A Reflection on Stewardship

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis

Click here to download the Stewardship pledge form

 

When I was a student at the Seminary many years ago, I asked my Spiritual Father, “What is the minimum I have to give in order to be a priest?”  With a look of sadness, he answered me, “Stavros, if you become a priest, you will hear that question a lot.  At first, it will be a question that will make you mad, it will frustrate you.  But eventually it will just become a question that makes you sad.  The answer to your question, ‘what is the minimum I have to give in order to be a priest?’ is ‘The minimum is the maximum.’  If you want to be a priest, you must give your whole life.”  I have put my whole life into being a priest.  It’s something that never gets turned off.  To the best of my ability, I try to faithfully serve the needs of this parish.  Through God’s grace and mercy, a lot of hard work, and cooperation from many people, our parish has grown considerably in the past two years.  It is no longer the half-empty, lifeless church that some people from yesteryear remember.  It is growing and thriving. On a given Sunday, the pews are filled.  Sometimes it’s standing room only. Membership is up considerably.  So is stewardship.  And this is a great blessing.

 

What is also increasing are the needs of the people.  Why?  Because there are more people in our church, and more people produce more needs—the total number of weddings, baptisms and funerals for 2006 has already exceeded 50 (and we are just starting November as I write this message)—and these, combined with a large amount of worship services, require the direct involvement of the priest.  There are more ministries—Sunday school, a newly-added Greek school, GOYA, JOY, Young Adults, Greek dance, Bible Study, Philoptochos, the Day School, Young at Heart (Seniors group), the Junior Olympics, as well as a quality monthly publication and weekly bulletin—and these ministries require the resources of the priest, the secretary, and many volunteers.  More ministries means more administrative work.  And perhaps the greatest need of the people is the need for more counseling and prayer.  In some sense, we are a victim of our own success in the areas of programs and pastoral ministry.  We live in a society where people hunger and thirst for God, for comfort, for guidance, for healing—and this brings a steady stream of people to the office for counseling, confession and prayer.  As the church grows, and people grow in their confidence of the church’s ability to meet these needs, more and more people are coming.

 

At the same time, we are quickly realizing a problem—a good problem.  As the church grows, it is still being administered by one priest and one full time secretary.  At times, the workload is so overwhelming that phone calls don’t get returned quickly enough, appointments can’t be scheduled fast enough, needs can’t be met soon enough.  Combined with all this is a church complex that is in bad need of repair—the roof of the Kourmolis Center needs to be replaced.  Anyone who has used the restroom in the center has surely noticed the deplorable state of the bathrooms.  The wiring in the church is still the original wiring, the security system needs to be re-activated, carpet needs to be replaced, and the list goes on and on. 

 

We are building a community that is growing and thriving, but the infrastructure is not keeping up—a comparison with other churches in our Metropolis finds that for the size of community we have, we have one of the lowest budgets.  And so as we celebrate the recent success of our parish, we have to challenge ourselves to be the best we can be.  We need to continue to grow and develop our ministries, and we need to repair and maintain our facilities.  And all of this starts with your stewardship.

 

As the priest of this parish, I believe in leading by example.  So, I’ll tell you how we pledge.  When my family makes its stewardship pledge, we do it prayerfully.  We don’t look at the average pledge for the community, we don’t think about what other people are doing, we don’t even look at the economy or our own financial situation.  We almost always increase our pledge and have never decreased it.  And we’ve never gone hungry.  It seems that the more we give, and the more freely we give it, the more God blesses us.  We want to be able to give more and more, and to give it with joy.  We give our pledge weekly—that way, our large pledge is paid off in manageable increments.  On the rare occasion we miss church, we just write the next week’s check for double the amount.  Our pledge form is always filled out by the beginning of December, so we aren’t waiting for the gentle reminder from the stewardship committee to get our form in.  We also have our form filled out way before the beginning of the year, so that our community knows what it can count on from us.  And we know that we can change our pledge if we ever needed to, but we’ve never had to.  Neither the economy, nor moving, nor illness, a baby on the way, or any of life’s other circumstances have ever caused us to lower our pledge.  Sure, we’ve had to cut out a few nights out for dinner, perhaps were a little less extravagant in our entertainment, and didn’t splurge at Christmas, but we’ve never skimped on God.  And we’ve never felt like we’ve lacked for anything because of it. 

 

That’s how stewardship works.  Offer freely and joyfully to God.  Offer sacrificially.  Trust God.  And God will reward you.  I’ve given my whole life to God—I have no control over where I live, what I earn, or how many times the phone rings in the middle of the night—and yet I don’t feel like I lack for much.  Every year, I try to come up with some cute slogan or campaign to get people to pledge more or fill out their form sooner.  I can’t think of any such thing this year—I make two humble requests of you:

1)Please fill out your form before Christmas.  You can pay it off throughout 2007—we just need the form now.   Click here to download the stewardship form.

 

2)Please give generously—your church needs help to more effectively minister to you.  Your church needs some repairs so that it can continue to shine as a beacon of Orthodoxy for years to come.  I’ve already had the experiences of two people dying on the same day, or two people being critically ill at the same time, or one person being critically ill with another coming to the door for counseling at the same time, and I’ve had to make choices that are difficult and painful to make, and people’s needs haven’t been met. 

 

The church budget for 2007 is over $450,000.  We currently have just over 300 pledging families.  That means it costs an average of $1,500 per family to keep our church operating.  If each family pledged $100 more than last year (30 cents a day), that would increase our stewardship by $30,000.  If each family moved up one category on the giving chart (enclosed), that would increase stewardship by $30,000.  If everyone pledged two percent of their gross income or one hour’s pay a week, we’d meet our whole budget on stewardship.  Just a few thoughts as you prepare to fill out your stewardship form.

 

For those who just habitually fill out the form with a token amount, or who wait for the fifth reminder to fill it out, please do something different this year—PRAY about your stewardship.  OFFER something sacrificial and substantial.  Do it with JOY.  The Liturgy of our church directs us to commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.  This is the road we must travel down in order to inherit God’s kingdom.  Your stewardship makes a statement about exactly how much of your life you are willing to commit to God.  And how we pledge—out of joy or obligation, a token amount or a sacrificial one—says a lot about how much we value our salvation and how committed we are to being an Orthodox Christian. 

 

So please pledge today.  Thank you for your continued support of St. John Greek Orthodox Church.

With love in Christ,

+Fr. Stavros

Some Statistics from Recent Years on Stewardship at St. John

 

Who is pledging and how much did we give in 2006?

Range (in terms of dollars)               # of families in each range               Percentage of

Stewards in this category of giving

    0-199                                            44                                  14.52%  

200-399                                           72                                  23.76%  

400-599                                           47                                  15.51%  

600-799                                           39                                  12.87%  

800-999                                           9                                    2.97%  

1000-1199                                       31                                  10.23%  

1200-1499                                       23                                  7.59%  

1500-1999                                       5                                    1.65%  

2000-2499                                       16                                  5.28%  

2500-2999                                       7                                    2.31%  

3000-3999                                       5                                    1.65%  

4000-4999                                       0                                    0.00%  

5000+                                              5                                    1.65%

Note:    51.55% of our Stewards have pledged $500.00 or less.  The average pledge of $822.10 is held up by several large pledges.

 

Would you consider moving up one category for 2008? 

Increasing your pledge by $100 comes out to 30 cents a day. 

If 300 stewards increase by $100 each, that adds up to $30,000! 

 

WE GIVE BECAUSE THE CHURCH HAS NEEDS.

 

BUT MORE THAN NEEDS, THE CHURCH IS SOMETHING WE ALL NEED.

 

PLEDGE GUIDELINES

Suggested Levels of Giving

The following table of income and suggested yearly/monthly/weekly offering is provided as a guide.

 

 

What happens if I need to revise my commitment?

You can change your pledge according to your changing financial situation by submitting a new pledge form.

 

What is the best number to call if I need more information?

Please call (813) 876-8830, Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and we will be happy to answer your questions.  You can also see Father Stavros or any member of the Parish Council or Stewardship Committee.

 

Remember, it costs about $1,500 per family to operate our church. 

That comes out to $30 per week per family. 

Some can afford less. 

Many can afford much more!

 

Click here to download the Stewardship pledge form