Stewardship and Online Giving
Stewardship is about thanksgiving – how we manage our time, abilities, and resources to do God’s work at St. Stephen’s and in our community.
In the Episcopal Church, each member is encouraged to support his or her parish financially. Each of us at St. Stephen’s is asked to give some of our money every year to this parish, as a way of thanking God for all that God so freely gives us. Many of us pledge to give a specific amount each year, on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. We count it a blessing and a joy to support St. Stephen’s in this way. Every pledge is needed and welcomed!
But we also see stewardship as more than simply contributing money to the church; it’s also about contributing time and talents and volunteering for ministry and mission. It’s about reaching out to build relationships from a perspective of abundance instead of scarcity.
Stewardship is, simply put, our responsibility to care for God’s gifts, and to use those gifts to glorify God, to serve the common good, and to further God’s kingdom.
Nearly every Sunday, the offertory sentence comes from Ephesians 5:2 “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.” Our Stewardship theme for this year is Walk in Love, and it calls us to remember that our greatest gift in community is how we come together in purpose and mission. When we walk in love in the same direction, we can do so many things.
Generosity is a journey, it’s a practice that we learn and nurture within our hearts. It just isn’t in our nature to give away what we have worked hard to acquire or to donate our precious time without compensation. It takes something as radical as Love to inspire us to share our time, talent, and treasure with others. This is a journey we make together, a Walk in Love.
This year as our Stewardship Campaign kicks off, we will be intentionally raising up stories of how we Walk in Love with each other in our congregation, and how St. Stephen’s walks with each of us. We invite you to share your stories of inspiration and connection with our shared ministry in this place and with each other. We invite you to Walk in Love.
Check out our 2024 Narrative Budget
This Narrative Budget gives a profile of how St. Stephen’s manifests its stewardship. It emphasizes that in being good stewards of our time, talent, and money to the ministries of our parish, we are in fact, witnessing our faith. What we do with the gifts we have been given by God, is the best witness of what we really believe and where we place our trust. We hope this narrative form of the budget will help you better understand how the money you share with us is spent in terms of our ministry, and how the leadership understands these areas of ministry.
Fill out your Annual Pledge Online!
To Donate Via PayPal
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To Donate Cash or a Check
During worship, you can place your contribution in the offering plate, or mail your contribution to:
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
1110 St Stephens Church Road
Crownsville, MD 21032
To Mail in an Annual Pledge
Download the annual pledge form, fill it out, and mail it to:
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
1110 St Stephens Church Road
Crownsville, MD 21032
