| Frederick capital campaign starts By John Coleman
UMConnection Staff Congregations in the Frederick District are expected to decide this month if they will accept the invitation to participate in an unusual capital fundraising campaign to support development and redevelopment of churches and retreat and camping centers, as well as other district and local church projects. The districts $1.7 million, 18-month Funding Future Ministry campaign is part of a larger Baltimore-Washington Conference effort to raise $12.3 million while helping churches raise additional amounts for their district and local needs. Each of the nine districts beginning with Frederick will manage its own campaign with conference support and voluntary participation from churches. The strategy is unusual in its decentralized and voluntary approach, as well as its promise of mutually beneficial outcomes. The Rev. Wayne DeHart, district superintendent, and campaign consultant Douglas Himes, of Nashville, Tenn., presented stewardship fundraising workshops to nearly 60 pastors at two locations: Sept. 4 at Trinity UMC in Frederick and Sept. 5 at Trinity UMC in Martinsburg, W.Va. Himes discussed a theological foundation for stewardship and explained various channels of planned giving to support church operating budgets, capital needs and endowments at the workshop. Fundraising is not the point of this campaign, said Himes, who defined stewardship as a biblically based, holistic way of life synonymous with discipleship. Its all about recognizing and visioning who we are as a church and what we are called to do. The Rev. Ruth Ann Miller, of Weller UMC in Thurmont, was one of several pastors who found Himes stewardship information to be largely familiar in substance but right on target and helpful in the way it was presented. The Rev. Ed Grove, pastor of Trinity UMC in Martinsburg and chairman of the district council on ministries, saw the workshops as key in providing everyone with a basic level of understanding about stewardship and the focus of the campaign. It offered a way of looking at our processes and ourselves, our own sense of mission and identity, said the Rev. Al Clipp, pastor of Calvary UMC in Martinsburg. A lot of times, we dont really want to build up Gods kingdom, or we relegate it to the spiritual realm. But Gods kingdom lays claim to the whole of life. The workshops were intended to help pastors present the campaign opportunity, including its stewardship and missional aspects, to their church councils for consideration and a vote. Churches are asked to decide by Sept. 29 if they will proceed with the 12-month planning and educational phases of the campaign. At the Sept. 4-5 workshops, many pastors reacted positively to the campaigns new approach, but some expressed apprehension. We had concerns that naturally exist in regard to conference fundraising campaigns: Is it different? Is it being passed down from the top? said Clipp, a member of the conference board of trustees. But Wayne called for openness and a willingness to explore and engage in the education phase at least. I feel more enthusiastic every time I hear about (the campaign), he added. This campaign is about enabling our district and conference to help make new disciples for Jesus Christ through our churches and camping facilities, De Hart said. He explained that involving local churches and helping them in their stewardship efforts and ministry needs is key. Im optimistic because several pastors and laity are already catching the vision of the potential of this new type of connectional stewardship and have begun organizing their campaign committees, DeHart said. The way you build trust is to be trustworthy, he added. We promised that participating would be a matter of choice, and I would prefer to preserve the integrity of that choice over ensuring financial success if necessary. A second workshop for congregations that choose to join in the campaigns first two phases is scheduled for Oct. 4, again at Trinity UMC in Frederick. The schedule calls for two more districts to launch their campaigns in the spring of 2004. Two more districts would follow every three months until all nine have campaigns underway. We dont have a manual to tell us how to do this because no ones done it this way before, said DeHart. Were learning as we go along, and well have a long list of ideas and things to do differently to share with the other districts as we move through this process. | 
Login/Register to leave comment