Stewardship Committee Report during the 2011 Annual Meeting

Good Morning, 

I am sure that I am not alone in this – I love this church.  This is a place we can come to make sense of difficult issues and be comforted in trying times.  This is a place we can come to be filled with Joy, Hope and Optimism.  This is a place where when we come together our collective efforts make a meaningful impact in the world- near and far from Bryn Mawr.  My prayer is for this church to be able to impact lives for generations to come.  Our commitment to stewardship is an important piece of realizing this vision I know we all share.

In the fall of 2010, a dedicated stewardship committee kicked of the recent stewardship campaign by delivering the annual appeal to our members that began with this familiar verse from 2^nd Corinthians:

The Point is this:  the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.   -2 Corinthians 9: 6-7

This coincided with a challenge from Dr Carter who asked us to “Take it off the Top.”  Some of you may remember his words which went something like this:

“Can you live on 95% of your income?” If the answer is “Yes” then there is your pledge to the church. You are half-way to a tithe and rather than hurting, it actually feels good.

Our goal, which we shared with you, was to increase pledges over last year’s $2.2 million to $2.5 million.  The increase would give our church the opportunity to allocate funds towards growth and the revitalization of our support of several benevolences and programs at BMPC that we hold dear.  This was an aggressive goal given the recent history of pledging declines and the financial times we are living in.

I am pleased to report that in many ways our congregation responded to this opportunity to invest in our future.  We clearly have many “Cheerful Givers” among us.  I will try not to sound too much like an accountant as I share some of the facts that support my claims about the support you, our members, provided to BMPC. 

•  We stopped the troubling trend of decreases in the number of people willing to pledge their financial support to BMPC.  Our pledgers at BMPC had been on a steady decline in recent years, dropping from nearly 1,100 as recently as 2008 to just over 800 last year.  This year we had a slight increase in the number of people or families pledging their financial support. 
   

•  122 members who did not pledge in the prior year elected to pledge this year, and
   

•  265 members were able to increase their pledge this year as compared to last year

Increases in those who pledge translated to an increase in total dollars.  While we did not achieve our goal of $2.5 million we did exceed last year’s total of $2.2 million finishing our campaign with pledges of financial support of $2.3 million.   We still are short of recent pledge commitments of nearly $2.5 million in 2008 and a long way from levels of giving in 2003 that exceeded $2.8 million…….but we are headed in the correct direction. 

As an aside, you may notice a larger number in the annual report for “pledges and contributions” than the numbers I refer to.  So as to totally confuse you and make it impossible to pin me down on specifics, the numbers in the annual report include donations not associated with a pledge. 

Both a challenge and an opportunity remain for 2011 and beyond.  We have nearly 400 families who are members but are not at this time pledging. Those of you who are in the audience now likely do not fit in this category, but perhaps you know someone who does and can pass along this message.  We want these non pledging members to understand the importance of their contribution to the overall strength of this wonderful church.  We do recognize that these people may contribute in vital ways to BMPC through time, talents or monetarily…. but they do not pledge.  I want to assure you that those contributions are vitally important and appreciated.  Pledging, however, is also important because it allows the church to create a thoughtful budget, attract the best ministers and make important long term commitments. 

In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our members, who made this year’s stewardship campaign one that gives us some reasons for optimism and celebration.  As an additional and more enduring means of thanking you we have included a listing of those who pledged and agreed to be publicly recognized in our annual report.  I think this public recognition is consistent with our behavior relating to showing appreciation to those who support our mission.  For example, this morning we publicly thanked our Sunday school teachers, later in this program Dr. Carter will thank lay leaders who have completed terms of service and the annual report thanks those who gave to the foundation. 

I would be remiss if I did not also thank those on the stewardship committee who worked selflessly to assist with this campaign as well as several church members and staff who provided me with valuable advice along the way.

And fear not that these wonderful insights will not be shared widely enough.  One of the many benefits of our new monthly mailing of envelopes to all church members is that I can include this as an insert with your envelopes!

Thank you for your support of BMPC,

Brad Baturka on behalf of the Stewardship Committee

Click here to listen to the inspirational Ministry Moment delivered by Anne Buchanan on Sun., Nov. 14, 2010.

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