United Mission Matters (Spring 2025)

United Mission Matters   Spring 2025 ABOUT US UNITED MISSION TOOLKIT WAYS TO GIVE We hope you enjoy this edition of United Mission Matters - this publication aims to share the valuable insights of our Regional Executive Ministers, local churches, national leaders, and pastors on matters related to Discipleship. In this newsletter, you'll find a wealth of resources, inspiring stories, and insights into how churches throughout the United States are dedicated to instructing and engaging with their communities to align with Jesus’ mission in our neighborhoods.   Ways to Participate in United Mission: Giving with Purpose and Impact United Mission is the heartbeat of American Baptist ministry, providing the vital, undesignated support that fuels our shared mission. Through your generosity, we strengthen the foundation of our outreach, equipping churches, leaders, and ministries to serve faithfully. 1. Give Through United Mission Basics United Mission Basics represents the core giving of local churches, supporting the broad and essential ministries of American Baptists. These contributions sustain everything from pastoral leadership development to mission work, church planting, national and regional initiatives that keep our faith community thriving. 2. Share in the Legacy of United Mission Love Gifts For decades, American Baptist women have faithfully given over and above United Mission through Love Gift—a powerful expression of dedication to our shared mission. These gifts go beyond regular giving, offering an additional layer of support to ministries that transform lives. 3. Choose a Giving Plan That Works for You Your congregation or family can participate in United Mission in ways that align with your giving priorities: Regular Contributions: Incorporate United Mission into your church’s annual budget for ongoing impact. Special Offerings: Organize special giving moments, whether during worship services, mission celebrations, or special emphasis months. Personal Commitment: Individuals and families can make one-time or recurring gifts, ensuring personal participation in the greater mission of the American Baptist family. This can be through your local church or online at www.abc-usa.org/give. Creative Giving: Host a fundraising event, dedicate a portion of a community outreach project, or encourage online giving to rally support for United Mission. However you choose to give, your generosity is a testimony to our unity in Christ and our commitment to serving together as one American Baptist family. Thank you for being United in Christ, Together in Mission! Blessings, Rev. Dr. Robin Stoops Mission Resource Coordinator           Generosity - Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters Written by Rev. Dr. James M. Harrison I became a member of the Zion Union Baptist Church at 1015 Preston Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia in the fall of 1980.  The church was led by the Reverend Raymond Allen Hailes, and had a very active relationship with American Baptist Churches of the South. I was very quickly introduced to the denomination through my work and participation with the Men’s Fellowship group that met on Saturday mornings, often doing service projects around the church. I eventually accepted a position with the church, Administrative Assistant to the Pastor. A part of my responsibilities was to encourage denominational support among the congregants. I would attend region meetings, area meetings, and local committee meetings and the message was always clear, United Mission Basics is the “Bread and Butter” of our denomination’s increase. I grew up in Southeastern Virginia around a peanut farm, country store, and logging operation; I knew what bread and butter meant to any operation. I knew what it meant on the table at supper time too! These were the very basics for any meal.  When encouraging support for the denomination, I was mindful not to overburden those who appeared to be struggling or facing economic challenges. Sometimes, even refusing to ask or accept their financial support. There was always another offering for this or that. I was challenged once by the late Reverend Henry Alred Townes, who said after my commiserating about this very subject, “Have you considered, people come to corporate worship to give, to demonstrate generosity.” He went on to say it is a part of their worship and you should not deny them the opportunity to accomplish what they have already prayerfully decided and set out to do. I accepted his loving advice and asked again. Generosity, in English is derived from the Latin word meaning, “of noble birth.” It is akin to the infinitive verb, to generate which can mean also to create. The author of Ecclesiastes, a part of the great wisdom tradition of the Old Testament says, “Cast your bread upon the waters.” This is a proverb spoken in ancient Israel for what looked like wasteful behaviors and expenditures. No one would take good bread and throw it in the river; he would be regarded as a wastrel for doing this but here we are encouraged to do this very thing. As we consider the subject of Generosity and especially in regard to support for American Baptist Mission giving, let us review Ecclesiastes 11:1-6:    1-2   Move beyond our capacity    3-4   Move beyond our observations    5-6   Move beyond our understanding We can always do more than we have imagined that we can do, especially when giving, sharing, and serving. The distraught father in Mark’s gospel, chapter 9, cries, “I believe, help my unbelief.. This is another way of simply saying, Lord, teach me to trust you. Giving is another way to trust this God that we depend on daily. We can learn now to interpret signs and wonders that God gives us as directions. Farmers are especially gifted to do this. Listen to the spirit to expand our knowledge and understanding. Cast that bread, God does more with it than we ever can do. Rev. Dr. James M. Harrison is the Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of the South.     Watch our new video, The Way of Discipleship | Studying Scripture, below   Can Generosity be Brought Back to Our Worship? Written by Rev. Dr. Steve Van Ostran COVID had a lot of victims…victims who lost their lives, victims whose health was severely impacted, and victims who lost their jobs. But these are just human victims. Culture was also a victim whose impact was both negative and positive. The impact on culture was not only the impact on our economy but also the embrace of new technology and an increased ability to work from home. The effect on culture was to embrace better sanitary practices and the bubbling up of racial and ethnic tensions. And like individuals and culture, the church, too, was impacted in various ways…learning to embrace online worship and Bible study, wearing masks in worship, and receiving offerings using online giving or by a box in the back! I speak primarily about the number of churches that continue to give only online or with a nondescript “basket” in the back. For these churches, active worship of God by presenting one's gifts in corporate worship has, by and large, been abandoned. Pastors and treasurers of these churches often tout the ease of giving online and of processing and recording these gifts. But are we overlooking something important in this? To simply look at the ease of giving or the effectiveness is to relegate giving to simply supporting the organization of the church and its sister elements… it is to “keep the doors open”… not to say to God, “I love and adore you and present just a bit of what you have provided for me to show you how much you mean to me.” It is to say, “We give out of necessity or obedience, not out of love.”  As I pastored churches and have visited and worshipped with pastors and churches in my regional role, it was and is always a joy to watch not only the different ways in which receiving this offering was done in churches but also the different expressions upon the faces of the givers. Perhaps this is why Jesus sat down to watch people giving their offerings in the temple (Mark 12:41-44), to see the faces of the givers! To see the sheer joy of a little one as they gave a gift to God, the reflective countenance of that senior saint who has grown to understand the true purpose of the offering, and even the brusk nature of those who have yet to understand the purpose of the offering. It seems this was important to Jesus and should be important to our church as we seek together to be His disciples. Because of the itinerant nature of my ministry, I have long practiced giving my tithe to the church via mail. But every Sunday, I seek to give a cash offering as a way of joining actively in worship with the congregation I am visiting as well as to actively participate in their extended ministry. Maybe that’s a practice you would want to adopt in your own walk with Christ. You see, how we receive our offering says something about the theology of giving that our church practices!   Rev. Dr. Steve Van Ostran is the Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains region.   Stitching Change: Empowering Refugee Women Through Community and Sustainability Rakmi Shaiza, executive director and founder of Stitching Change, a nonprofit based in Kansas City, Kansas, is bringing light to her community. She understands that the foundation of success in her mission is building and sustaining community—a crucial element in creating lasting change in people’s lives. Shaiza founded Stitching Change in 2014 to provide refugee women with training in sewing and business skills, equipping them with the tools to start small businesses. In 2015 and 2016, the nonprofit received a start-up grant from Prairie Baptist Church, allowing them to hold sewing classes at First Baptist Church of Kansas City for the next five years. As the program grew, Stitching Change moved to a larger location in 2022 to accommodate more students and expand its impact. Transforming Lives Through Sewing and Sustainability At Stitching Change, volunteers teach students how to create reusable tote bags, pouches, gift bags, phone cases, and woolen hats repurposed from pre-owned sweaters. These handcrafted items generate much-needed supplemental income for the women, all of whom come from low-income backgrounds. But beyond financial empowerment, the program fosters fellowship across ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious lines, creating a true sense of belonging. Committed to creation care, Stitching Change actively promotes fabric reuse and repair, preventing textiles from ending up in landfills. Upcycled tote bags are in high demand, with organizations such as Presbyterian Women’s 2024 Churchwide Gathering contracting Stitching Change to manufacture 800 conference bags—just one example of how sustainability and empowerment go hand in hand. Expanding Impact with One Great Hour of Sharing In recognition of its transformative work, Stitching Change was recently awarded a One Great Hour of Sharing development grant. This funding allows the nonprofit to expand its classes, reach more women, and create even greater impact. “Our empowerment is not short-term, nor is it only about making money,” said Shaiza. “This grant made me think that God is opening the door for us. The students’ lives will not be the same because they will become financially independent and develop the confidence to become leaders.” Join the Movement: Give Generously Today - abc-oghs.org When you give to One Great Hour of Sharing, you help transform lives by empowering women to build brighter futures. Join us in making a difference—give generously today!           Church and Money: 5 Important Truths By Rev. Margaret Marcuson   It pays to face facts when you are dealing with money matters in ministry. It’s a challenging topic for many clergy for a variety of reasons: It seems a little “dirty,” not spiritual. We feel inadequate because we weren’t trained to deal with it. People’s giving pays our salary, so we feel defensive. Other people think they know more than we do (and sometimes they do). Giving patterns are changing, and we (and lay leaders) are not sure what to do about it. Here are five things to remember that will help you as you lead in this important area of ministry. 1. Money matters. Starting with the obvious: money itself matters. It takes resources to do ministry. This is not a bad thing. It is just a fact. You can confidently take on the leadership in this area because it is an essential part of ministry. Paul says in II Corinthians 8:7, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” He never hesitated to ask people to give to support ministry. Christian theology suggests that money itself cannot be dirty. Remember, it’s not money that’s the “root of all evil,” but “the love of money.” (I Timothy 6:10). Question: Do you know your own theology of money? 2. Anxiety matters. Money is a high-anxiety topic (stop me if you are surprised…). It’s an automatic focus for anxiety. As we’ve just talked about institutionally, we need money to survive. In addition, biologically, we need money to buy food to eat. So when money is scarce, our survival instincts kick into overdrive. It’s harder to think creatively, to imagine new ways of doing things. Question: Do you know your own anxious responses when money issues come up? Your congregation’s? 3. Leadership matters. Good leaders provide a calm presence when anxiety is high. You can’t calm others down, but you can manage yourself, and that makes a difference. Have you ever been at a meeting where you could feel the temperature going up in the room? A key person calmly says, “Here’s how I think we can handle this,” and you can almost hear everyone give a sigh of relief. Appropriate leadership in financial matters doesn’t mean balancing the checkbook or creating the financial reports. Not at all. It means offering spiritual leadership to the congregation and the relevant boards. It’s about the power of the presence of the leader in a vital area of ministry. Question: Are you taking the lead in some way in financial and stewardship matters in your ministry? 4. Relationships matter. Stay connected to the money people, as well as to other key lay leaders and staff. Money conversations will go more smoothly if you have ongoing relationships. Those relationships will help carry you through tough times. You don’t have to talk about money every time you talk, of course; in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Developing these relationships is like money in the bank (maybe literally at times) that will enhance your leadership. You’ll have more credibility with them and others. Question: What relationships do you need to develop to improve the ministry of money in your congregation? 5. History matters. Your church’s history deeply influences the present. You may be surprised, if you look into the past of your church, about how much of that past is still going on in the present. Here are a few ways a congregation’s history may repeat itself in financial challenges and strengths. Consider these options, and see what else you notice: An angel donor who rescues the budget every year Capable financial leaders Periodic conflicts about staff salaries A financial committee or board that always functions well — or never does Strong support for mission and outreach over generations Question: What do you know about the financial history of your church? Try this: Do some writing—even a few minutes—about each of these questions, perhaps one per day this week. Many pastors struggle with feeling like everyone wants a piece of them. Margaret Marcuson offers a way they can bring their best to their ministry without giving it all away, so they can have a greater impact and find more satisfaction. Find out more at http://margaretmarcuson.com. This article is reprinted from the helpful articles posted on our website as a part of the United Mission Toolkit. Visit www.abc-usa.org/united-mission-toolkit     Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of American Baptist Churches USA. Visit our United Mission Toolkit United Mission offers a straightforward yet purposeful way for American Baptists to actively contribute to a collective fund dedicated to mission and ministry. A significant portion of United Mission funds directly aids the mission initiatives and ministries of the 33 ABC regional entities, the Office of the General Secretary, and the Board of General Ministries. These entities operate under the guidance and input of our member congregations. United Mission funding serves to bolster endeavors at every level within our denomination, extending to our common mission fields. Moreover, specific portions of United Mission are allocated to support essential services provided by our national ABC partners.

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