Download a study guide for this article at
www.thelutheran.org (click on “study guides”).
ON
have little capacity to give generously. In response, more congregations are recognizing that
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they can be a source of learning and hope around house- hold finances. St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Columbia, S.C., incorporates Financial Peace University lessons in its year-round stewardship plan and will use a similar course for teenagers called Generation Change in 2016. Ron Walrath, a stewardship leader there, said, “We are seeing marriages change, giving change and confidence change as a result of our financial wellness education efforts.”
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What are some ways your congregation can connect members with financial coaching?
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happen with cash or checks. A recent ELCA online giv- ing pilot found that the average giſt across thousands of transactions was $100 using Automated Clearing House (an electronic network for financial transactions in the U.S.) and $140 using credit/debit cards—higher aver- ages than checks or cash.
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How can you make online giving options available to more of your members?
Provide everyone with online giving options
In one year, First Imman- uel Lutheran Church in Portland, Ore., grew electronic giving from nothing to 35 percent of regular offerings. Te
benefits included more level giving patterns and greater participation by young adults. “Someone even gave a big giſt for a new chair liſt and was happy to be able to give online right away,” said Melinda Wagner, pastor. Less than 35 percent of transactions of $100 or more
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RESOLUTION 4 Multiply leaders
Navy Cpt. David Mar- quet discovered that a leader-leader model (i.e., everyone is a leader) is key to driving learning, competence and engage- ment in teams. When Marquet replaced the
leader-follower model he learned at the Naval Academy with the leader-leader model, he was able to radically turn around one of the lowest-performing submarines in the Navy in one year. How does your congregation invite, equip and affirm
people to be leader-disciples in their daily lives, includ- ing, but not limited to, the ways they give? One way a few ELCA congregations are teaching
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and inspiring leadership is by sending members to the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit (www.
willowcreek.com/summit), an event that has been happening for more than 20 years and is streamed to over 250,000 people worldwide. Other congregations like Lutheran Church of Hope
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in West Des Moines, Iowa, host their own leadership conferences. Talking about the latest ideas in leadership is an opportunity to challenge people to see themselves as leaders and to connect their lives with God’s mission in the world.
How will your congregation build leadership in the year ahead?
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Author bio: Oelschlager is the ELCA stewardship program coordinator and a member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Libertyville, Ill.
With the giſt of another year before us, what is God calling you and your congregation to accomplish? What resolutions will you make and what plans will you put into action? May God bless your efforts in 2016.
4 January 2016 29
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