Giving to St. Stephen’s is a concrete way to say thank you – for the gift of life, for the love of family, friends, and God. Generous giving is a way to proclaim that, we have enough and that fear will not dictate who we are.
Annual pledges of parishioners support nearly everything at St. Stephen’s. Our parishioners’ generosity supports all the operating costs of our ministries and programs, clergy and staff, and expenses such as utilities, and worship leaflets. Pledges can be paid in weekly, monthly or quarterly installments. Payments can be made by cash or check. Disciplined proportional financial support means offering a percentage of your income to St. Stephen’s, Wilkes-Barre, with the end goal of the biblical tithe at 10%. Begin your financial stewardship journey where you are able, and aim to increase that percentage each year. If giving 10% seems impossible, start with a smaller pledge (maybe just 2% or 3% of your income), with the goal being that you prayerfully increase that percentage each year.
For an estimate of what your pledge would be, here is a chart showing proportional giving at various income levels and percentages:
Education
The composer Robert Schumann once wrote a piece of music and sat down at the piano to play it for some friends. They observed that it was very nice, but then asked, “But what does it mean?” “It means this,” Schumann answered, sat down and played it through again.
Stewardship is somewhat like that. “What does it mean?” “It means this,” we say and we do it all over again.
Stewardship, though, is not simply a matter of writing your pledge check, critical though this is. There is much more to it than that as is reflected in the Statement of Stewardship Commitment adopted in August by the Vestry. Among other things, it called the parish “to active practice” of three disciplines: “daily prayer and regular corporate worship; faithful service to needs and concerns; and disciplined proportional financial support.
Faithful Service to the Needs and Concerns of Others
We know that time is a great commodity in our lives today; however, time is also God’s gift to us for life and love. We give of our own time in order to reflect God’s graciousness and generosity. Furthermore, everyone has talents that God calls us to use. Membership here means a commitment to find and invest your God-given talents in a way that fits with who you are and who you’d like to become. Please visit our “Ways to Serve” section to find out more.
Daily Prayer and Regular Corporate Worship
The gifts of life and grace God offers in Jesus Christ are sacred. In worship, we pray, we sing, we hear the words of Holy Scripture, and we experience the presence of Christ in the Holy Communion and in one another. All of these acts are offered in thanksgiving and praise to God. Worship helps strengthen and renew us so that our faith becomes more than something we do just for an hour once a week. Check our listing of our service times.
Morning Prayer – is the Church’s daily service of prayer for the morning, at St Stephen’s, it is said most weekdays at 9:00 AM. It consists of psalms, readings, canticles, and prayers.
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