The annual observance of Lent brings a two-fold theme of repentance from sin and selfishness, thereby renewing our baptismal commitment, as well as our annual preparation for the celebration of Easter. Traditionally the Church has taught us to turn with renewed discipline and dedication to the spiritual pillars of prayer, penance, and giving. Prayer The […]
Category: Stewardship
At Nativity we often find ourselves defying common wisdom and standard practice, much to the ongoing astonishment of many colleagues and friends. We don’t do it just to be different, we do it because so much of what goes on in churchworld no longer works. But church-people keep doing it anyway, because, well, that’s what […]
Our senior leadership team just wrapped up two intense days of review and planning for our parish, looking ahead to 2015. We worked with our friend, Patrick Lencioni. Pat is author of more than 10 best selling books all about best practices in business and leadership development. If you haven’t read any of his stuff, […]
This time of year brings our annual celebration of Stewardship Sunday when we talk about our stewardship of our local parish church, our investment in this part of Christ’s kingdom movement, here in Timonium, Maryland. Here are 8 things we do that have helped make our stewardship appeals quite successful in recent years: #1. We […]
We have all heard it said that timing is everything. And when it comes to God’s timing, it’s perfect. In the Bible, the prophet Habakkuk understood that well. He speaks words of hope and inspiration to God’s people, amidst a period filled with daunting challenges. Despite the difficulties, Habakkuk sees God poised and ready to […]
The prophet Habakkuk writes at a time when all seems lost in his generation. He complains to God because there is violence and corruption throughout his country of Judah. He is disillusioned as the good and righteous people have no power and authority while the evil rule over them and seem to triumph, and meanwhile […]
We don’t like to sacrifice, we never do. But we do it all the time anyway mostly because of what is associated with it, or what is on the other side of it. That’s because sacrifice often brings reward. The most attractive sacrifice is about giving up something of smaller or lesser value for something […]
Last week we kicked off our Vision Campaign. Vision is a new message series, but it is more than a message series too, it is a whole new season of life for our parish. We’re looking ahead to where God is blessing and where he wants us going. And as part of that process we’re […]
Every year we take one Sunday (and only one Sunday out of the whole year), to talk about giving to our local church. We talk about money regularly, because Jesus did. But we only talk about giving to this church once a year, we call it Stewardship Sunday. And it is all about remembering and […]
This weekend we are celebrating Stewardship Sunday all weekend long. It is the one time of the year when we reflect on the financial stewardship of Church of the Nativity. We have been increasingly disciplined about this in recent years, eliminating fundraisers and other distractions from the giving God wants. We talk about giving that […]
