Knowing this, the diocesan Stewardship Committee has been planning for some time to produce a video, interviewing members of a parish that has made important strides forward in terms of their approach to financial stewardship to help inspire and offer practical advice and ideas for other parishes.

This spring, those plans were realized. The Learning Commons has now posted a video in which Anglicans from the Parish of the Valley, particularly Holy Trinity Pembroke, share what they have learned in their efforts to deal with financial challenges and to build a healthy and effective approach to stewardship.

In April, Carole Breton, diocesan director of Communications and Development, travelled to Pembroke with a small team, including videographer Karl Chatel, to interview one of the Parish of the Valley’s associate incumbent, the Rev. Gillian Hoyer, and Marie Cheesman, member of diocesan council and former chair of Holy Trinity’s Ministry and Money Working Group, about their successful approaches to stewardship and the important lessons they have learned along the way.

“Jesus talked about money more than he talked about just about anything else in the recorded words that we have in the Gospels,” said Hoyer. “And so, I think that how we steward our money, how we steward our time, our gifts, are such an important part of what it means to be a holistic and healthy Christian and healthy Christian community….Stewardship is a part of our life together.”

Cheesman explained that the challenges Holy Trinity faced are likely very similar to those faced by many congregations.

They found that the pattern of financial offerings were very heavily weighted at the end of each year, but such uneven givings made it difficult for the church to pay its bills and expenses through the rest of the year.

The number of parishioners using pre-authorized remittance (PAR) to give regularly was dwindling as parishioners aged and new parishioners were not signing up to replace that.

A historic church building and other needs required funds to maintain and invest in the life of the congregation.

Some of the ways they addressed these challenges were:

• Creating a Pentecost stewardship campaign to encourage giving at an earlier point in the year
• A creative person in the parish made low-cost video vignettes asking parishioners what Holy Trinity meant to them, which spurred everyone to reflect on what they love about their community.
• Using ready-made stewardship campaign resources available through the diocesan church’s membership in The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS) and tailoring them to suit the congregation
• Applying for government grants, which added up to $100,000 in additional funds that have helped with renovations and purchases such as much-needed new tables and chairs for the parish hall.

Both Hoyer and Cheesman offer practical and kind advice to other parishes who may be feeling daunted and wondering where to begin to address financial needs in their congregations or parishes. Start small, they said. Hoyer said the first step for the clergy team in the Parish of the Valley was writing just one letter that went out to everyone in the parish. But the essential take-away was not to be afraid and just start.

Watching and discussing the 10-minute video posted as a resource on the Learning Commons page of the diocesan website will now provide another way for congregations or parishes to begin their own stewardship journeys.

The video is part of a series of way to engage called “Stewardship in Action — Voices from Across the Diocese”  video, social media, Learning Commons content, stories in Perspective. This stewardship video marks the first of the new series of content.

Videographer Karl Chatel filmed and edited the interviews with Marie Cheesman and the Rev. Gillian Hoyer to produce a stewardship resource for the Learning Commons page of the diocesan website.

Learning Commons: Helping Parishes Thrive

Resources from The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS) are available to all parishes and congregations at no cost through the diocesan membership.

TENS Annual Pledge Campaign Materials

Each pledge campaign Zip file has complete resources a fall pledge campaign for the Liturgical Year and includes:

Logos and artwork

Seasonal Meditations on Generosity

Sample Letters from Clergy, Wardens, Committee, and Thank-you notes

Pledge Cards

Formation Resources for adults and families

Weekly Meditations to use during the campaign season

Liturgical Resources and Prayers of the People for your campaign season

Past years’ resources are also available, so parishes can choose a theme that best speaks to their community.

The password for this year is Matthew22:4 . Please note that there are no spaces, and the password is case sensitive. You are invited to share this password widely through newsletters, websites, and social media to help your community access these tools. The password will remain active until February 2027, when the renewal period concludes.

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This fall, the first of a series of modules in the form of 30-minute videos will be posted on the diocesan website. Following up on resolutions passed at Synod 2023, the modules are designed to equip congregations with essential knowledge and skills needed to thrive and are core curriculum courses for parish councils, leaders and clergy.

The videos will address five key areas of parish development: parish governance, building healthy communities, visioning and priority-setting, effective stewardship, and engaging with the wider community.

The Rev. Dr. Jon Martin has been appointed the chair of the Parish Development subcommittee and was working on content for some of the modules over the summer. He explained that the first video will be an introduction to parish development and will provide an overview of the series. The next video will focus on building healthy communities.

During the Shape of Parish Ministry Consultations and at Synod, the part of the process everyone has been most excited about is engaging with the wider community—contextual

mission and new worshipping communities, he said. Martin promised that the module on that

part will come, but the other videos and work will prepare parishes for that stage.

“As Bishop Shane and I have talked about, it’s all well and good to reach out into the community ..but [if] you’re inviting guests to the house to come and experience your way of life and your hospitality, you’ve got to make sure your house is in order before the before the guests show up,” Martin said.

The module on building healthy communities will examine different aspects of what a healthy community looks like and how it works. It will ask how parishes can be welcoming and hospitable. Martin explained that most parishes are doing what works for the people who are already a part of that community. “What we’re not always so good at when we enter a time of social and cultural shift … is adapting to what are the new needs, the new cultural norms, [and finding] new ways of being welcoming and hospitable as culture changes.”

The video will include best practices from across a spectrum of different parish ministry settings—rural, urban, suburban, and things that people from those different contexts have said were really helpful for them.

“We’re really hopeful that this will give parishes across the diocese who genuinely want to be healthy, who want to thrive, and who want to be well-situated to step into this new time in our church, the ability to do so,” Martin said.

He noted that to thrive doesn’t necessarily always mean to grow. “Thriving can mean doing the ministry God has called you to do in ways that are life-giving and life-changing to both your congregation members and the community around you.”

Looking ahead to the modules that will follow, Martin mentioned that the one on governance will help the viewers understand how the diocese functions. “What is Synod? Diocesan Council? the Standing Committees? the CBRs [Canons, Bylaws and Regulations]? How do those things work? They’re also going to look at parish structures. What’s corporation? Vestry? … How does the church actually function?”

There will be a video on parish visioning and priority setting. “We no longer live in an age where a parish church can do ‘the all things for all people’ approach. You need to be really intentional about who you are, and what has God called you to do and be in this place,” Martin said. The module will help parishes discuss their priorities, how to address them and how to measure the results.

There will also be a module on parish stewardship. “It’s quite surprising how few of the parishes in our diocese have an annual stewardship cycle, despite the fact that almost all of us are saying that a lack of financial resources is a big stressor,” said Martin. “And there are things that we know work to help fix that.” The video will offer advice on how to run a stewardship campaign, how to address resistance to stewardship and helpful resources.

And then, as promised, there will be a video on engaging with the wider community and contextual mission: “What does it mean? How do you do it? What’s your process?”

Once all of the videos are produced and posted, they will be easy to access on the diocesan website. “They’re going to be geared specifically for parish leadership and parish councils to watch together to hopefully implement,” he added.

At the end of each video, there will also be information about additional resources if a group wants to do a deeper dive into that topic.

Various resources created from training workshops presented in the spring of 2024 are already available on the Learning Commons page of the diocesan website. 

• Paul Lex, director of human resources, presented a  training workshop on employment issues. (video)

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