Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising 33
the resources. If parishioners reach the point of complaining of “donor
fatigue” it may have less to do with a sense of having been overly
generous with their personal time, talents and treasure, than of carrying an
undue and disproportionate burden on behalf of the whole community.
When parishioners do raise the issue of “donor fatigue,”
whether they name it as such or not, their concerns need to be taken
seriously. In contemplating the cause for such expressions, the
Church needs to ask itself several questions:
1. Has the Church traditionally over-relied upon a few, or
particular, households for a disproportionate financial
commitment?
2. How often does the Church ask for an extraordinary financial
commitment?
3. Does the Church have a real plan to meet its anticipated needs,
or is it reactive, and therefore dependent upon crisis-based
giving?
4. Does this expression of “fatigue” reflect a concern about the
call upon personal time, talent and treasure, or a sense rather
that the community as a whole is not being challenged to be
proportionately generous?
5. Has the Church done a good job of expressing its sincere
gratitude to its stewards?
The pattern of reliance upon the affluence and generosity of its
elder members will be broken either by the Church engaging in real
stewardship renewal, or the natural mortality of a significant number
of the faithful over the next few decades—whichever comes first. If
the Church is to have a future, we must be proactive. We may begin
by engaging those already in the pews more deeply in their personal
faith journey, explicitly inviting them to participate more fully in the
various ministries of the Church. At the same time, we will need to
induct newcomers into a life of passionate stewardship from the
beginning of their association with the Church, so that it becomes
seamlessly integrated into their understanding and practice of their