REGINA — Immanuel Parish declared 2025 the Year of Mission-Driven Stewardship, and now the parish is reaping the rewards of that year.
From the beginning, the small stewardship working group stressed that stewardship was not just saying, “We need more money to keep the lights on.” The group organized its work and directed its messaging to parishioners around giving time, talent, treasure, testimony and tending to creation.
The “Five Ts” not only describe the key components of stewardship, but also reflect the Marks of Mission of the Anglican Church, as well as the parish’s Mission Action Plan.
During the year, the working group introduced several initiatives to bring attention to the goals of stewardship.
To highlight Time and Talent, they introduced individual parishioners in a monthly “Spotlight” that was emailed with weekly announcements, and also included on the screen at the front of the church before Sunday services.
To date, they featured 16 parishioners (and a few couples) who volunteer in a wide variety of roles including serving on altar guild, vestry and other committees; working in the tech booth to live-stream services and project the service on screens in the church; maintaining buildings and grounds; serving coffee and working in the kitchen; teaching Sunday school; running fundraising events; and many more.
To illustrate Testimony, they had videos made of two parishioners who described why they are active in the church and why it is important to them.
Several other short videos illustrated how the parish’s various mission and outreach programs benefit others in the community — such as providing Christmas and Easter hampers, programs for children on days off school, and giving school supplies to students in need.
A verse of Scripture relating to one of the Ts of stewardship was included in each week’s announcements, and a special stewardship prayer was written and became part of the weekly Prayers of the People.
Even music was involved, with regular use of hymns with a stewardship theme.
Of course, actually keeping the lights on in the church buildings is necessary, but the working group showed how having the church, hall and meeting rooms makes it possible to fulfil the mission of the church in serving its neighbours.
Realizing that many people are not “numbers people,” the stewardship working group presented financial reports in a variety of ways, including a narrative budget and a variety of graphs and charts, so members of the congregation understood the parish’s financial situation and plans and their connection to ministry and mission.
The various initiatives were introduced throughout the year, all designed to encourage parishioners to begin thinking of stewardship in a wider way, including all the Five Ts.
The parish set Sept. 21 as Stewardship Sunday, when members of the stewardship group spoke, and each parishioner was given a stewardship response form.
This did not just ask them to pledge financial support for the coming year, but also invited them to indicate which aspects of Immanuel’s work and life they would support with their time and talent, and asked about their priorities for the parish.
The results from the pledging event were tabulated and provided valuable information about what parishioners were most interested in supporting. Worship was the feature most mentioned by respondents, closely followed by Mission and Fellowship.
The financial results were very encouraging. The campaign generated additional yearly contributions of close to $18,000 and almost $10,000 in one-time donations. The parish finished the year with a very small surplus, instead of the anticipated deficit.
There were some disappointments from the pledging event, as less than half the members on the parish roll actually completed and returned the stewardship response form, and very few parishioners indicated they would take on additional volunteer commitments.
Nevertheless, the working group and vestry were pleased with the overall results. Vestry has adopted many of the stewardship initiatives introduced during the Year of Mission-Driven Stewardship and is continuing work to establish a “stewardship culture” in the parish.
For other parishes that are interested in promoting stewardship, the stewardship working group encourages them to make use of resources available on the Diocese of Qu’Appelle website.
