Leadership

In 1 Chronicles 29 King David invites the people of Israel to provide resources for the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. At the heart of the invitation is his own leadership in offering the 'lead gift' from the treasury and from his own personal fortune. The result is twofold: abundant resources to build the temple and, crucially, a joyful people who had seen their leaders model generosity.

The Planning Group will lead the preparation of the Giving in Grace programme and this Leadership section provides step by step guidance. But the Planning Group cannot deliver a successful programme without the active, prayerful and committed support of the church leadership. A vote in favour of the programme is not the same as a personal commitment to pray for and support the initiative and to review and increase personal giving. The guidance in this leadership section includes a challenge to the church leadership to model the very response they seek from the congregation.

• The initial engagement of the leadership and the decision to plan for a programme belongs to the preparation phase. Leaders should become familiar with the structure of the programme, it's theology, the importance of differentiation and leadership..
• The Planning Group established by the leadership will need to plan for and give priority to planning meetings and agree upon the roles and responsibilities of group members. Step by step guidance can be found in the seven outline agendas which can be found in Timetable section. The agendas introduce all the core documents the group must consider and work on.
• The work of the Planning Group is structured around completion of a single, core document called the Case Statement which crystallises the objectives, the financial situation and needs and the content of the structure of the programme. A sample case statement illustrates how a completed document might look.
• The church leadership remains engaged with the initiative through the consultation process around the Case Statement. The initial draft prepared by the Planning Group is discussed and amended in order to build consensus and secure commitment to the aims of the Giving in Grace programme.
• The implementation of a Giving in Grace programme may also present an opportunity to introduce to, or discuss with, the church membership the concepts of tithing.

Global Recession
The global economic recession has had an impact on almost every church. The following link will take you to pages and downloadable documents that can help church leaders consider their practical response, alongside the pastoral, prophetic and theological obligations they face. The Recession.

The Rt Rev David Jennings (Bishop of Warrington) in his address to the Liverpool Diocesan Synod of March 2009 chose the Recession as his principle subject. His address is useful reading for church leaders looking at issues around the Recession.

A message for 2009 from the Stewardship organization:
Can the Body of Christ flourish in a time of famine? Is there a “Joseph dimension” that we can manifest: bringing forth resource to supply need in a time of economic pressure? Follow this link to find David Jones' article (reproduced with the kind permission of David Jones, Chief Executive of Stewardship.)