{"id":1825,"date":"2021-08-10T16:54:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2021-08-10T16:54:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:54:45","slug":"is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/08\/10\/is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time to crowdsource the stewardship campaign?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the Rev. Rosemary C. Mitchell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crowdsourcing existed long before the internet.<\/p>\n

Of course, we didn\u2019t call it that. In some instances, we called it a miracle. Consider this: What was, for you, the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000? Was it that Jesus single-handedly fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves? OR was the miracle that the message of Jesus inspired an unexpected outpouring of generosity, the likes of which no one had ever seen? A level of generosity that was miraculous?<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s successful crowdsourcing initiatives, small amounts of money \u2014 or simple ideas or modest recommendations \u2014 are requested and collected from a large number of people. What is collected generally adds up to more than enough, as with the loaves and fishes, proving once again that we can do more together than any one of us can do alone.<\/p>\n

Although crowdsourcing existed before the internet, what the internet adds to the mix is a sense of urgency, energy and immediacy. In a 2006 Wired magazine article titled \u201cThe Rise of Crowdsourcing,\u201d Jeff Howe had this to say:<\/p>\n

We’re talking about bringing people in from outside and involving them in this broadly creative, collaborative process. That’s a whole new paradigm. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

This graphic symbolizes the use of ideas from a wide range of individuals, as used in crowdsourcing. (Wikipedia)<\/p><\/div>\n

Doesn\u2019t that describe what we are struggling with in the Church these days? Bringing people into the community of faith and<\/em> involving <\/em>them? Our challenge is whether we are courageous enough to involve them in a faith-filled experience that is \u201cbroadly creative and collaborative.\u201d Tremendous energy, satisfaction and a sense of ownership results when people \u2014 and the contributions they offer \u2014 are accepted and welcomed. That is the longed-for culture of Church.<\/p>\n

So much has been presented, written, sermonized, blogged and talked about the topic of raising money in the church. Pastors search in vain for that magical story combined with the perfect Scripture that will transform the blessed stewardship day into an outpouring of generous gratitude. A truly blessed pastor will have a stewardship committee that combines the exacting skills of engineers with the design skills of artists and descriptive skills of poets. Together they combine their cheerleading abilities to motivate the congregation to overcome the financial challenge for another successful annual campaign.<\/p>\n

If only.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s time for us to frame the stewardship campaign in terms of crowdsourcing or crowdfunding. It seems to me that those terms have much in common with stewardship because they are invitation.\u00a0 They invite the whole people of God \u2014 everyone \u2014 members and friends of the congregation to participate in the life abundant. Everyone is invited to support the ministry of the church as they are able. Every amount contributed is welcome. There is no minimum. No suggested percentage increase. No entry fee. No ticket price to get in the door. These terms can remind us that there is an energy in giving. Even more importantly, we should never take for granted what a group of people can accomplish when they join with others and embody their collective promise to focus their energy, intelligence, imagination, love and resources! <\/em>We may witness the miracle of transformative generosity!<\/p>\n

Within the life of the Church, our act of financial giving is described as an act of stewardship because in our reality it is not based on money. It is based rather on our relationships and our promises \u2014 the relationships and the promises we make with each other and with God. Every faith community has within it the spark of the miraculous generosity described in the Feeding of the 5,000. It can break forth at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n

Our giving is about so much more than the money. It\u2019s about our life together as the people of faith. The life and love we share with our family, our friends, our congregation, the ministry we engage in together and how we live that out in our daily lives. <\/em>When those relationships are real and authentic, then, yes, that miracle spark of generosity is ignited.<\/p>\n

When we come together as Church, it is not merely \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d that leads to \u201ccrowdfunding.\u201d It is a longing to be reminded that God is with us as we humbly ask for God\u2019s grace. God\u2019s relentless \u201cyes\u201d to each of us moves us to respond with the miracle of generosity.<\/p>\n

May it be so!<\/p>\n

The Rev. Rosemary C. Mitchell is senior director of Mission Engagement and Support for the Presbyterian Mission Agency.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the Rev. Rosemary C. Mitchell Crowdsourcing existed long before the internet. Of course, we didn\u2019t call it that. In some instances, we called it a miracle. Consider this: What was, for you, the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000? Was it that Jesus single-handedly fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves?… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":1826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,86],"tags":[3169,3170,2185,47,1265,3172,3171,3174,2184,2213,2232,59,3173],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creativity","category-giving","tag-crowdfunding","tag-crowdsourcing","tag-financial-stewardship","tag-fundraising","tag-generosity","tag-internet","tag-jeff-howe","tag-miracle","tag-money","tag-pastor","tag-rosemary-mitchell","tag-stewardship","tag-stewardship-campaign"],"yoast_head":"\nIs it time to crowdsource the stewardship campaign? - Where Your Heart Is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we come together as Church, it is not merely \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d that leads to \u201ccrowdfunding.\u201d It is a longing to be reminded that God is with us as we humbly ask for God\u2019s grace.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/08\/10\/is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is it time to crowdsource the stewardship campaign?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we come together as Church, it is not merely \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d that leads to \u201ccrowdfunding.\u201d It is a longing to be reminded that God is with us as we humbly ask for God\u2019s grace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/08\/10\/is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Where Your Heart Is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-10T16:54:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/Stewardship-pic-from-Wiki.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"625\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"606\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Rogers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Rogers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/08\/10\/is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2021\/08\/10\/is-it-time-to-crowdsource-the-stewardship-campaign\/\",\"name\":\"Is it time to crowdsource the stewardship campaign? 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