Page Roles of the Stewardship and Finance Committee

Page 2 1. Know the Condition of your Flock Remember that there cannot be faithfulness without spirituality Of the total sheep that there are in a local church, how many are strong and healthy in the spiritual and in their faithfulness in regards to tithing? Here we have one of the first roles of the Stewardship and Finance Committee, which is to establish, from the total membership of the local church, how many show signs of being healthy and how many show signs of being ill The Visitation Committee will perform its work with this list

Page 3 1. Know the Condition of your flock Referring to the Lord’s flock, Ezekiel 34:4, says: “The weak sheep you have not strengthened, the sick sheep you have not healed, the injured sheep you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought.”

Page In light of this text, let us consider a stewardship component, as is that of spiritual life: If a sheep does not read at least the Bible year, if its prayer life is minimal, if it does not read the devotional or study the Sabbath School lesson, is the sheep weak or strong?

Page 5 1. Know the Condition of your flock Now let us consider the finance component in the life of that sheep and associate it with tithe, a vital aspect in the Christian experience: If that sheep is not faithful in returning its tithe, is it a weak or strong sheep? A wayward sheep or one that is walking on the right path? Lost or found?

Page 6 2. Go and Find Let us observe the verse of Ezekiel 34:4, and take careful note of the words in cursive, since they indicate what the committee should do with the sick sheep: “The weak sheep you have not strengthened, the sick sheep you have not healed, the injured sheep you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought." You must strengthen, take care of, heal, bring back, and seek them. This is the great ministry given to the Stewardship and Finance Committee and the local church board. It is a labor of redemption.

Page 7 3. An Educator of tithing “Some fail to educate the people to do their whole duty. They preach that part of our faith which will not create opposition and displease their hearers; but they do not declare the whole truth. The poeple enjoy their preaching; but here is a lack of spirituality, because the claims of God are not met. His poeple do not give Him in thithes and offerings that which is His own.” (Counsels on Stewardship, p. 87). Let us observe in this quote the relationship between the spiritual and tithe. There is a relationship of cause and effect. Therefore, the Stewardship and Finance Committee must educate in regards to tithing. “Let no one neglect to give faithful and plain instruction upon tithing. Let there be instruction as to giving to the Lord that which He claims as His own.” (Evangelism, p. 251).

Page 8 Motivate and implement the stewardship plan found in this Instructive with the purpose of achieving comprehensive, spiritual, and financial development in each church member. 4. Executor of the Stewardship Plan

Page 9 5. Report “Leaders of other board-appointed committees should periodically report.” (Church Manual, p. 178) The recommendation is that this report be given every three months in the context of the celebration of the Stewardship Advisory, about which we speak later in this Instructive.

Page Recommendation Since the church board must vote on the names that will become part of the Visitation Committee, it is the responsibility of the Stewardship and Finance Committee to take said recommendation before the church board. It is the first thing that should be done immediately after having been established.

Page Meeting The committee should meet at least once a month, for the purpose of evaluating the progress of the stewardship plan that is being implemented. The plan is very ambitious and the importance of this monthly meeting cannot be dealt with lightly.

Page Supervise The member visitation plan on the part of the Visitation Committee. This visitation is the heart of the stewardship plan, therefore the Stewardship and Finance Committee must ensure that its Visitation Committee fulfill the plan of scheduled visits.

Page Percentage of Faithfulness Identify what percentage of faithfulness there is among the brethren in regards to tithes and offerings. This information is established with the help of the church treasurer, simply by reviewing the written reports sent by the Conference/Mission that show the consistency of the members who tithe and give offerings and of those who do not do it. This information is vital, since the Visitation Committee will use it (% Faithfulness) to increase the financing potential of the Lord’s work.

Page Monthly Sermon In the context of the CGP, this stewardship plan has ensured monthly sermons to be given to the Stewardship Director. Rotation is recommended. The sermons are completely new; they have never been preached, so therefore should be taken full advantage of. Written word by word. Not outlined so that they can be preached by reading word by word. If read slowly they will not take more than 20 minutes. The sermon will be given to the Stewardship and Finance Committee through the Union, Conference/Mission, and finally the district pastor. It can also be downloaded directly from the webpage of the Inter-American Division Stewardship Department, the institution that is providing it.

Page Study Guides Since educating the church is one of the roles of the Stewardship and Finance Committee, every third Sabbath of the month, just before the sermon, it will ensure that each church member receives a study guide to be answered at that very moment. The guide is short, only one page, and the committee is responsible for reproducing The preacher of the day will guide the process of answering the guide following the instructions included in it. At the end each member will be able to take it with them. The guide has been designed to prepare the atmosphere for the sermon. It will be given to the committee in the same manner as the sermon, since it will be provided by the Inter-American Division Stewardship Department.

Page Stewardship Songs It is a congregational song. It will be used every third Sabbath of the month and in other church services. The lyrics for each song will be based on one of the twelve stewardship sermons that will be preached during the year, which means that it has been carefully prepared. To prevent it, the Stewardship and Finance Committee will promote a new stewardship song every four months, which will be available in the same manner mentioned before since it will be provided by the Inter-American Division Stewardship Department. It is a terrible mistake to minimize the importance of music within the church.

Page Seminars in PowerPoint Every month the district pastor, the church board, and the Stewardship and Finance Committee will receive a professionally prepared PowerPoint seminar based on the content of the sermon of the month. It is a reinforcement tool, and the pastor, along with his leaders, will determine at what time of the month it will be shared with the church. It will be available in the same manner as the other materials mentioned above since the Inter-American Division Stewardship Department will be supplying them.

Page Days of Revival Three meetings will be celebrated in one weekend. Three topics will be presented, one about prayer, another about Bible study, and the third about faithfulness. This initiative can also be called: Three days of power. Further on the complete program will be explained. For now we only emphasize that the Stewardship and Finance Committee supervise and lead out this part of the CGP.

Page CGP Seminars This is the strongest part of the stewardship education program in favor of our brethren. The titles of some of the serminars have already been mentioned above. In reality they are complete classes. Using the courses as textbooks, it is as though the brethren were attending a univeristy for a semester, which is the duration of each class or seminar. The Inter-American Division Stewardship Department prepares the courses and makes them available to the brethren, and the Stewardship and Finance Committee makes the supervision of this process one of its most important roles. Further on, additional information will be provided in regards to this initiative.

Page Stewardship in Sabbath School Each quarter different information related to the CGP and other content typical of stewardship will be published in the Sabbath School lesson. The Stewardship and Finance Committee will promote this material and will use it as a resource to support its performance as a commmittee

Page Stewardship Festivals In coordination with the district pastor, it is the committees responsibility to organize two weeks of stewardship annually. In reality they should be true stewardship festivals. All the programming must be aimed at facilitating a festive spirit.

Page Global Stewardship Day This is another activity that is celebrated once a year. On that day, from the Sabbath School program to the AY meeting, everything will revolve around Christian stewardship. It is a celebration and the committee, when organizing the festival, must ensure that the programming rises to the occasion.

Page Church Budget Just as the budget is presented to the congregation to be voted, it should be presented to the church in the same manner: “for plans to assure that funds shall be provided to balance the budget” ( Church Manual, p. 129). The Stewardship and Finance Committee ensures through its plans that this income will be supplied. Part of those plans is the increase in offerings, since “funds to meet the church expense budget may be raised by offerings or subscriptions“’ therefore, the committee is aware that “members should be urged to support their local church in proportion to their financial circumstances.” (Ibíd.).