Stewardship Makes a Difference!

Stewardship Makes a Difference

Welcoming. Friendship. Sharing.

What are your hopes, dreams and prayers?

How is stewardship a part of this?

“Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth

grain,

growing up and increasing and yielding

thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Mark 4: 8-9)

Created in God's Image, Called to Holiness

All is gift!

We must be grateful for the gift

Gratitude leads to generosity

THE STEWARD • “An oikonomos or

steward is one to whom the owner of a household turns over the responsibility for caring for the property, managing affairs, making resources yield as much as possible and sharing resources with others. The position involves trust and accountability.”

• (SDR, 20)

Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:

“Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses. While 1 in 3

Americans were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than 1 in 4 describe themselves as Catholic.”

Roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics

2.6 % of American population has become Catholic

Note and be attentive to the influence of immigration

The current generation of young adults are less likely to affiliate

with any denomination, even when compared to other generations when they were young adults.

Let’s Get Acquainted!The SBNR:

More women than men

More common among

younger adults

Majority are religiously affiliated

CatholicLifeandFaith.net

Let’s Get Acquainted!

The "Nones"

•30% of Americans under age 30 are unaffiliated


The view is not quite clear


Surveying the Landscape

Of those who were baptized within the Catholic faith:

68% are still Catholic

10% of Americans identify themselves as former

Catholics

"Most who decided to leave their childhood faith say they did so before reaching age 24” Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: Faith in Flux


Surveying the Landscape

The Unaffiliated:

Have the lowest retention rates of any major religious

groups

•Most who were raised unaffiliated now belong to some religion. They are:

•Attracted by religious services/styles of worship•Have been spiritually unfulfilled•Feel called by God


What Do They Seek?

Spiritual dimensionPersonal connection

Mission/Meaning


What Do They Seek?

•Spiritual dimension

“They see spirituality as connected to all of their life, not a compartment within their life. We need bridges between Monday-to-Friday and Sunday.”

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna GroupSeptember, 2010 USA Today


What Do They Seek?

•Personal connection

“What helps you grow spiritually?”

1. Participation in Mass

2. Good friends who share faith with me

3. Daily prayer

4. Belonging to my parish

Spiritual Needs Survey (Focus Group)CatholicLifeandFaith.

net

What Do They Seek?

•Mission/Meaning

• 85% of Millennials said they are motivated to give by a compelling mission or cause,

• 56% by a personal connection or trust in the leadership of the organization.

• 79% of respondents volunteered for organizations in 2010,

• "Micro-Volunteering"

Millennial Impact Report CatholicLifeandFaith.net

Build Bridges!

Build Bridges!

"The Lord made bridges...Christians who are afraid to build bridges and prefer to build walls are Christians who are not sure of their faith, not sure of Jesus Christ...Build bridges and move forward."

Pope Francis, May 8, 2013

Bridges Are Built Person-to-Person

Engaged 16%

Not Engaged 49%

Actively Disengaged35%

First step:Meeting Needs

Second step:

Making a Contributi

on

Third step:Being part

of the

Community

Fourth step:

Mission!

How? Key Questions we ask…

Bridges: Conversations and Connections for Life, Faith, and All

That Matters

Welcom

e

Friendshi

pSharing

Welcome

"Any guest who happens to arrive

at the monastery should be received just as we would

receive Christ himself, because he promised that on

the last day he will say: I was a stranger and you

welcomed me."

Rule of St. Benedict

Chapter 53


"Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are

indifferent. The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons

that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return. But that takes audacity and

courage."

Pope Francis, in interview published

September 19, 2013


•Audacious and Courageous Hospitality!

•Who we are, and what we do

•Invite into the family

•4:1: Build on the already-engaged

•Work with leaders

•Formation for community

•Communion


Hospitality

Friendship

“To make the Church the home and school of communion: that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we wish to be faithful to God’s plan and respond to the world’s deepest yearnings. …A spirituality of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as “those who are a part of me.” This makes us able to share their joys and sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer them deep and genuine friendship.”

Blessed Pope John Paul II

Novo Millennio Ineunte, #43


•Relationship within Community

•Person-to-Person

•Life circumstances

•Learning

•Prayer

•Small groupsCatholicLifeandFaith.

net

Relationship

Sharing

•Form a community of disciples who live as stewards

•Expectation: Discipleship

•Spirituality: Stewardship

•Grow gratitude, Live generosity


Sharing

•Form a community of disciples who live as stewards

•Enhance opportunities to give with meaning

•Witness to impact on giver and receiver

•“Micro-Volunteering”CatholicLifeandFaith.

net

Sharing

Special Attention Needed!

•Children

•Parents

•Youth

•Young adults


SpecialAttentionNeeded!

WAIT!

Be intentional

Prayerfully discern action


What Comes to Mind?What Can You Build Upon?

What Ideas or Learning Will You Take With You?

Welcom

e

Friendshi

pSharing

Let's Focus!

THE STEWARD

"In this period of crisis today, it is important not to turn in on ourselves, burying our own talent, our spiritual, intellectual, and material riches, everything that the Lord has given us; but rather to open ourselves, to be supportive, to be attentive to others. Set your stakes on great ideals, the ideals that enlarge the heart, the ideals of service that make your talents fruitful. Life is not given to us to be jealously guarded for ourselves, but is given to us so that we may give it in turn."

Pope Francis, April 24, 2013

Resources, ArticlesArticles:• Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

• “Nones” on the Rise• Growth of the Nonreligious• Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.

• Millennial Donors• CARA

• The Impact of Religious Switching and Secularization on the Estimated Size of the U.S. Adult Catholic Population

• American Statesman• ‘Spiritual but not religious’ becoming more common self-identification

• CNN Belief Blog• Why millennials need the church

• Insights into Religion• Reversing the Exodus: 7 characteristics of congregations that successfully

attract young adultsBooks:• Smith, Christian, with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual

Lives of Emerging Adults• Winseman, Albert L., Growing an Engaged Church• Anslinger, Leisa, Turning Hearts to Christ; Forming Generous Hearts

http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/




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Stewardship Makes a Difference!