New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program with Guest Leader Book & CD-ROM

New Consecration Sunday approaches financing the ministries of your congregation by teaching stewardship from a spiritual perspective rather than a fundraising perspective. It focuses on the question, "What is God calling me to do?" rather than, "What does the church need in order to pay its bills?" The New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program is a proven winner; it has helped thousands of congregations increase financial giving by 15% to 30%. The revised edition features a CD-ROM that includes the audio overview of the program as well as a PowerPoint presentation and editable letters and communication tools. How-to instructions are based on the author's conversations with thousands of clergy, stewardship team leaders, and guest leaders.

What do I need to get started? Order the program book (Item # 068-764-4377) and gather a team. Purchase copies of the Team Member Manual (Item # 068-764-4476), one for each member of your team. These resources provide complete instructions for implementing the program successfully. Does it work? Thousands of congregations have experienced 15% to 30% increases in financial giving with the New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program the first year plus additional significant increases in subsequent years of its use. One congregation obtained these impressive multi-year results:

• First year, a 14.4% increase in giving
• Second year, a 10.3% increase
• Third year, a 13.4% increase
• Fourth year, a 13.6% increase
• Fifth year, a 19.6% increase

A congregation's financial secretary said, "More than two-thirds of our households made some degree of annual increase each year we used Consecration Sunday. And each year we used the program, four to six additional households decided to tithe (some of those donors grew from giving 4 percent of their income to giving 10 percent of their income)."

The independent research firm, Perdue Research Group, interviewed people in one hundred and fifty congregations that used Consecration Sunday during the past several years. All churches reported an increase in giving and 45% of the churches reported increases of 20 to 25%.

Herb Miller is an internationally recognized authority in congregational health and effectiveness. More than two million clergy and lay leaders in twenty-five denominations read The Parish Paper, which he co-edits with Lyle E. Schaller. His sixteen books include Fishing on the Asphalt, Church Personality Matters!, The Vital Congregation, Connecting with God, and Full Disclosure: Everything the Bible Says about Financial Giving.

Abingdon Press is an imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House, in operation since 1789. In the early 1920s, Abingdon began publishing a wide array of high-caliber academic, professional, inspirational, and life-affirming religious literature to enrich church communities across the globe. Now beginning its ninth decade, Abingdon Press has a commitment to providing the best, most effective religious publications available.

• Publisher: Abingdon Press