Grateful Caretakers of God's Many Gifts: A Parish Manual to Foster the Sharing of Time, Talent, and Treasure (Sacrificial Giving Program) Book

The message of stewardship invites us to give our time, talent, and treasure in gratitude for our abundant blessings. Fostering grateful caretakers in parishes is an ongoing task that requires vision, courage, and trust. In Grateful Caretakers of God?s Many Gifts, the first major revision of Joseph Champlin?s ground-breaking sacrificial giving program, Father Champlin continues to encourage the sharing of treasure, time, and talent--transforming parishioners into grateful caretakers of God?s many gifts. Grateful Caretakers of God?s Many Gifts provides a theological and biblical basis for stewardship and gives detailed guidance for sharing time, talent, and treasure. It also offers the history, foundational principles, and implementation steps for sacrificial giving, a form of stewardship. The manual likewise provides a wealth of material for sustaining and strengthening grateful caretaking in a parish on a long-term basis. It offers practical suggestions on a number of special issues in stewardship including accountability, annual renewals, customized direct deposit of Sunday offerings, planned giving and parish stewardship councils, and training our youth to share. Father Champlin shows that the sacrificial giving process effectively supports grateful caretakers of God?s gifts: people in the parish willing to share significantly their time, talent, and treasure for the Church and the world. It has been proven in practice, is biblically and theologically sound, actively involves lay persons, touches the hearts of parishioners, is uncomplicated and inexpensive to implement, produces impressive short-term results, and provides long-term possibilities. Grateful Caretakers of God?s Many Gifts builds on Father Champlin?s original sacrificial giving publications in both the theory and practice of how to motivate parishioners to become active stewards of their faith. It has on-going value for those concerned about fostering grateful caretaking in a parish. Chapters include "A Theology of Grateful Sacrificial Giving and Responsible Caretaking," "Biblical Bases for Grateful Caretaking and Sacrificial Giving," "Sharing Time and Talent," "Sharing Treasure," "Evaluating and Introducing Sacrificial Giving," "Communicating the Stewardship Message," "Preaching and Celebrating Grateful Caretaking," "Renewals, Accountability, Training our Youth, Direct Deposit, Planned Giving and Parish Stewardship Councils." Appendix I: "Supportive Materials." Appendix II: "Success Stories." Includes the following sample documents: Annual Parish Financial Report, Sample Envelope, Sample of Sacrificial Giving Report, and Bills Paid Section Bulletin.Read More