Stewardship Kaleidoscope keynoter Grace Pomroy shows ways that ‘God is alive and active in our world today’
by Nancy Crowe for the Presbyterian Foundation | Special to Presbyterian News Service
Grace Pomroy speaks at Stewardship Kaleidoscope in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 24. The annual conference is presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)
Grace Pomroy took her position as director of the Stewardship Leaders Program at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota with joy. When she entered the building, it was empty except for two people — one wearing a makeshift mask and rubber gloves. Papers to be signed were shoved back and forth down a long table.
It was March 2020.
“The pandemic was one of the darkest times in my faith journey,” Pomroy told those gathered in a plenary session at Stewardship Kaleidoscope Sept. 24 in Portland, Oregon. The annual conference is presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The Covid news kept getting worse. Then George Floyd was murdered in her community.
“All I wanted was for the God of the Bible to show up,” she said. Teaching future pastors while experiencing her own dark night of the soul felt increasingly uncomfortable.
Pomroy’s pastor suggested she look for God in the little places rather than the big ones. Pomroy at first didn’t think much of that answer, but as she took it to heart, glimmers of hope and joy emerged.
So did the research that fueled her presentation: “Funding Forward: Finding Hope in a Season of Decline.”
Confronting uncomfortable truths
Churches are experiencing their own dark night of the soul as buildings age, budgets shrink and attendance drops.
“For many faith communities, it has or will become less and less feasible to fund their missions on tithes and offerings alone,” Pomroy said.
Relying so heavily on this funding system can make it all too easy for stewardship conversations to be about the church’s need to receive rather than the giver’s need to give. It creates temptation for the pastor to preach or minister a certain way in order to keep the lights on, or for larger donors to have more sway.
This “closed circuit financial system” also discourages partnerships outside the congregation, especially if other churches or organizations are viewed as competing for support.
Confronting these uncomfortable truths creates an opportunity to explore where God is calling congregations to go next. That could mean forming new community partnerships, tapping underutilized resources, diversifying income streams and returning the offering to a spiritual practice rather than a commercial break, Pomroy said.
“I have no interest in conversations about saving the church just to save the church. I have a lot of interest in conversations about how we make the Gospel come alive in this time and place,” she said.
Sharing space
In the course of her research, Pomroy worked with First Presbyterian Church of Gulf Shores, Alabama. The pastor, Chrisy Ennen, came on board during the pandemic. She knew the church had financial challenges, but nearly nine months in she discovered she’d been hired with only two years’ salary available.
The congregation considered many options. At the same time, Ennen kept hearing two needs expressed in the community: affordable childcare and affordable rental office space, particularly for entrepreneurs.
The congregation ran the numbers. Childcare probably wouldn’t work. Renting out their space just might.
The church had space sitting vacant during the week. However, “that beautiful space was full of church junk. Any of you have that problem?” Pomroy said as laughter filled the room.
Luckily, a gentleman had just retired and returned to First Presbyterian, someone who probably wouldn’t join a committee but loved to pick up his tools and get to work.
“In less than a year, they had a church full of renters,” she said. In fact, one new renter is a childcare provider.
Did all of those renters come to church on Sunday? No, but other people in the community heard what First Presbyterian was doing and decided to check it out.
Pomroy cautioned that solutions like these are anything but cookie cutter, as every church and community will have different ingredients.
Other ideas
Pomroy’s research identified 200 congregations across the U.S. and Canada doing one of three things:
- They had one income source outside of the offering plate.
- They had a self-sustaining ministry.
- They had reduced their budget by 10% or more in an intentionally missional way.
Everything from youth bread-baking to circus rehearsals turned up in the study. So did selling property, which Pomroy stressed does not necessarily mean church closure.
More details can be found in her recent book: “Funding Forward: A Pathway to More Sustainable Models for Ministry.” You can download the first chapter free.
“This project has re-enlivened my faith in ways I couldn’t have imagined,” she said. “God is alive and active in our world today.”
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