Stewardship as a Way of Life
Ministry Team
Mission statement:
The mission of the stewardship ministry team of Teller County Catholic Community is to further the mission of our parish community by fostering an awareness of God’s abundant blessings in the gifts God has given each of us; and encouraging and enabling our parishioners to respond to God’s love by sharing their gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Most importantly the team will call forth all parishioners of all ages to active discipleship in the parish.
Ministry Description:
The stewardship ministry team is responsible for the ongoing stewardship educational efforts of Teller County Catholic Community. The team is committed to building a community of prayer and hospitality which welcomes and affirms all gifts. The stewardship team develops ministries for welcoming new parishioners, designs creative tools which invite all parishioners to share their time, talent, and treasures.
The team assists the pastor in developing stewardship as a way of life in the parish, a positive attitude of the mind and heart that is expressed in action and emphasizing that all people, things, and experiences are gifts from God and belong to God.
An active parish stewardship team is an essential and necessary element in designing, implementing and maintaining the Stewardship mentality. This ministry team is instrumental in assisting the pastor and pastoral council in the areas of education, formation, facilitation, communication, implementation, follow-up, and evaluation of the parish stewardship ministry.
Membership
Five to seven members and a staff member will comprise the stewardship ministry team chosen by the pastor or pastoral council. The team will be a standing ad hoc ministry team of the parish accountable to the Pastor and the Pastoral Council. The team will carry out the Eucharistic mission for the Church under the direction of the pastor. In order to keep a fresh perspective membership on the team should not exceed three years.
Chairperson
The chairperson of the team will be chosen by the pastor and will sit on the pastoral council. He/she will also work closely with the pastor, staff, pastoral council representative and the diocesan representative from stewardship office. The chair will be responsible for preparing the agenda with the input of the pastor, staff, pastoral council, and the team members. He/she will also ensure that the team stay on task, keeps a positive tone, calls forth responsible disciples.
Vice-Chairperson
The vice-chair will be chosen by the pastor and will sit on the finance council. He/she shall prepare the agenda and preside at any meetings which the chairperson is unable to attend. Will perform other additional duties assigned by the pastor, staff, finance council, or the chairperson.
Secretary
Will be chosen yearly by the team and shall maintain a written record of all actions of the team. The secretary will preserve all reports, proposals, and documents entrusted to his/her care. Finally the secretary will arrange for the mailing of meeting minutes to the pastor, finance council, and all team members.
Ministry Goals
The Stewardship ministry team will…
- Study the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Document on Stewardship as a way of life and implement it in our parish.
- Understand and promote the Biblical concept of stewardship to all parishioners and parish ministries.
- Call forth all parishioners to responsible stewardship of their time, talent, and treasure.
- Assist the pastor, staff, and pastoral council in the overall design, implementation and evaluation of the parish stewardship as a way of life in the parish.
- Develop a comprehensive timetable and related procedures to facilitate an annual commitment process.
- Pursue available forms of communication to build awareness of Stewardship and parish activities, such as bulletins, parish website, newsletters, witness talks, ministry fair, homilies, face book, twitter, etc…
- Coordinate Stewardship welcoming ministry.
- Consider a plan to encourage youth to give of their time, talent, and treasure.
- Design Stewardship as a way of life commitment forms.
- Assist in seeking and selecting speakers for personal Stewardship witness presentations.
- Recruit new parishioners to active discipleship in the parish.
- Design and implement a timely thank process to parishioners for their contribution of their time, talent, and treasure.
- Evaluate and improve Stewardship awareness and efforts on a regular basis.
- Develop a mentality and spirituality of Stewardship as a Way of Life in Teller County Catholic Community.
Key Stewardship activities include but not exclude other possibilities:
- Education Coordination – The team will study the Bishops document of Stewardship and develop a plan to implement the contents of the document. The team will also be responsible for designing, creating and distributing educational material pertaining to Stewardship. The creation of this material would need to be done so that the design would carry through with bulletin inserts, bulletin blurbs, face book, website, email, twitter etc… and creative forms of communication.
- Lay Witness Coordination – Ensuring the selection and coordinating the scheduling of monthly lay witness talks at all Masses throughout the year. Duties also include providing the training/guidelines for lay witnesses. Lay witnesses will be scheduled 10 minutes before each Mass one weekend a month. The witness talk should be from 3 to 5 minutes in length.
- Ministry Fair Coordination – Communicating this event to the ministry leaders and the entire parish. Duties include determining a theme, coordinating refreshments, publicity, site preparation and ensuring ministry leaders have the information they need to allow for their maximum participation.
- Call to Discipleship Weekend – Develop a yearly commitment card weekend in the parish. Compiling data of pledges of time, talent, and treasure. And ensuring a successful campaign to call forth committed disciples in our parish community.
Revised 8/1/2012
