Our Money Story: A New & Creative Approach to stewardship
Several months ago, we sent out a survey to ask our community if you would be interested in stewardship resources and we got a wonderful response! We understand why. Many of you are weary and wary of talking about money. Often, stewardship is treated as a “necessary evil.” You do the same thing year after year and need some new energy. Well, we are excited to share our very first stewardship bundle with you! A Sanctified Art has teamed up with the Vandersall Collective to bring you fresh, engaging, and relevant stewardship resources with theological depth.
When the pandemic created an undeniable impact on the economy, we knew that these resources would be crucial in the months ahead. As one survey respondent* wrote, “I'm wondering about how people figure out how much to give and manage regular giving when finances can be unpredictable or stressful.” In the midst of economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever to share our money stories, imagine God’s money story, and offer others a chance to give. Here’s how the Our Money Story stewardship series can help with that and how the survey responses helped us create the creative resources your congregation is looking for.
A direct, narrative-driven theme
“I’m tired of generalities pretending we aren’t talking about money.” “I’d like to see stewardship resources that address how to discover the story of God's generosity within each of us and then how to share our story with others.”
The Our Money Story theme invites us to discover and tell our money stories in light of God’s money story and transform our stewardship practices into more full expressions of who we are and what we believe. This theme is intentionally direct—it invites us to name exactly what we’re talking about and not skirt around it. Money and possessions are one of the most common topics in scripture, and Jesus talked about money more than faith and prayer. Our money story, therefore, is a spiritual story. Thinking about God’s money story should be liberating, inviting, and transformative.
Spiritual foundations for stewardship teams
“I’d like to see a more holistic view of stewardship and its role in mental and spiritual health.”
Finance committees are not just number crunchers. They are members of your church with spiritual lives. What would it look like for them to have spiritual preparation and support as they undertake a stewardship campaign? We’ve included two workbooks in our Practical Toolkit for Stewardship to help your finance, budget, and/or stewardship team name their individual money stories as well as your church’s money story in light of God’s money story—crucial work that underlies all of our giving practices.
Fresh takes on scripture
“I’m tired of anything about being a cheerful giver.”
You won’t find the phrase, “God loves a cheerful giver” in this series. We have carefully selected eight stories that help us remember, release, reimagine, and restore our money stories. You’ll find original commentary in the Sermon Planning Guide, Lessons for Children covering each story, plus eight new images and artist statements inspired by the scriptures in our Visual Art Collection. You might be surprised by some of the stories we chose!
Practical tools for churches
“How do we approach stewardship with young adult generations who simply have less disposable income due to an increasingly unjust economy, higher cost of living, student loan debt, etc.?”
Thanks to the experts at Vandersall Collective, we have included a practical guide that gives you tips on how to effectively lead a stewardship campaign. This guide is filled with best practices, including the importance of relationship in giving and different generational-based approaches to stewardship.
A focus on community and individual stewardship
“I’m wary of anything that focuses too much on giving without also looking at how the church returns that investment in support and spiritual leadership.”
The resources we’ve created for Our Money Story are not just about individuals giving or about how the church is a steward of its resources—they’re about both. The Our Money Story workbooks have portions for crafting individual money stories (influencing how and why we give) and communal money stories (influencing how we budget and spend church resources). They work together to integrate these two vital pieces.
Creative ways to engage everyone...
“I love the idea of a cross-generational creative expression of stewardship.”
Our resources cover many ways to engage with the stewardship season: liturgy for worship, original art, a study journal for small groups, an intergenerational art project, poetry, practical tools for committees and pastors, and more. We hope all of these resources inspire your own creativity, and that you will adapt these resources to best include everyone in your congregation.
...even children!
“I'd love to see a children's component to this. I think they can sometimes get lost in the stewardship conversation and I want to be sure that we're teaching children from a young age about sharing our money.”
We’ve included Stewardship Lessons for Children for all the scriptures, including questions to open the lesson, a script to use in communicating the main idea, a short prayer, and an extension activity that requires little preparation and few (if any) supplies. We also hope you’ll include all ages in creating your intergenerational art project!
If you’re ready to bring creativity and energy back into your stewardship practices, we hope you’ll take a look at our free infographic and all the resources included in the entire bundle and imagine how this theme could come to life in your own congregation as you remember, release, reimagine, and restore your money stories.
* Survey responses may be edited for clarity. We are incredibly grateful to the 169 anonymous respondents who offered their feedback to guide us in creating fresh, relevant, and justice-focused resources.
Anna Strickland
A Sanctified Art Operations Support + Content Creator
Anna Strickland (she/her/hers) looks for the Divine in the everyday like treasure in clay jars and first encountered God in the integration of her spiritual self and artistic self. She is a native Austinite and graduated from the University of Texas where she now works in college ministry, especially serving LGBTQ students.