ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE – 2017
At Oldtown, we do many things a little “differently,” and it’s the same with Stewardship. In many churches, stewardship is focused on church growth, getting more “butts in the seats” and “bucks in the plates.” While increasing the size of our Oldtown family is important, and our collections are critical to the operation of the church, we take a little different approach to those things here in Oldtown.
For the last several years, the focus of our stewardship efforts has been on communication our financial situation completely and clearly to our congregation. Each week, the Stewardship Corner in our Oldtown Message given out with our worship bulletins provides an update as to the offering amount from the previous week and how that compares to our budget, along with budget comparisons of income and expenses throughout the year. We want everyone to have a clear picture of our finances.
We are a Congregational Church, and as such, there is no central “denomination” that sends us financial support. We are responsible for raising all the money it takes to keep the doors open and the heat on year-round, and we do that through the offerings of the congregation at worship and through fund-raising efforts throughout the year. While fund-raising at many churches goes towards missions or outreach, our fund-raising goes first to cover the expenses of the church. By giving the congregation an ongoing picture of where things stand, we encourage more involvement in our fund-raising and other financial concerns throughout the year.
Recently, we have implemented the ability for the congregation to give online to Oldtown, and we are excited to be rolling out enhancements to our online giving and a redesign of our church website – www.oldtownucc.org – in the coming year. The new website will also take the place of our church app, providing one place for people to go to find information about Oldtown. Rest assured that the new website will be “mobile-friendly” so you can still get all of the information you need on your phone, your tablet, or your computer, in addition to our church Facebook page and our weekly Oldtown Update emails and seasonal email devotionals.
We look forward to an exciting year to come and welcome anyone and everyone to ask questions, offer suggestions, and help us get the word out about Oldtown – within our congregation and to our neighbors in the community. As we say at Oldtown, “Many hands make light work,” and we thank you for continuing to share your time, talent, and treasure as we work to further the Kingdom here on earth.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Fennell