How to Motivate Participation in Churchwide Special Sundays in Your Congregation and Annual Conference
by the Rev. Jane Follmer Zekoff,
Former Director of Ministry and Outreach,
Wisconsin Conference
Editor’s Note: The Rev. Jane Follmer Zekoff enjoyed tremendous success motivating participation in churchwide Special Sundays with offerings in the Wisconsin Conference. We asked her to respond to several questions about the process she used.
“Even with all this work and increasing our giving,” she said, “we still had many congregations that did not participate in Special Sundays. Just think what we could do if everyone responded with $1 per member per offering!
“On World Communion Sunday I worshiped at a church where the pastor did a very effective PowerPoint sermon. She challenged everyone to do several social justice actions during the week, including putting at least $1 in the World Communion offering. As she did that (the PowerPoint made the difference, I'm sure), I heard envelopes rattling around me!”
Here are the questions and her answers. We hope her responses are helpful as you market Special Sundays in your local church and annual conference.
• Why are you so passionate about Special Sundays?
I believe the majority of United Methodist clergy and church leaders are passionate about the ministries funded from the six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings. When I served as clergy in the local church, I weeded through so much paperwork that Special Sundays often became lost in the overwhelming list of ministries to promote. Working on the conference staff, and watching giving decrease, I realized a postcard or an e-mail reminder to local churches drew attention to Special Sundays and increased church participation. I also saw what wasn’t happening, due to lack of giving. The loss of scholarships, social justice programs, resources for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), community development and other ministries alarmed me.
• How did you distribute these stories?
While the Wisconsin Conference was still developing district list serves, we sent postcards to each local church. Gradually, we moved to sending e-mails via the district list serves, which expanded the message to local churches and clergy, several laity in local congregations, clergy in extension ministries, retired clergy and other conference leaders.
• Why did you decide to personalize your messages to local church pastors and congregations?
The director of connectional ministries is to be one of the key connectors between denominational resources and the local church. Both clergy and laity told me, “We don’t need statistics. Give us a story to help us know we are making a difference in someone’s life.” Connectional giving education is about stories. I based my messages on the plea: “Tell us how we are making a difference in someone’s life.”
• Where did you get most of your ideas for promoting Special Sundays?
The ideas came from listening to persons in the general and local church as well as from my own life experience of being Methodist/United Methodist. Traveling around the Wisconsin Conference, I listened as people talked about their paths into ministry with scholarship assistance, ministries that existed because of grants that were awarded, community-justice ministries funded by Special Sunday grants, and lives sustained in disaster because of UMCOR presence. Once I started listening, the promotional stories came easily.
• How did pastors use stories you’ve shared in their own congregations?
Pastors told me they took the Special Sunday stories and printed them in worship bulletins or wove the stories into their announcements and invitations for giving. I also read some of the stories reprinted in church newsletters. Pastors also shared with me how the stories reminded them of personal experiences or stories related to their congregations, which they modified, making the message very personal to that church setting.
• What kind of information did you provide in your e-mails and communications with local churches about Special Sundays?
Along with the short “witness” about how these offerings changed lives, I included resource information: the edition and page numbers in the Interpreter magazine that focused on a Special Sunday; the Web site for connectional giving (www.UMCGiving.com); Web sites from general agencies that had information about Special Sundays; the toll-free phone number for ordering resources; and prayers, hymns and litanies printed in The United Methodist Book of Worship or The United Methodist Hymnal.
• What kind of results did your personalized messages generate?
The key was to make the stories relevant to my specific conference. Many persons did not know Special Sunday offerings are used for conference ministries, leaders, communities and congregations. Therefore, when announcements included the name of a local congregation, pastor, community worker, college student or local concern, the story’s credibility was raised and the giving became a personal response rather than “just another offering.” When I didn’t send out a reminder (two to three weeks before the Special Sunday), the conference total often was down several thousand dollars.
• What other tactics did you use for bringing attention to Special Sundays?
Last-minute Web announcements to local churches made a significant difference, especially for the many pastors who planned Sunday to Sunday. I also had a table display at annual conference with extra posters and envelopes for last-minute planners who had not yet ordered their materials. Conference agencies also helped to promote the Special Sundays with letters, taped messages, bulletin inserts and other educational information. I also stressed “Any Sunday can be a Special Sunday” to remind churches that they were not locked in to taking the offering on the designated Sunday.
• How did you creatively use Special Sunday resources such as posters and offering envelopes?
While in my appointment as director of connectional ministries, I coordinated a packet for each congregation. It contained resources for the six Special Sundays as well as for special offerings set by annual conference action. The packet included: a letter giving thanks for the previous year’s offerings; two copies of the 8 ½-by-11-inch poster of the six Sundays (one for pastors as well as one for the office administrator, who plays a key role in remembering Special Sunday observances); a copy of the poster for each Sunday; a sample copy of each offering envelope; a review of our conference’s giving totals for the previous 10 years; a review sheet with dates; The Book of Discipline reference paragraphs; motions made at the previous annual conference regarding any special Sunday actions; and an explanation of all special offerings authorized by The United Methodist Church or the conference. The packets also listed Web sites, phone numbers and other information.
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