Stewardship
Generously using all we have and all we are in faithful service to God, Creation, and humankind.
Essentials of Stewardship
MMFA provides Stewardship Services to help people of faith live more fully into our identity as stewards by inviting churches to pay more attention to these four essentials of stewardship.
THEOLOGY
Putting stewardship teachings grounded in scripture into practice.
LEADERSHIP
Shaping leaders who share the the responsibility, privilege, and joy of being God's stewards.
MISSION & VISION
Connecting our gifts of time, talent, treasure, and more with God's work through the church.
WHOLE LIFE FOCUS
Ensuring holistic stewardship education and formation take place all year.
SHORT TERM GOALS
LONG-TERM CHANGES THE CHURCH HOPES TO SEE
BENCHMARKS
ACTION PLANS
click here to help you develop the essential areas of stewardship
“The support of the MMFA in stewardship services has been invaluable to our church’s work over the past few years. Laura Watson has guided us throughout the process of developing a stewardship team, and she continues to help facilitate our work. Her knowledge of stewardship and its practical application and scriptural foundation has been most appreciated by our church.
“MMFA helped to lay the groundwork for our board’s work in redeveloping our mission statement. They have also been instrumental in moving us to begin thinking about stewardship as a year-long activity–showing us how stewardship envelopes all of our actions as a church.”
– The Rev. Scott Rainey, Unity Moravian Church
Stewardship Services
Training
- In-person and online
- Topics include best practices, trends, and more
Tools
- Narrative budgeting
- Financial stewardship programs from ecumenical partners
- Guide for whole life stewardship planning
- Thematic campaigns
- Congregational gift planning support
Facilitation & Coaching
- Guided board conversations
- Health assessment
- Action plan development
Relationship Building
- Communication support
- Inspiration and sharing information
- Connecting ministries
Ministry Develoment
As part of MMFA’s Stewardship Services, we offer ministry development that provides coaching and guidance to help your organization build capacity and make informed decisions about fundraising. We help you grow the resources you need to support and strengthen your church with capital fundraising by conducting feasibility studies and sharing capital campaign resources and best practices. We also partner with Moravian agencies and new and emerging ministries to strengthen their fundraising efforts — ALL FREE OF CHARGE!
Feasibility Studies
MMFA provides feasibility studies at no cost to your ministry. We engage your supporters in conversations about the potential campaign to assess:
- How they view the church/agency/ministry
- How they view the proposed project(s) to be funded by the campaign
- Whether the campaign goal is realistic
- Whether the church/agency is ready to conduct a campaign
- Whether there are people willing to volunteer for the campaign
More specifically, the feasibility study will answer some of the following questions:
- Is the proposed project perceived as important?
- Does the project make sense?
- Are people who can make major gifts likely to do so?
- How much money is the church/agency likely to raise?
- What are the best strategies for the campaign?
- Are there enough people willing to help with the campaign, and will they be dedicated enough to see it through to completion?
- What is a reasonable timetable for the campaign?
- What must the church/agency do to get ready?
- What factors will be important for the campaign to succeed?
Capital Campaign Consultation and Resource Sharing
In addition to conducting campaign feasibility studies, MMFA:
- Meets with leadership to assess campaign readiness
- Develops a customized gift table to assist leadership with determining if the campaign goal is realistic
- Shares campaign best practices and strategies for success
- Provides a broad range of campaign resources, including:
- management timelines
- campaign chair and committee responsibilities,
- brochure, letter and pledge card samples
- campaign kickoff event basics
- major gift solicitation
Is your ministry or organization considering a capital campaign?
Here are five key questions to consider before starting the process.
Fundraising
We help Moravian ministries strengthen their support in a variety of ways, including:
- Analyzing existing fundraising efforts
- Creating a comprehensive development plan
- Training staff and agency leadership on effective fundraising techniques
- Sharing current fundraising trends and best practices
- Providing resources for annual and special appeals, donor stewardship, major gift solicitation, and more
