Executive Director United Methodist Stewardship Foundation
On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff, I want to thank the members of the Annual Conference for reinstating a grant for $60,000 to The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation. I am overwhelmed and grateful for the wonderful support and affirmation of the United Methodist Stewardship Foundation and its work through your vote for us. Thank you so much for giving us the encouragement and momentum to continue to grow our ministry in order to help you with yours. We will continue to work diligently to meet with you at your churches for stewardship education, generosity ministries, and future investment planning.
This grant will be used to impact the ministries of the churches and organizations throughout our Susquehanna Conference. We feel stewardship and planned giving are key components to revitalizing and sustaining the spiritual development of faithful disciples. Trust in God allows us to put others first and to give where there is a need. We exist to promote the joy and love expressed through our abundant living for God and we look forward to sharing this with your churches.
For me, this Annual Conference was a time of thankfulness for the past even as we transition into our hope filled future. As many of you know, Bonnie Young, our accounting assistant for six years, has just retired. I am thankful for her selfless work ethic and humble leadership, for she exemplified our Foundation’s mission of “serving God and the church by promoting Christian Stewardship in the effective management of all gifts to the glory of Jesus Christ.” She will be missed as we move forward to serve you.
As we consider a summer of new possibilities, let me share one definition of stewardship. It is “recognizing what one has been given by God and in gratitude and trust, giving back.” In gratitude and trust, we, The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation, recognize that we have been given much by God through you and we will strive to give back even more for the transforming of the world and for making disciples through our ministries together.
