Stewardship

The stewardship committee recognizes that each person is important to the life of the Church.  Our purpose is to sustain the church by extending God’s love to others.  Each person is called to ministry by virtue of his or her baptism, and that ministry takes place in all aspects of daily life, both in and outside of the church.  We are required to be a faithful participant in the missions of the church, which is to partner with God to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.   

Our principle duties include: 

1.    Developing stewardship programs each year to highlight the many gifts that God has given to us and identify the varied ways that each of us can give back to God  
2.    Providing opportunities for personal witness by members of the congregation each year.  Candidates are welcome to volunteer to provide their personal testimony in regards to how they have kept their individual covenant with God.  

Specific examples of things we have done:

1.    Promoted annual stewardship campaigns for individuals to offer their personal testimonial during our worship service.  This includes encouraging members of our congregation to offer testimony of their walk with Christ and to address how they incorporate the 5 aspects of our covenant, (defined below) in their daily lives.
2.    Developed and updated our stewardship bulletin Board Murals in the Church that depict all that GOD has given us and the ways in which we as a congregation give back.  The mural depicts the response to our covenant for prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. 
3.    Worked in conjunction with others to develop a Mission Celebration Sunday event to honor all of the missions of the Lake Ronkonkoma United Methodist Church.  A booklet was created that sought to define what each committee, (mission) within the Church does for the purpose of providing a reference for parishioner's to help understand each of the missions of the Church.  The hope is that individuals will be able to see mission areas of the Church where they may want to offer their talents.
4.    Worked to assure that all parishioners who desire to have offering envelopes or an envelope number to recognize their monetary gifts to the Church.

We make a covenant with God when we join the Methodist Church that requires us to promise to uphold this congregation of the United Methodist Church with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service and our witness.  The stewardship committee attempts to bring this focus before the congregation and show through murals, stewardship programs and personal witnessing the ways in which all of us can apply our stewardship responsibilities.