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By Christine Kumar
UMConnection Staff

Chances are, God doesn?t care about receiving the dime from your dollar. Rather, God?s focus is on discipleship ? how are you living and giving in response to your faith?

Consecration Sunday, a resource promoted by the Baltimore-Washington Conference for local churches, helps individuals and congregations look past formulas and balancing the budget?s bottom line to focus on effective and faithful stewardship.

'It?s not about the budget,' said the Rev. Charlie Parker, director of Stewardship Development at the conference center. 'It?s a spiritual discipline when you give; your life will open up to the power of the Holy Spirit.'

'Giving does not have to do with money,' said the Rev. Daryl Williams, director of Investments and Planned Giving at the Baltimore-Washington Conference. 'It?s about your relationship with God.'

Parker and Williams believe in Herb Miller?s New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program.

'Rather than requesting financial contributions to ?pay the bills,? or ?support the budget,? New Consecration Sunday asks people to grow spiritually by giving a percentage of their income to the Lord?s work through their congregations,' said Miller in his book, 'New Consecration Sunday.'

Parker, Williams, the Rev. Erik Alsgaard, director of communications, and the Rev. Rod Miller, director of connectional ministries, at the Baltimore-Washington Conference visit churches to talk about the program.

Herb Miller?s philosophy is based on a six-week stewardship education process. During the course of six weeks, the guest leader meets with the leaders of the church and helps plan the stewardship program and events that lead to Consecration Sunday.

The timeline enables the guest leader to build relationships with the church leaders. 'The six-week process is good. I learn a little bit about the churches and they learn a little bit about me,' said Alsgaard. Bringing someone in from outside the church community to lead the program is an important component of its success.

Miller states in his book that people in churches make contributions to their churches in three ways.

The first way is that the churches take an offering and have no annual financial stewardship campaign. With this method, people give an average of 1.5 percent of their income to the church.

The second kind of contribution is through pledges. In pledging congregations, people give an average of 2.9 percent of their income.

A percentage-giving church is the third kind of giving. Churches ask the people of their congregations to give what they feel that God is calling them to give. They are given a card to write the amount down. With this approach, people give about 4.6 percent of their income. There is no proposed budget in this case. The budget is created after totaling the cards.

When Perdue Research Group interviewed people in 150 congregations that used the original Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program, their findings were that financial giving increased by 25 percent or more in 31 churches the first year. In 37 churches, there was a 20 percent increase.

'Of the 150 churches interviewed, 131 had used Consecration Sunday three or four times. In one congregation, financial giving increased 25 percent the first year, 18 percent the second year, and 30 percent the third year,' said Miller.

'We are not in charge of our lives; and when we give, we give up control over our money. John Wesley said that when people come to know God, they are careful with money and they work hard for it and this leads to wealth. When they become rich, they lose interest in God. As people?s income increases, the level of giving decreases,' Parker said.

'Wesley said we should earn all we can, save all we can and give all we can,' he said. 'We should feel the movement of the Spirit when we are giving and stretch a little more by giving a little more.'

MAKE THE CONNECTION:

If you would like to have a guest leader from the conference speak to your church about Consecration Sunday, contact Charlie Parker at (800) 492-2525, ext. 307 or e-mail

To obtain a copy of Herb Miller?s book, 'New Consecration Sunday,' contact Cokesbury bookstore at (800) 672-1759 or order online at www.cokesbury.com.