13. The Stewardship Advisory

It is a quarterly event in which the Stewardship and Finance Committee and the Visitation Committees of all the district participate.

The coordinator of this great event is the district pastor. It is recommended to alternate the venue of each Advisory for the purposes of church participation.

The host church assumes the responsibility of a good host by receiving the brethren from the other congregations.

The Advisory will take place the last Sunday of the third month.

Take note that those who are called to

attend the Advisory are all the leaders of the local churches of

the district.

This not only establishes the

greatness of the event, but also the

importance of the leadership gathered

there.

Therefore, extreme care is required of the

organizers in the planning and execution

of the program

The duration of the Advisory should be no longer than four hours, leaving to the discretion

of each district the starting time, in order to respect the conveniences

of each place.

ReportsThis is one of the main activities that will take place during the Advisory.

Each of the two committees, church by church, will present their report which must be graphical and illustrated, if the availability of equipment allows it. The president of the Stewardship and Finance Committee will present it first and then the president of the Visitation Committee.

The report must be specific, showing the results of the work done during the last three months.These results must be based on the roles this Instructive assigns to each committee. Everything that has been achieved, in relation to a specific role, must be informed.

For example, if one of the roles of the Stewardship and Finance Committee is to identify the percentage of faithfulness in tithes and offerings, in presenting its report in the Stewardship Advisory, the president of the committee may disclose said percentage.

How is this percentage obtained? (percentage of faithfulness = the total of faithful members / total church members x one hundred.) Example: if a church has 120 members of which 80 tithe and 40 do not, the percentage of faithfulness is: 66.67%

Results achieved in other roles are found in the same manner.

Before the Advisory, the committee meets and reviews its roles, and in those cases where they find that there have been significant results, with those results they elaborate the report for the Stewardship Advisory.

Procedure to enable the Committee to Prepare its Report

The same procedure must be followed. For example, if a

role of this committee is member visitation, at the time of the Stewardship Advisory they will present how many members their church has and how many were visited

during the quarter.

The survey, the Visitation Report, is an authentic

source of data tremendously significant that this committee may use

periodically in its reports.

For example, from these surveys, how many

members are reading the Bible year, how many

attend worship services on Sabbath, how many

have a prayer plan, etc., can be extracted.

From there the importance of doing a job well, during the

visitation, the surveys are filled out by the

visitor with the information given by the

member.

AnalysisThis is done by the pastor. All the data

given by the committees are added

together.

Prior to the Advisory this total of the data is done at least two weeks before the

Advisory. Since as pastor he is aware of the work of each

committee in the district.

With this date known in advance, the pastor

prepares an excellent presentation, showing their own results of the overall analysis, a possibility that is not at the reach of the

committees of each church by being only part of a

whole.

From this analysis will emerge data and conclusions that will go unnoticed by the rest, but not for the

expert eye of the pastor.

Challenges and Projections

Based on the results obtained, the two committees of each church will present to the Advisory their proposal of challenges and projections for the following quarter.

Such proposal will remain registered in writing, so that when the date arrives for the next Advisory, the extent to which the challenges and projections were achieved will be evaluated.

MotivationThe Advisory is a unique opportunity to infuse new life into the committees that received such a delicate assignment.

At this point in the Instructive, it is enough for us to realize that the expectation we have of the work of each committee is part of a ministry, therefore spirits should be renewed.

The organizers of the Advisory cannot lose sight of this vital motivational ingredient.

Planning

Venue for the next

Advisory

The Programmin

g

The Schedule

Work Strategies

Any other detail that requires prior planning

must be submitted to this committee which is one of

the most important steps to administer with success

anything in life.

The Message of the WordThe

devotional theme at the time of the Advisory

must revolve around any

basic concept exposed in

this Instructive.

For example, it is a unique

opportunity to show the leaders what the Bible says in regards

to the importance of personalized

attention, as in the case of visitation.

Or what it says about prayer and the study of

the Scriptur

es

Or about the basic

components of

faithfulness.

Or about tithe and offerings

.

Or about the

practice of generosity,

etc.

The subject requires careful preparation. If the committee members perceive that there is no power in this devotional, the risk is taken of aborting the Advisory, and put at risk the proper functioning of the whole stewardship program in the churches.