News and Views

By Erik Alsgaard

Ask just about any United Methodist clergyperson, and they’ll tell you that they took seminary classes on the New and Old Testament, theology, preaching, leading worship, and things like that. What they most likely didn’t take is a class on is how to lead change in a congregation; how to move it from point “A” to point “B,” especially when it comes to the area of stewardship.

The Mid-Atlantic Foundation seeks to change that aspect of ministry by offering the Financial Leadership Academy (FLA). The 18-month program takes a pastor, along with four key lay leaders, and trains them to move from good to great through stewardship.

The Foundation, with offices in Valley Forge, Penn., and at the BWC’s Mission Center in Fulton, is a “Faith Community Non-Profit Foundation Serving The United Methodist Church: Eastern Pennsylvania, Peninsula-Delaware, and the Baltimore-Washington Conferences,” according to its website.

The next FLA starts Sept. 30. Frank Robert, Associate Director for the Foundation who is based in Fulton, said pastors often learn new strategies and processes for stewardship, but then hit a wall when lay leadership won’t — or can’t — come on board.

“Pastors will learn their church culture, identify desired shifts in mindset, and lead cultural change with an action plan,” Robert said. “Pastors will select and lead a lay team in church-culture change, managing conflict, and providing spiritual leadership for finance best practices and generosity-development.”

But don’t take his word for it. Two recent graduates of the FLA testify to its impact.

The Rev. Cary James serves at Sharp Street Memorial UMC in Baltimore. He, along with four lay leaders, graduated from the most recent Academy this past May. He said that the shift he’s seen is already making a difference.

“We were operating out of mindset of scarcity,” James said, describing the situation before going to the Academy. “We said we needed money for a leaking roof, for the boiler, for the BGE bill. We were never asking for mission and ministry.”

The greatest benefit of his team attending the Academy, he said, is that they all heard the same presentations, which fostered working together. Watching the team of leaders from his church shift from the scarcity mindset to determining where God is at work and meeting God there is one of the greatest joys of attending the FLA.

An example of this, James said, was a church member who came to him after the first of the FLA workshops. The member said that he didn’t think that giving money to the church was a good idea because it always went to pay bills, not to meet needs in the community.

This person, James said, noted that youth ministry had had a profound impact on him growing up in the church. “We have a lot of youth in our community but they’re not in our church,” the member said, and then asked what the church’s budget for youth ministry was. James replied: $500.

And then, the pastor asked him if he wanted to help in this area.

“I saw this person’s eyes light up,” James said. “They said ‘yes.’ They said they believed that God was calling them to support youth ministry. They increased their giving because now they saw that their giving was going to mission and ministry. It had a profound effect.”

The church used the money to buy 100 school uniforms for the nearby Furman L. Templeton Academy, an elementary school with a zero-tolerance policy regarding uniforms.

At the time, James said, the school had an attendance rate for K-2nd grade of 23% in a given nine-week period. This was partly due to children’s families who couldn’t afford uniforms.

After donating the uniforms and holding a pizza/ice cream party open only to students who had perfect attendance, James said that as school is ending this year, attendance is now at 92%.

“Our stewardship has increased, and our giving has increased,” James said, “in addition to our impact in the community. We’re not saying, ‘Thank you for paying the bills to keep the lights on.’ We’re showing them what their giving is doing in a tangible way for mission and ministry.

“I graduated from seminary and I didn’t have a class on church finances,” James said. “For colleagues who are pastors, this will help you understand pockets of giving and the power of thank you letters and narrative budgets.”

Pastor Christine Kumar said it’s still a work in progress at her two congregations, Cowenton UMC in White Marsh, and Piney Grove UMC in Middle River. But the shift is happening, she said.

“What we learned in the Academy is generous giving and living means to give from our hearts; not to think that it’s a chore,” Kumar said.

In addition to herself, two people from each of her churches attend the FLA. Several good ideas came from the Academy, including one unique way to illustrate the importance of giving.

At Piney Grove one Sunday, they did a skit, Kumar said. When people arrived for worship, the lights were turned off, there was no bulletin, and a person was vacuuming near the altar as people were seated. One person came in with a flashlight to help people find their seats.

“When you don’t give,” Kumar said, “there’s no bulletin, no lights, no ministry. It was an image of what it would be like if you don’t give generously.”

The FLA taught her and her leaders to talk about finances in a story fashion. Thus, both congregations are working on narrative budgets, she said, so that people can easily see where their money goes.

The main result from the FLA, Kumar said, was to light a fire in the churches and have them look in the financial mirror.

“What I’ve seen is that people are committed — really committed — to doing what they can,” she said. “Some of them can’t give of their money, but they give of their time, talents and service.”

The FLA, she said, is a good way to start thinking about promoting generous giving in your congregation.

“The 18 months may seem like a long time,” she said, “but it really isn’t. As you get engaged, you get inspired and motivated, and you really don’t think about the time you have to commitment. It gives you hope, especially when you don’t have it. It says, ‘There’s somebody out there to help you.’ It is well worth the investment and the time.”

For information on the next Financial Leadership Academy, visit https://midatlanticfoundation.org/education/financial-leadership-academy/