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Congregation Vitality Contact

John Edgar
Director of Congregation Support
[email protected]

Visitations
Wendy Martucci
Executive Assistant to the Bishop
[email protected]

Mutual Ministry Review
Beth Gould
Executive Assistant to the Canon to the Ordinary
[email protected]

The Diocese of Southwest Florida offers regular support for the stewardship efforts of our congregations through a yearly Stewardship event, held each August, and resources that are always available to parishes.  The goal of the Diocesan Stewardship program is to assist congregations not only in their yearly campaigns, but in cultivating the gifts in our Diocese.

 

Resources for Stewardship

  • Episcopal Church Foundation: Stewardship resources and ideas for planned giving/capital campaigns/endowments for congregational use.  Although ECF has wound down their ECF360 giving program, they still offer a number of articles, blog posts, and webinar recordings that can direct your congregation’s conversations and strategy around annual stewardship.  We expect a new stewardship program to be brought forward soon, so stay tuned for more news about ECF and stewardship.
  • The Episcopal Network for Stewardship: TENS (as it is affectionately known) contains everything that your church needs to successfully launch your annual pledge campaign, and the Diocese has a subscription for every Episcopal church in Southwest Florida.  Please contact John Edgar for the user id and password for this resource.  Annual resources include graphic design logos, template letters, bulletin inserts, and more.
  • The Episcopal Charities Fund – Invests in communities of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, supporting church-based outreach ministries, serving the poor, and working toward the alleviation of domestic poverty.  If your church has an outreach ministry that needs funding, apply for a grant.  Grants are typically received and evaluated over the summer, and the recipients are announced at Diocesan Convention in October.

 

Annual Stewardship Workshop

Our annual Stewardship workshop is an opportunity to come together as a Diocese and welcome a guest speaker to introduce new concepts and facilitate discussion.  Resources from past workshops can be found below:

2024: Fulfilling God’s Dream

In 2024, Pastor Erica Allen of Horizons Church and Horizons Stewardship in Tampa led a discussion on guiding churches toward a more integrated and effective funding strategy rooted in vision, mission, and core values. The discussions centered around six key spiritual commitments for fostering generosity within congregations: keeping the focus spiritual, telling the ministry’s story, building relationships, challenging the congregation, measuring and paying attention to progress, and being transparent. Participants engaged in discussions to share examples and explore how these commitments could be implemented to enhance their church’s generosity and stewardship practices. The overarching message emphasized that churches don’t have a giving problem but rather need to refine their approach to fostering generosity among their members.  You can download Erica’s slides from the event by clicking on this link.

2023: Stewardship Now – How to Move Your Church Toward Successful Stewardship

In 2023, The Rev. Canon Timothy Dombek told attendees that successful stewardship was all about forming authentic relationships in our church communities.  Review the materials that he provided at the links below:

 

2022: Stewardship – A Way of Living

In 2022, Canon Mary MacGregor of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship taught about practicing stewardship in four contexts: Faithfully, Personally, Congregationally, and Practically.  Review the materials that she provided at the links below:

Last Updated: 8-26-24