[Magdalen] Stewardship

[Grace Cangialosi]

Thanks for this, Ann; I"ll check it out.

I'm curious as to whether anyone else is in, or has been in, a small church
with no history of pledging.  I was amazed when I came here as long-term
supply last year to learn of this, but it seems to be working just fine.
I've been priest in charge since January, and I haven't done anything to
change this, except to insist that they needed to adopt a budget for the
year, but that was a somewhat sketchy venture.  I talked with one of the
former rectors, who was here for 13 years, and he said it had been his
experience tha t for small churches, pledging isn't necessarily the way to
go.

This church has always been self-sustaining, pays a good pledge to the
Diocese every year, and has the money to do what's necessary in the church
and for outreach.  They have a healthy savings account and money invested
with the Diocese, which gives them a dividend at the end of the year. When
I asked about pledging, they said people wouldn't like it, that it would be
embarrassing, that it wasn't necessary.  What they're doing seems to be
working.  Part of me thinks it's foine to leave it as it is, but I guess
the part of me that is "institutiional" worries that I'm not doing it right,

On Wed, Oct 7, 2020 at 11:41 AM Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> Just saw a diocesan clergy presentation  (via Zoom) on stewardship this
> year.  If anyone's interested, TENS (as usual) has some excellent resources
> for stewardship in plague days. And if other clergy are like me, there is a
> little more time and energy than in other years for thinking about this.
>
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
>


-- 
Grace Cangialosi
Ruckersville, VA

*"Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great
love."*
*St. Teresa of Calcutta*