—Vicky Murray, St. Paul’s Stewardship Committee

Pledge – noun; a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something.

Many parishioners regularly contribute money to the collection plate but are reluctant to commit to a pledge amount.  Maybe you fall into this category.  Maybe you like to keep your options open, maybe you don’t feel like your pledge would be sufficient, maybe you just haven’t before considered the differences between giving on Sunday morning versus making a pledge.  If you aren’t already pledging, we on the Stewardship Committee would like you to consider this as the year that you step up to pledging.

Consider that you are being interviewed for a job.  The job sounds appealing and the employer says they think you are the one and they’re excited to make you an offer.  But then they say, “Here’s the thing.  We can’t commit to a regular salary.  We want to pay you, but we’ll just have to see how much we can pay out each week or month.”  Would you take the job?  Unless you are independently wealthy, you probably wouldn’t.  Why?  Because you have bills and obligations and you want to know that you have a regular income that you can count on and use to budget your expenses.

The church is no different.  We are blessed to have a thriving and growing congregation.  With this growth comes a need for more programs and resources—childcare, youth ministry and education in addition to the basic necessities of utilities, building maintenance, and salaries.  And of course, there’s the wonderful music program as well as our outreach and adult education programs that keep people coming back for more.  Without firm commitments from our congregation, the vestry and priests cannot make prudent budget decisions.

If you haven’t pledged before, here are a few things to consider:

• The average pledge in the Episcopal Church in the United States is $2,700 per year.
• The average pledge at Old St. Paul’s is $1,700 per year.
• Many people consider proportional giving, making their pledge as a percentage of their income.
• Your pledge amount will never be disclosed to other parishioners.

Please consider your commitment to growth and give electronically to Old St. Paul’s.

http://stpaulsbaltimore.org/pledge/