Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

130 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
The Development Study
Generally, in preparing for Church campaigns, some sort of
“Feasibility Study” has been conducted to help the parish
understand how much money it might raise. Note how, from the
very beginning, the term “feasibility” restricts the goal of these
studies and campaigns to money, not stewardship. Feasibility
connotes financial success, and leaves aside such questions as
How? and Why? As a rule, such studies are limited to a series of
questions that seek to identify the amount of money people might
give, and what expectation of recognition or control they expect to
have in connection with their “gift.” By reducing our interest in
people to how much they might give, fundraising feasibility studies
have objectified parishioners—essentially treating them as
wallets—rather than according them the dignity which belongs to
them by virtue of our baptismal promises, and treating them as
persons who will themselves make an offering for the sake of the
dignity of those they now know to be in need.
The Development Study is much different. The very term
“development” helps parishioners approach the study more
holistically, and to avoid the concern and apprehension which
naturally attach to an appraisal of “feasibility.” Development
Studies do assess financial potential. However, they are also, and
equally, an opportunity for the parish to ask about parishioners’
experience of the many ministries the Church undertakes (both
from a volunteer and recipient perspective), and to understand how
people’s background might impact on such issues as their spiritual,
theological and religious development, why they volunteer for
ministry, when they are available to volunteer, and what talents they
might have and be willing to contribute.
The assessment of these issues is critical to building a
stewardship-driven campaign. Without understanding where people
have been, how they perceive the Church, where they want to go,
and what they are willing to do to reach their individual and shared