A lot can happen in five years. Babies are born and start kindergarten. White House administrations come and go. We saw the pandemic shut down most of the world and greatly impact the way churches function.<\/p>\n
And, this spring marks five years since the launch of Stewardship Navigator, an educational website launched by the\u00a0\uc7a5\ub85c\uad50 \uc7ac\ub2e8<\/a>.<\/u> It\u2019s a free online tool for Presbyterian congregations. You can find it at\u00a0\uc2a4\ud29c\uc5b4\ub4dc\uc2ed\ub124\ube44\uac8c\uc774\ud130.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n While initially designed to help smaller churches of fewer than 100 members, some mid-sized and large churches also are finding the content helpful. The site\u2019s overall goal is to help church leaders create and sustain strong stewardship efforts via a simple-to-use website.<\/p>\n When COVID limited in-person church services and restricted travel to informational conferences, the Stewardship Navigator website found brighter light.<\/p>\n From its opening months when it had about 100 users, the website now has 2,670 registered users among roughly 1,640 congregations, and new users sign up every month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really been quite remarkable at how the site took off and people connected with its messages,\u201d said the Rev. Dr. David Loleng, the project\u2019s founder. \u201cIt was important to make the website extremely user friendly, with materials even the casual user could download and customize, and I think we\u2019ve succeeded there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like that people can access this resource anytime they need it, from anywhere. It\u2019s very user-centered where you can find what you need without going through a whole tutorial process of Lesson One, Lesson Two and so on,\u201d Loleng said.<\/p>\n The website offers:<\/p>\n If the online resources create any confusion, there\u2019s a link to a real person who can offer help, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we liked about narrative budget is it\u2019s a different approach to get the message across about money,\u201d one church leader said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are used to seeing dollars \u2013 we need this many dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s old and probably worn out a bit.\u00a0The narrative budget puts it in a totally different perspective.\u00a0It helps wrap it around what\u2019s important to the parish, what do we want to focus on, instead of seeing a list of numbers.\u00a0It\u2019s such a fresh approach.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Another church also pointed to the narrative budget and how it helped guide their ministry conversation, \u201cespecially in the post-covid world when we all are trying to figure out who we are \u2026 through this (narrative budget) we are having the chance to put our budget into words and focus on the mission that the money supports.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, Pennsylvania and Ohio have the most registered users, followed by New Jersey and Virginia. To date, most sign-ups occur late in the calendar year \u2013 57 in August, 41 in September, and 54 in October.<\/p>\n\n