Spencer parish develops long-range stewardship plan

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
May 1, 2008

SPENCER - When most people think of stewardship, money usually comes to mind, however, it really encompasses the giving of time, talent and treasure.

One parish in the Diocese of Sioux City, Sacred Heart in Spencer, recently opted to take a closer look at what it means to be a good steward and develop a plan relating to stewardship.

According the Father Brent Lingle of Sacred Heart Parish in Spencer, the parish finance council had inquired if the diocesan director of stewardship could assist them with information regarding planned giving.

A discussion with Kristie Arlt, the director of stewardship for the Diocese of Sioux City, got the young priest thinking about the importance of the parish taking a more comprehensive approach to stewardship.

With that in mind, about a month ago Arlt gave a stewardship presentation to the Sacred Heart Finance Council.

The stewardship director spoke of the three aspects of stewardship - time, talent and treasure and told them about the makeup and functions of a stewardship committee. At that time, Arlt recommended that they pull together a group of parishioners to look at the parish's strengths and weaknesses in the area of stewardship and from there they could develop a plan of action for the future.

Planning session

On April 27, Arlt returned to Spencer to facilitate a stewardship-focused strategic planning session at Sacred Heart.

"I had a group - my finance council and about 30 parishioners - that discussed where we are at in our parish," noted Father Lingle. "We identified our strong points and areas where we could focus on and grow; specifically focused on the areas of hospitality, ministry and stewardship (in relation to finances)."

In order to get a broad-base of perspectives, Father Lingle personally invited people with diverse backgrounds.

It was that personal invitation that spurred the involvement of Joe Zenkovich, a parishioner at Sacred Heart. He mentioned that without Father Lingle directly contacting him, he is uncertain if he would have actually participated because like so many others do, it's easy to think that others will do it.

"I wasn't too sure going into the meeting what it would be about. I thought it would be stewardship where we need money, money, money," he acknowledged. The planning session opened his eyes to the true meaning of stewardship with the time, talent and treasure.

Dick Montgomery, a member of the finance council, said that through this planning session he learned that if a parish is strong in hospitalities and its ministries "then stewardship will take care of itself." Because "people give to people," if parishioners feel welcome in the parish and are involved in ministries, then they are more likely to be better givers.

Father Lingle agreed.

"If you have the programs of hospitality to welcome new families and make people feel comfortable and at-home in their parish, then they are more apt to participate in programs and be part of the different ministries and of course they are more apt to financially support the parish as well," said the priest.

Great input

Father Lingle said from the very beginning of the planning meeting, people offered great input. Participants identified youth ministry, religious education and the Catholic school as strengths, but acknowledged that they need to work on welcoming new and young families to the parish as well as continued education for lectors and other ministries.

While raising money is important, the priest stressed "more important is making the parish a welcoming place, a place that is active in carrying out the works of the Gospel."

Arlt pointed out that as the long-range planning process began in Spencer, she threw out some ideas to get the conversation underway but that's all it took.

"They jumped in and had some great ideas," she said. "They also shared some frustrations - which there always are in parishes. They know better than anyone, where the areas of improvement need to be in their parish."

Carol Olberding, a parishioner, said the planning session gave them a chance to brainstorm and come up with some great ideas to help improve the parish. It also identified some areas where they need improvement.

She said it was important to look at stewardship in order to keep the parish alive and healthy and make it even better than it is today.

Zenkovich found it exciting to talk to other parishioners about what is happening in the parish and look at some possible solutions.

"It's easy to get in a rut, whether you are a parish, whether you have your own small business or just in life in general," he said. "You get in your comfort zone. This meeting helped us look at where we want to be in the future and look for ways to get there."

As the planning session drew to a close, Arlt had them prioritize all of the goals.

Arlt is in the process of compiling the information from the long-range planning meeting. Based on input from the meeting participants, she will list the identified priorities and will offer recommendations for the plan of action.

She will meet with Father Lingle and they will roll the information out to the finance council and the group. From there, the three areas of hospitality, ministries and stewardship will become subcommittees and even more parishioners will become directly involved in implementing the parish's long-range stewardship plan.

Through this long-range process, Montgomery said he believes it will make the parish stronger.

"It makes it a better parish, a more welcoming parish, a parish that has a wonderful community. If you can do that and provide ministries to those people in your community, the financial aspect will just fall into place," he said.

Here to help

Arlt stressed the fact that a big part of her job is to assist parishes with their stewardship programs "whether they have one in place but now some new ideas or different perspectives or parishes that want to build one from the ground up."

She can assist parishes by helping them evaluate parishioner giving in all realms of time, talent and treasure.

"A parish can possibly look at a planning day to get parishioners' input to start a stewardship program from the ground up, but also there are other areas where the Office of Stewardship can offer assistance - wills awareness, seminars and planned giving," said Arlt. "If any parish wants my help, they can contact me."

She mentioned that when she goes into a parish, she doesn't do so with a one-size-fits-all plan. She listens to the needs of the individual parish.

If you are interested in more information about stewardship, contact Arlt at kristia@ scdiocese.org.