Sango’s Great Faith Experiment!
The chicken agreed and shortly they saw a diner. They paused at the door to read the menu posted there, where they saw the words, “Special Today, Ham and Eggs.”
“Sounds good,” said the chicken. “Let’s go on in.”
“Not me,” replied the pig. “For you, ham and eggs is a contribution, but for me it’s a commitment!”
Sometimes it does seem so much easier to make a contribution than a commitment. Yet I wonder where we’d be in terms of eternity if Jesus had decided that making a contribution was enough. Are we saved because Jesus made a contribution? Of course not. Jesus made a commitment to us, even to the point of death.
On Nov. 8, we will recognize the veterans of our congregation. Veterans Day is only three days later. Someone once defined our veterans as “those who once wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their lives.”
It’s no coincidence, perhaps, that churches usually mount stewardship campaigns during November, the same month that commemorates the commitments made by our veterans and celebrates a special day of Thanksgiving. Commitment arises out of thankfulness and the desire to preserve the blessings of the present for posterity.
And all that brings me back to Sango’s Great Faith Experiment.
When you receive your pledge packets for 2010 this month, you will easily notice that pledging is different this year than before. You may not have ever seen a pledge campaign like this.
We are calling it the Great Faith Experiment. We are still asking everyone to fill out a pledge card and bring it to church on Nov. 22. That Sunday we are calling Commitment Sunday, not pledge Sunday. We are asking everyone to make a commitment, not just a contribution.
But this time, we will make our commitments to God, not to the finance committee.
Your pledge packet includes a letter from Mike Dowdy, stewardship chairman, a pledge car and an envelope addressed to you. Please bring your completed pledge card and the self-addressed envelope, to church on Nov. 22. During the service there will be a time to come forward to lay your envelope, with the pledge sealed inside, on the altar as a gesture of solemn commitment to God and God’s work of redemption by our church.
Afterward, volunteers will collect the envelopes and pray for each person by name that God may grant each of us grace to remain faithful to the commitments we have made. Then they will mail the unopened envelope back to you.
In years past, pledges were opened by the stewards and an estimate of annual giving was made from the total. In fact, though, this method served no real purpose because the budget is built each fall based not on anticipated pledges but on best estimates of fixed costs and of the minimal money needed to do the works of discipleship of our church.
This year the finance committee has very carefully crafted a budget for 2010 that recognizes the recessionary times we are in. The budget to go before the church council is about 7 percent lower than 2009’s budget.
After the council approves the budget on Nov. 1, we will provide everyone with a copy that explains what each ministry area does and the resources needed next year to do it. You will have this document well before Nov. 22 so you may consider it while making your commitment.
We call this new way of pledging the Great Faith Experiment because we’ve never done pledging this way. It’s a matter of faith because the leadership of Sango UMC is filled with faith that the good people of the church will meet the financial needs of the church next year, and then some. And it’s great because, well, because being a part of our family of faith really is the greatest thing on earth!
Be committed – make a commitment on Nov. 22!
Update: The budget approved by the church council on Nov. 1 for 2010 amounts to $275,332, a decrease of $23,760 (-8.6%) from 2009.
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