Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity
Stress. Anxiety. Fear. These words capture well the state of mind of many of us in America today. We have witnessed dramatic market losses, the collapse of the world’s largest insurance company, and many bankruptcies and mergers. Every day seems to bring another piece of economic uncertainty.
A recent survey found that over three in four Americans are stressed about the economy and their personal finances. Half were worried about providing for their family’s basic needs. Over half of respondents reported feeling angry and irritable, and reported lying awake at night worried about this. The report concludes that, “The declining state of the nation’s economy is taking a physical and emotional toll on people nationwide.
Join us in worship the next several weeks for a sermon series entitled Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. Our nation is experiencing what many have described as the “American Nightmare.” Increasing consumer debt, declines in savings, lower income growth, and a volatile stock market are all a part of our economic insecurity. We have lived in a society that tells us “you deserve it now,” whether or not we can afford it or really even need it.
All of us have struggled with these issues at one time or another. They are important issues that we cannot ignore. This is why, over the next few weeks, we will be having a churchwide study and worship emphasis called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. During this time we will explore what the Bible teaches us about financial management through corporate worship and small group study (class begins October 18 at 10 am.) We’ll hear expert advice and stories about what others have learned by working through financial challenges. Each week we will provide you with some practical tools you can use to assess your financial situation and develop a financial plan with a biblical foundation.
At the conclusion of the emphasis, we will have the opportunity to make personal commitments of our offerings to God through our church in the coming year. We will consecrate these commitments in the worship service on November 22.
Join us in the coming weeks as we look at how we can manage our financial resources and truly experience simplicity, generosity, and joy.
| Event | Date/Time |
|---|---|
| Enough: Session 1 - When Dreams Become Nightmares | October 18, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
| Enough: Session 2 - Dr. Chilton speaks and teaches | October 25, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
| Enough: Session 3 - Wisdom and Finance | November 01, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
| Enough: Session 4 - How We Spend Our Money | November 08, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
| Enough: Session 5 - Cultivating Contentment | November 15, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
| Enough: Session 6 - Consecration Sunday: “Defined by Generosity” | November 22, 2009, 10:20 am to 11:15 am |
The following is reworded from the Introduction written by Adam Hamilton.
Welcome to Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, the churchwide stewardship campaign designed and written by Adam Hamilton and the members of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.
In 2007, the church was preparing their standard stewardship campaign, a time when they celebrate what God has done in the past year, cast a vision for where God is leading our congregation in the future, and seek to inspire people about the biblical concepts of tithing and stewardship. One thing became painfully obvious. There were many people in the congregation who were struggling financially. They were struggling not because they were not making enough money. They were struggling because they were living beyond their means and saving nothing.
The team working on stewardship began to feel that instead of launching a standard stewardship campaign, they needed to help people redefine their relationship with money and begin to think carefully and biblically about where they found real joy and what their lives are really about. They redesigned their old standard campaign and launched a sermon series they called Simplicity, Generosity and Joy. The messages from that sermon series, along with some additional material, later became the book and accompanying video study Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity.
As they began to plan for the sermon series, they first needed to define the problem and ask, “What are people struggling with? What are the missteps we have made?” Hamilton interviewed credit counselors who regularly work with people in the community. They learned about the problems these counselors saw every week and the solutions they offered to their clients. Then they began to write the sermon series based on what they learned.
The pastor sent out an invitation letter to the entire congregation that simply said, “We have a problem: Most of us are struggling in the area of finances, and we are going to try to find wisdom and help you discover joy through simplicity and generosity.” The response was very interesting. In a normal stewardship campaign in their congregation, attendance dropped by about 15%. Often, their less committed people stayed away during this time. However, we saw something very different during this series. Attendance swelled! It clearly had struck a chord with the people. Those who attended wanted to find help. They wanted a simpler, financially healthy life that would bring them more joy. As attendance grew, they realized they were on the right track.
They began to teach and inspire with stories of what a simpler life leading to financial health looks like. Each week they gave people tools. One week, they handed out a mirror or window cling listing six key financial principles. Another week, they gave out key tags that had a prayer of contentment printed on them; they encouraged everyone to keep the tag on his or her key chain as a reminder of what they had learned. They also used bulletin inserts that offered basic tools for making good and prudent financial decisions, including a basic budget worksheet and a life and financial goals questionnaire. To make even more help available, they began a new series of financial management workshops that were open to the congregation and to the community.
Their results, in the end, were pretty dramatic. They had a larger number of people turning in commitment cards than ever before in the history of the church. Individuals increased their giving significantly. People shared how the series was life changing for them as it redefined their goals and their finances. The following year, 2008, was a year in which their membership gave more than they ever had before; and it was exciting for them.
As exciting as that was, the emphasis was not about increasing the church’s budget. It was about helping people to experience the life God wanted them to live and to have the kind of relationship with their money that God wanted them to have. And as they did, they simplified their lives and found greater joy.
Our hope and prayer is that our experience will inspire and instruct our own congregation toward similar results. As we listen and learn during the next few weeks, may each of us be blessed as individuals and families and grow deeper in faith and discover true joy through simplicity and generosity.
Autumn Psalm of Contentment
O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,
for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you
an at-homeness with your amber riches.
You are the season of retirement,
of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
and the busy work of giving life is now completed
I sense in you no regrets:
you’ve lived a full life.
I live in a society that is ever-restless,
always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received;
may I know that it’s enough,
that my striving can cease in the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment
that allows the totality of my energies
to come to full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.
As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
let me also take delight
in the abundance of the simple things of life
which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
may I truly appreciate this autumn day.
(from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, Edward Hays, ©1989)
Thanks to Jeanne Barkett for discovering this gem!