Using Magazine Articles

Magazine articles can be useful in the planning period for gently raising awareness of the forthcoming programme. Sample articles are provided (the logical first article is indicated by the title) which are in MS Word format and can be freely adapted. Consider the following points:

• The articles should reflect the core stewardship principles of God's gift and grace, the importance of leadership, sustaining and developing parish ministry and so on.
• Resist the temptation to hammer home the church's deficit and the financial facts at every opportunity. A minimum of financial detail, broken down into weekly amounts can be helpful but this is not the place for a re run of the AGM financial presentation.
• Resist the Private Wilson approach to stewardship: "we're doomed"! Avoid playing on impending financial disaster.
• Run a series of short articles not a a single lengthy one. Give each a standard format using the distinctive Giving in Grace logo.
• Consider developing a simple newsletter rather than magazine articles, a single side of A4 produced three times in the run up to the programme. It could be as simple as "where the money goes to"; "Where the money comes from" and "What we plan to do". Communicate basic financial information, create awareness of the programme and offer some simple Biblical reflection in each issue. A final newsletter will sum up the response and the ministry made possible by increased giving.
• Some of the material on this site can be usefully adapted into short magazine articles. For example:
• Use the story of King David' in the Leadership paper.
• The story of The Soldiers doughnuts, a gift to a child refugee during WW2 is a great intro to a article on giving.
• The stories of John Wesley, Bill Gates and George Michael in the TeenTalk resources can easily be adapted.