Stewardship and Pledging

On This Page

• Stewardship - Time, Talent, Treasure
• Becoming Engaged as a Faithful Steward! - Pledging
• Opportunities to Volunteer
• Donations & Pledging - Online

Time, Talent, Treasure

Years ago, spiritually minded Christians began to wonder about the "fall stewardship campaign" in their churches. These people wondered whether "stewardship" had lost its spiritual focus somehow. They had begun to feel that "Stewardship" in churches had begun to feel no different from the pledge drives for public radio or the cancer society.

People began to ask, isn't "stewardship" more than just fund raising for a good cause? Of course we must support our church, and we must support other good causes too, but shouldn't Christian stewardship be larger than that? Shouldn't it be about the whole person, not just our finances? Shouldn't it transform us spiritually even more than it supports our church? So we began to do some interesting thinking and conversing about stewardship. Stewardship conferences were held. Organizations like The Episcopal Network for Stewardship created interesting websites like tens.org.

We began to realize that everything in our lives belonged to God: our time, our abilities, skills and talents, and the wealth we could create. We began to hear our churches tell us, "it's not just our annual pledge: Do we give of ourselves? Shall we devote all of our time to ourselves, or shall we give time sacrificially for the good of others? Shall we use our abilities, skills and talents only for ourselves and our careers, or shall we use give our talents sacrificially for the good of others?"

Of course, all good ideas get stale eventually, and we have to revisit them. Sometimes we hear in churches the word "or" replace the word "and" in the phrase "time, talent, and treasure." Sometimes we hoard time for ourselves, and write a check rather than rolling up our sleeves. This temptation can distance us from spiritual community, in the same way that we are sometimes tempted to buy a gift for a loved one in place of giving them our time. Other times we are tempted to hoard our talents, and sign up to make the coffee when we have acquired enormous expertise or skill in some area, rather than giving that expertise pro bono to the ministry. This temptation can diminish us spiritually, by distancing us from needs of the world around us. And sometimes we hoard our treasure for ourselves, and give an hour or two to a committee or choir practice, rather than offering wealth, sacrificially and regularly. This temptation can hamper our discipleship, by distancing us from the call of Jesus to taking up our cross and following him.

We want to reflect long and hard on God's call to all of us -- not as something we ought to do, because it's a good cause. But because it's what we most deeply need for our own spiritual lives. Stewardship is so much more than giving to a good cause. It's about our lives. It's about God. It's about spirituality. And, it's not a menu -- time, talent, or treasure. It's holistic: time, talent, and treasure. The "3 ideas" below can help us think through our own giving:

• Idea 1: Open, Honest, Faithful Talk about Giving
• Idea 2: Open, Honest, Faithful Talk about Stewardship
• Idea 3: Open, Honest, Faithful Talk At a Dinner Party
• Idea 4: Open, Honest, Faithful Talk At a Ultimate (Planned) Giving
• An Invitation from the Rector

Becoming Engaged as a Faithful Steward!

• Download a St. Mark's Pledge Form
• Email your pledge to St. Mark's
  Please mark it to the attention of the Stewardship Committee.
• Become a member of the All Saints Legacy Society
• Make a secure online donation or pledge payment

How Rich Are You?

Where do you fall on the scale of the world's richest people?

Check out the Global Rich List!

Online Donations or Pledge Payment

Friends support the ministry of St Marks in any number of ways.

• Sending checks to:
       St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 12701 Hall Shop Road, Highland, MD 20777
• Placing cash or checks in the Plate at Church during the Offertory
• Remembering us in their wills, by transfer of securities
• Making online donations with major credit cards

It may be true that to some extent, "Online Donations" may rob us of the symbol of physically offering our gifts at the Offertory during worship.  We do not recommend missing worship, but sometimes we do miss worship, because of illness or travel. Many of us mail our checks on those occasions --- and recognize that there really is no real difference between donating online or by mail.

You may think of "Online Donations" as giving in to our demand for convenience. Perhaps this is true, but even Scripture offered "convenience provision" for giving tithes (eg., Dt 14.24ff). So perhaps God isn't as concerned with provisions for convenience as we are.

Remember that "Online Donations" tax deductible.  They cost nothing to the donor. St. Mark's pays (PayPalTM) a small 3% processing fee.

How to Donate to St. Mark's Using PayPal's Secure Transaction Site

(Note: You will see a PayPalTM login box, for the convenience of PayPal members. You DO NOT need a PayPal account, and you DO NOT need to log in with an email address or password. Simply ignore the PayPal login box unless you are a PayPal member and prefer to use your PayPal account rather than your charge card.)

1. Click on the "Make a Donation" button above.
2. In the "Payment For" box, enter the purpose for your donation.
   eg, "Regular pledge payment" or "DreamBuilders' Mission" or "Rector's Discretionary Ministry Fund" etc.
3. Next, in the "Amount" box, enter the amount:
   eg, "1000" or "575.50" etc.
4. Next, to donate with your credit card (Visa, MC, Discover, or AmEx) without a PayPal account (you DO NOT need a PayPal account), complete your billing information and click on the "continue checkout" button.
   
   OR, to use an existing PayPal account, log in and continue.