grace" Stewardship Programme within your parish.

The programme contains all the resources you need to plan a stewardship programme, including ideas for prayer and worship, templates for letters and supporting literature, and sermon outlines. 

In addition to the teaching and liturgical resources included within stewardship programmes, following our 2019 clergy study days, there are some additional liturgical resources and some sermon outlines from members of the Bishop's Leadership Team available to download here.

There are other stewardship resources and programmes available from the Parish Resources website www.parishresources.org.uk

Church Legacy

Legacies are a lifeline for our parishes. Church of England parishes receive over 4,000 legacies each year - gifts to finance mission projects, maintain beautiful church buildings and grow faithful communities. These gifts make a real difference to the future work of the Church - as regular giving often concentrates on maintaining the existing mission and ministry. 

A gift can be an expression of your gratitude and thanksgiving towards God, and can help keep your local church alive, and help transform its future. The Church Legacy website provides information for both PCCs and individuals including a legacy pack that can be ordered with sample brochures and ideas.

The Parish Resouces Website has ideas and suggestions for encouraging legacies including simple trifold A4 word document that can be downloaded from the legacy page here.

Explaining how parish share funds local ministry can be helpful in encouraging greater giving. An example template letter from the vicar and follow up commitment form can be adapted depending on your context.

Following the 2019 clergy study mornings, there are some sermon outlines together with the liturgy used on the day on our website here

Resources

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