Devoted to Generosity Companion Resource (2019)

Devoted to Generosity is a companion resource to Giving Magazine Volume 21, produced in 2019 by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center. It includes campaign guidance, preaching guides, bible study/small group materials, worship/liturgy, children’s sermons, model letters and communication support.

This resource offers multiple ways to engage in annual campaign planning: A year-round approach that includes resources for 12 separate texts; A short spring or fall campaign with three texts; or a hybrid short campaign that includes additional texts for use during the part of the year you and not engaged in a campaign.  We demonstrate several of these calendaring options in the campaign guidance section.

Whether or not you are a “lectionary preacher”, the preparation materials included here will be useful to you in your homiletical endeavors, as many ministers have the freedom to diverge from the lectionary at their discretion. There are 12 total texts from which to choose.  Ideally, you would preach on most of these over the course of the year.  Our calendar planning guide offers suggestions on how to do that regardless as to what season (spring or fall) you run your campaign. The strongest method would be to choose the “year-round” plan or a hybrid of that plan for spring and fall. However, the “short sprint” spring and fall campaigns still have their place in many congregations and so we offer several choices. Because the tie to stewardship is not only financial, but embraces other aspects of this diverse theme, your congregation should not experience “donor fatigue” or the sense that you are only asking for money. 

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