2023 Stewardship Annual Campaign Resources Round Up

It’s the first week of July and time to get serious about those Fall Stewardship Campaigns. Here’s a deep dive into some of the campaign theme resources available this year. I’ll be giving my perspectives on the benefits and challenges of each resource (some of this is based on my personal design aesthetic, so feel free to disagree!) If you’re wondering how you’ll make stewardship fresh this year, or how to train your team, scroll to the bottom for information on our excellent stewardship cohorts starting in the next few weeks! Now is the time to sign up!

SALT Project – I love these resources! They are by far the most adaptable designs and themes that I saw (with editable Canva Templates, thank you Jesus!) With themes like Together for Joy, Grace in Action, Abundant Life, and A Future with Hope  the material is positive, upbeat, and dare-I-say FUN? SALT is a design company with substance, so you get lots of versions of logos, colors, a style guide, as well as

• A series of three letters, customizable to your context
• Campaign Logo and Letterhead
• A beautifully designed pledge card and giving chart
• Worship resource ideas for the campaign, including Call to Worship, Call to Offering, Prayer of Dedication, Benediction, and Specific Resources for Preaching
• Campaign clip art, for bulletins, newsletters, email, website, social media, etc.
• A lovely social media collection of campaign

Challenges – There are no specific devotional resources (thought I am considering printing the social media prompts on cards, maybe putting a simple prayer on the back to create devotional cards to pass out to my congregation.) They also don’t have any small group study guides or teaching resources, which many other themes include. Finally, I love the designs, but I do think some can feel a bit feminine. This is not necessarily a drawback, and selecting certain color options over others might mitigate.

The Center for Faith and Giving from the Disciples of Christ offers a whole host of FREE annual campaign resources. Many of the themes are lectionary based (with years A, B, and C of the RCL covered, and at least one Narrative Lectionary Cycle) and most of them are geared towards year round stewardship with ideas of themes, sermon series, activities year round. They include extensive resources for congregational study, children’s times, small church adaptations and more! I did not see any with specific personal or household devotional materials, but the groups studies could be adapted. They do not offer social media images, but they do offer a social media guide with suggestions for texts and pictures that you can adapt for your congregation.

The big weakness with these resources is their design. Logo designs tend to be weak, and as far as I could tell, they only offer one basic PNG for you to adapt. A number of the logos have years included and Disciples specific imagery that would need to be edited out. If I was using these materials, I would go to Canva to create my own designs (the templates are a miracle!)

Cokesbury has some great stewardship resources with excellent teaching about money and generosity, including some that could be used for annual campaigns. Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity looks good and you can’t go wrong with Adam Hamilton. It includes devotionals for adults (though buying a book for every household can be pricey), small group studies, videos, and some limited design options. Defying Gravity: Break from the Culture of More by Tom Berlin also looks interesting. There is a four week sermon series (with example sermons, bless their hearts right?) If you have screens in worship, there are videos for sermons and teaching as well as a larger suite of logo and design options that some of the other Cokesbury products. There is also a set of “family devotional cards” for $3 each that could be lovely to give away to every household. Finally, I thought First: Putting God First in Living and Giving by Mike Slaughter had potential – especially for churches that are a “First Church” because you can use you own church logo for the branding! It’s a nice, simple message that would be good year round. There are very limited design materials, and no specific campaign materials, but there are specific devotionals for adults and youth, as well as lessons for children.

A Sanctified Art has a stewardship series called Our Money Story. This resource includes worship resources, a printable study journal, sermon planning guide, a collaborative art project, artwork, poetry prayers, and a full branding bundle with logos, graphics, and more. It also includes, “a collection of practical guides and workbooks to equip pastors and committees in leading a successful campaign.” All in all, this resource looks to have it all, excellent design, great teaching, devotional materials, and even help for the campaign team.

Marcia McFee’s Worship Design Studio also has a stewardship series A Wonder-Full Life using the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a springboard of discussion. This four-week worship series helps us look squarely in the face of our “money issues” with mindfulness and compassion. A trusted colleague gave it excellent reviews, that both she and her congregation loved it! This series looks like it would be particularly good for a late October / November campaign, preached on the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Holiday season.

There are many more resources out there. Leave a comment with your ideas and reviews. And don’t forget to check out our stewardship cohorts! We’ve got two that should be excellent for helping a team of congregational leaders gain a new perspective the blessings of post-pandemic church life.  How to Do More with Less would be a great way to help your leaders recognize the blessings and potential in post-pandemic church life. Making Stewardship a Joy meets monthly (and July is free!) to walk through stewardship essentials and the tasks of a fall campaign with an eye toward year round stewardship. Both are just $150 to register a team We also have a cohort specifically for pastors with Horizon’s Lead Scott McKenzie – Generosity for a New Day. If you’re feeling a bit wrung out and looking for a boost for your stewardship energy, this one is for you! It’s only $75 for individuals. Click the links for more information or email charlaine@prcli.org to register.