To complete as a Family Pillar Group:

Goals

  1. Establish Stewardship as a proactive well-designed ministry that collaborates with the FLT and FC of the Family of Parishes. 
  2. Elect a governing committee that identifies and manages all of the Stewardship functions required within a Family of Parishes (FoP)
    • Stewardship Governing Body: Guides Subcommittees, interacts with FLT & FC,
      • Supports stewardship themes and activities through well planned communications, using bulletins, announcements, websites and even collaborating with priests and deacons with homily inserts
      • Documenting and sharing metrics to inform, entice, and motivate even more parishioners to join in the mission 
      • The governing committee should consider establishing the following 3 stewardship subcommittees (members, actions and timeframes all become part of their committee plan)
  1. Welcome and Engagement Subcommittee:
    • Responsible for establishing a warm and robust welcoming program that introduces and orients new parishioners to the Family. 
    • Explore “best practices” for welcoming and engaging new parishioners to a FoP
      • For example, assign someone to guide them as they become familiar with events and opportunities
      • Encourage them to bring their unique gifts
    • Train, equip and commission parishioners to practice radical hospitality in all that we do. Special note: Radical hospitality, while rooted in stewardship, means that it is practiced every day, at all events, with all people. Moreover, parishioners are so marinated in the spirit of this far-reaching type of hospitality that it becomes written in their hearts that “no one visiting our Family of Parishes will ever leave a stranger.” 
      However, to initiate this culture of radical hospitality, we need to begin by treating each other, as Family of Parishes members, with such radical hospitality from the very beginning.

  1. Financial Subcommittee
    • Establish a Development sub-committee that differentiates “fundraising” from true long-term development projects that can attract major financial support from individuals, bequests, and organizations associated with the FoP
      • Identifies possible willing sources 
      • Informs and plant seeds for larger gifts targeted for a particular project or purpose (now or in the future)
      • Support in bulletins, announcement, homilies and website
      • Recognition of providers
  2. Volunteer Subcommittee
    • Constantly recruits and encourages parishioners to:
    • Identify their unique gifts of time, talent, and treasure to cultivate and return them to God by using them for His kingdom within the Family of Parishes
    • Discusses and enacts other creative and tangible ways (ideas and opportunities) to get parishioners to live out their faith in real-life circumstances within each season throughout the coming year.
      • One idea could be:  perhaps to connect some of these Stewardship activities to support each of the Pillar categories.
    • Volunteerism – develop a system of recruiting, training, matching interest/skill with ministerial opportunities at hand, as well as maintaining volunteers for:
      • Ongoing ministries
      • Special events (reoccurring and unique)
      • Annual Campaigns, projects, drives and fundraisers