"Good morning. The first thing I would like to do is to thank you for the incredible opportunity that I have to work with the young people of this church. It has been a wonderful gift to me, and is part of the reason that I value this church community so much.
In preparation for talking about stewardship this Sunday, a couple of weeks ago I administered a survey among some of our middle school students about our programming. I know that this represents just a small slice of our youth ministry, which is a small piece of this church’s ministry as a whole, but I would like for you to hear a little bit about what they value about UCC.
What do we do that you really love?
• I love doing group projects for the whole church - things like the Haunted Hallway and hiding Easter eggs.
• We talk about Godly things seriously. Then we have fun.
• I like youth group. We have fun!
• [We] play games and talk about religious things. [I like] the fishing trip.
• We go on lots of fun trips like the fishing trip and the ski trip and do lots of other fun activities.
What are you most excited about for our future? What is your Vision?
• I'm excited to do the ski trip and the Christmas Pageant.
• [My vision is] that we can do more activities that make us closer.
• I am most excited about the haunted house and my vision is making it the best haunted house ever.
• Have fun!
• Doing cool projects.
• I am most excited about going on more trips.
How can we--as a community--better care for your needs?
• That we can better come together and get to know each other better.
• Well we should bring more friends from outside the church and better snacks.
• Have better snacks!
• Snacks!
• I think we should have better snacks.
“Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.”
Right before we took that survey, I shared this verse from 2 Corinthians (which happens be our stewardship theme this year). I was fishing for responses from the group. “Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.” Nothing. “I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give.” Blank stares. “That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting.” Wait a second! Arm-twisting? Sob stories? What are you talking about? Bingo. That’s the reaction I was looking for.
We continued our discussion by talking about things that we don’t look forward to, but we know that we really ought to do them. They had all sorts of examples about that: homework, washing dishes, chores... The usual stuff. But, when we got to really talking about it, the general consensus was that those things often don’t turn out to be as unpleasant as we expect them to be.
The example that the kids raised that I could really identify with was washing dishes. For whatever reason, I don’t like to start washing dishes. I let them pile up until it turns into a real job, and then I still drag my feet about it. Eventually, I want to cook dinner and the limited counter-space in our kitchen is taken up by dishes from last night (and maybe even the night before), so I have to wash them. So, I fill up a plastic tub with hot, soapy water, and get down to it. And it’s fine. It’s not particularly unpleasant, and, a few minutes later, my kitchen is filled with clean, usable cookware. The thing is, I know that’s how it works. I know that washing dishes really is easy, and it changes the whole feel of the kitchen. Nevertheless, it still takes some arm-twisting to get me to take action.
For me, the same is true of pledging financially to the church. I had never given to a church before, and I felt like I was just too low on funds to make it happen. The catalytic arm-twisting in this story is guilt. You don’t have to spend much time in the church office to know that a fair chunk of our time goes to receiving and allocating donations. That’s how it works. When I realized that I was not participating in that structure, I felt compelled to make a monetary pledge to this community. I was still nervous, like I said, about not having enough money to cover my expenses, but I set up a monthly recurring contribution via the website. It turns out, I don’t miss the money. And, I feel like I am actually, meaningfully contributing to the day-to-day well-being of this church, which means a great deal to me.
This year, I’ve decided to preempt the arm-twisting guilt and proactively re-evaluate the amount of my pledge. It’s going up. I encourage you to take some time and honestly consider the value of this community to you. Then, have a look at your books. If you don’t pledge already, my experience tells me that it can be done! If you’ve been a pledger, faithful to the needs of this community for years, I invite you to prayerfully consider the amount of your pledge."
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