Stewardship Fair Contact: Jane Osborn - 886-6764
3.08.08
Stewardship - A Way of Life“Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord: as certain as the dawn is his coming.” Hosea 6:3
Just as the Parable of the Talents, our God is the owner of everything. He is the master who has entrusted many gifts to us. Someday He will return and ask, “What did you do with the gifts I gave to you? Will He be pleased with our report? Will we hear His invitation to lasting joy, “Well done, myh good and faithful servant...Come, share your master’s joy.”
Matthew 25:21
The St. Mary's Stewardship Fair is a gathering of all organizations and ministries at our parish in one location. Each organization/ ministry will design a booth to showcase the activities of that organization/ministry to increase the general knowledge of our parish. The idea to to get people interested in volunteering their time and talents and for them to adopt stewardship as a way of life. This event will be held annually each February in the Parish Hall, sponsored by the Parish Council.
The Stewardship Fair is a celebration of the participation, contributions and importance of the work of those in our parish ministries. The ultimate goal of this event is to increase the levels of ministry, participation and involvement. Making a commitment to the Church will help parishioners to grow in their relationship with God and with each others.
The purposes of a Stewardship Fair:
- Celebrate the life of the parish; i.e. its mission, ministries, diversity and character.
- Spur interest
- Increase the general knowledge of parish activities
- Help the ministries and organizations involved increase their effectiveness by developing a greater sense of who they are and what their mission is or should be.
Why this festival is important to our parish life:
- Fairs bring people together who are already involved with various organizations.
- With proper planning, fairs can attract many new faces from the parish, bringing even more people together at one time.
- Fairs provide two things for people: a social-type gathering and information about parish life that needs to be known by all.
- Fairs do not deal will the treasure aspects of stewardship. Instead they focus directly on the time and talents of its members.
The Stewardship Prayer:
My church is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is.
It will be friendly, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver.
It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, if I invite and bring them.
It will be a church of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, and a church with a noble spirit,
if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things.
Therefore, with the help of God, I shall dedicate myself to the task of being all the things that I want my church to be.
1 Peter 4:10 Stewardship is based on these convictions:
1. Mature disciples make a conscious, firm decision, carried out in action, to be followers of Jesus Christ no matter the cost to themselves.2. Beginning in conversion, change of mind and heart, this commitment is expressed not in a single action, nor even ina number of actions over a period of time, but in an entire way of life. It means committing one's very self to the Lord.
3. Stewardship is an expression of discipleship, with the power to change how we understand and live out our lives. Disciples who practice stewardship recognize God as the origin of life, the giver of freedom, the source of all we have and are and will be.
USCCB pastoral on stewardship...A Christian steward is one who:
1. Receives God's gifts gratefully
2. Cherishes and tends them in a responsible and accountable manner
3. Shares them in justice and love with others and
4. Returns them with increase to the LordTherefore we commit of our time, talent and treasure to our church.
208 Meridian Street, PO Box 309 - Tipton, Iowa 52772
Ph: 563-886-2506 Fax: 563-886-6326
tiptonsm@netwtc.net
Last updated 07/13/2008