Endowment Fund Building Handbook for Local Churches
Part 2 of 9
Part 2 of 9
- Part 1 -- The Place of Endowment Funds in the Local Church
- Part 2 -- How Pastors Can Encourage Planned/Deferred Gifts
- Part 3 -- Encouraging Gifts to a Local Church Endowment Fund
- Part 4 -- Guide to Memorial and Honor Giving in the Local Church
- Part 5 -- Descriptions of the Major Planned Gift Vehicles
- Part 6 -- Planned Giving Resources for Your Use in the Local Church
- Part 7 -- Getting Started on a Local Church Endowment Fund
- Part 8 -- Holding an Estate and Gift Workshop in Your Church
- Part 9 -- A Model for an Estate Planning Seminar in Your Church
How Pastors Can Encourage Planned Gifts
This material is excerpted from the "Planned Giving Handbook for Local Churches" published by the National Association of United Methodist Foundations.
There are quite a few ways that a local church pastor can encourage planned and deferred gifts from the church's members:
- Preach on Biblical themes pertaining to being good stewards of one's trust from God (including one's income and accumulated possessions).
- Teach in adult education settings the subject of responsible Christian stewardship in matters of personal financial planning and estate planning.
- Counsel with persons as a part of your pastoral ministry on the importance of wills and estate planning, especially in conjunction with premarital counseling, preparation for baptism of children, counseling at times of health crisis or at the death of a spouse, and pre-planning funeral arrangements.
- Encourage the formation of a "Permanent Endowment Fund Committee" in the local church which will in turn seek to promote bequests, life income gifts, and other planned gifts in the life of the congregation.
- Educate yourself about planned giving opportunities drawing upon basic information available through your Conference/Area United Methodist foundation. Study and become familiar with this resource, PLANNED GIVING HANDBOOK FOR LOCAL CHURCHES, and other sources which the foundation office can recommend.
- Communicate with church members through the various church media channels about the importance of Christian estate planning and the opportunities for giving through careful, prayerful, and creative gift planning.
- Encourage the lay leadership to plan (and attend, and support) stewardship events in the local church such as Estate and Gift Planning Workshops, Estate Planning Seminars, workshops on Creative Gift Planning, and Financial Planning Seminars.
- Develop a long-range planning process with the congregation culminating in a mission statement which includes endowment funding for the church's mission and ministry to and with future generations.
- Acknowledge personally and publicly the receiving of bequests and other planned gifts which benefit the local church as a way of encouraging others as well as a way of saying "thank you" to donors.
- Celebrate with gratitude what faithful friends have made possible through planned gifts that support the ministry and mission of the church today (in other words, what is being made possible because of planned giving and endowment funding).
- Evaluate your own estate plan. (Have you included the church or other charitable institutions in your will?)
- Minister patiently and faithfully since this important aspect of Christian stewardship takes time to "bear fruit".
