Years ago a minister friend and I started thinking about a curriculum that we called "OWL for Money" that would take the foundational view of the Our Whole Lives sex education program and build understanding and practices among money. We never actually worked on it, but as this post demonstrates, stewardship will continue to be a huge struggle until we change our attitudes from scarcity and individualism to abundance and generosity. Too often when a congregation looks at its financial status, minds go to "where can we make cuts" instead of "how do we inspire more generous giving."
I think part of this is due to the culture of capitalism and how the world of so-called philanthropy works; you give in order to get credit or to accomplish something that YOU want to do, instead of the common good. It's even more difficult in UU congregations where so many people are not inspired by faith, so a customer satisfaction model becomes the default. This leads to asking people to sponsor their favorite parts of the budget when we really need funds to pay the sexton, the minister, and the administrator. At least in a Christian church you can preach about Matthew 6:3-4 (giving in secret).
Another place we stumble is considering volunteer service as equivalent to financial support. I have heard choir members say that singing on Sunday is their contribution to the church. You can turn that around, though; in many communities people who love to sing join a community choir that requires annual dues and fundraising to pay the choir director and other costs. You can't even start to go there without facing up to the meaning of money, as this post suggests.
Years ago a minister friend and I started thinking about a curriculum that we called "OWL for Money" that would take the foundational view of the Our Whole Lives sex education program and build understanding and practices among money. We never actually worked on it, but as this post demonstrates, stewardship will continue to be a huge struggle until we change our attitudes from scarcity and individualism to abundance and generosity. Too often when a congregation looks at its financial status, minds go to "where can we make cuts" instead of "how do we inspire more generous giving."
I think part of this is due to the culture of capitalism and how the world of so-called philanthropy works; you give in order to get credit or to accomplish something that YOU want to do, instead of the common good. It's even more difficult in UU congregations where so many people are not inspired by faith, so a customer satisfaction model becomes the default. This leads to asking people to sponsor their favorite parts of the budget when we really need funds to pay the sexton, the minister, and the administrator. At least in a Christian church you can preach about Matthew 6:3-4 (giving in secret).
Another place we stumble is considering volunteer service as equivalent to financial support. I have heard choir members say that singing on Sunday is their contribution to the church. You can turn that around, though; in many communities people who love to sing join a community choir that requires annual dues and fundraising to pay the choir director and other costs. You can't even start to go there without facing up to the meaning of money, as this post suggests.