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Why an endowment program? First, because it provides members of your congregation with an opportunity to extend their stewardship beyond a lifetime, to fund the mission of the Church forever. Second, because it ensures the mission of the Church will be faithfully advanced in the generations ahead through the adequate financing of the work of your congregation and the larger Church.
To be "committed for the centuries" requires that church leaders go beyond pressing needs to "meet the budget" and spend time considering future financial requirements in order that the cause of Christ through the Church may continue to advance.
Your church's financial needs are twofold: short term needs, toward which we often invest most of our efforts through the annual budget emphasis and emergency appeals; and long term needs, which tend to be forgotten and/or postponed, such as, a reserve for capital programs and repairs, start up funds for future ministries, and increased resources for supporting the mission of the larger Church. An endowment program can be an essential element in meeting such long term needs.
Good stewardship requires projecting future financial needs. This projection will involve you in planning ahead, assessing needs, and resolving to take action. Planning ahead will reveal that the future will demand increasing financial resources and might show that the survivial of the future witness of your congregation may be dependent upon what is done now. Assessing your congregation's needs can be done in a brief, unscientific, way (Projecting Future Financial Needs). Resolving to adopt an endowment program can be a concrete action toward meeting those financial needs which have become apparent through your assessment. Meeting those needs will bring the joy of the faithful steward and the knowledge that you, like the generations before you, are truly "committed for the centuries."
HOME FOUNDATION ENDOWMENTS For more information, contact Richard Magrill
Page updated on May 2, 2007 Pages maintained by Elinor Swindle Brown