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Beryl Jantzi is a former pastor and now serves as the Everence director of Stewardship Education. For more information on examples of financial policies and practices congregations might consider adopting submit your requests to beryl.jantzi@everence.com. _______________ The term “white-collar crime” was coined in 1939 and refers to a full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust, and are typically nonviolent. As we look at Scripture, there is another form of “crime” that I am naming “clerical crime.” This is sinful (and sometimes criminal) activity committed by members...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence, an agency of Mennonite Church USA. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom/aphesis for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 As Jesus launched his ministry, in Luke 4 there is a call to aphesis, or freedom. This is a direct reference to the principle of Jubilee (year of the Lord’s favor) as described in Leviticus...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence, an agency of Mennonite Church USA. According to Scripture, what we do with our money has a profound impact on our relationship with God. If this sounds too strong, consider Luke 12:33-34: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. Wealth and accumulation Slate magazine published a report in 2014 about billionaires. There were 2,325 in the world at that time holding seven trillion dollars, or four percent of the worlds wealth. About 100 billionaires lived in New York City and 85 in Moscow. Europe had more billionaires than any other continent. The average net worth of these persons was 3.1 billion dollars. Most of them have four homes worth about 94 million dollars. Wealth and generosity Paul also wrote about wealth. In his second letter to the church in Corinth...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. “'Tis a gift to be simple” — 19th century Shaker song Living into the spirit of contentment or discontentment is largely a conscious decision. We choose which “tent” to live under by deciding what life is all about and what we want our life to represent. Adam Hamilton, pastor at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, is author of the book Enough: Discovering joy through simplicity and generosity . In this book he takes on the subject of conTENTment and disconTENTment. Choosing contentment is more than just not buying things or getting caught...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education at Everence. Pastors and lay leaders often wonder, “How can we motivate our congregation to invest their time and resources in the life of the church?” Research shows that appealing to a set goal or a sense of obligation may work among leaders, but it fizzles among the grassroots. When a financial campaign is built on compassion however, it resonates among the membership and they give more generously. In the coming years, compassion and community will be the motivators that stir the grassroots to action and generosity. You've lost that lovin' feelin' Kennon Callahan...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education at Everence. This article originally appeared at Everence.com . As the number of not-for-profits increases, along with their level of sophistication for donor dollars, churches need to adjust to the changing landscape of religious giving. When it comes to giving, loyalty to the local congregation cannot be assumed any longer, especially for Millennials. Millennials (born 1981-1997) are now the largest generation in the workforce, but they give less money to fewer organizations than members of the generations born before 1946. Millennials give differently than previous generations. Millennials and Gen Xers (born 1965-1980) are...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence, a faith based financial services company of Mennonite Church USA, which serves all who are interested in integrating their faith with their finances. There is an old adage that says, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today." The same could be said about preparing for the financial realities of paying for college. Preparation is not a once and done exercise. Preparation is ongoing. Following, I will highlight three stages related to the topic of affording college. One misconception is that preparing...
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Beryl Jantzi serves as the director of Stewardship Education for Everence. Everence is a faith based financial services organization which promotes stewardship practices for Mennonite Church USA and other Anabaptist organizations. You can surf the internet and find a wide range of responses to a biblical view of stewardship. Following are four principles that reflect the values and marks of Anabaptism. Clearly, more could be added but as a chair rests on four legs, so too these theological marks identify what I believe to be core beliefs upon which other commitments are built. We believe that God is the creator...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. It’s been suggested that retirement is now divided into three stages: the Go-Go Stage, the Slow-Go Stage and the No-Go Stage. My parents worked hard and in their middle 60s, sold the farm and entered the Go-Go Stage. This stage included their annual migration between Sarasota, Florida, and New York, which lasted about 15 years. While in Florida, they would volunteer on almost a daily basis at a local retirement community. They fed residents who needed help with eating and did other things to lend a hand around the campus. It...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. If you are interested in resources that can be used to assist in conversations about finances and financial planning, be in touch with Beryl. There are a number of good resources currently available for pastors to use when working with couples getting ready for marriage. One of my favorite inventories to use with couples when I was in congregational ministry was PREPARE/ENRICH. One of the 13 categories assessed in the inventory provided by PREPARE/ENRICH is financial management. In a recent webinar sponsored by PREPARE/ENRICH, they announced a new resource for couples...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. Everence currently partners with four seminaries (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Ashland Theological Seminary, Bethany Theological Seminary and Eastern Mennonite Seminary) assisting students with personal money management life skills. The first three seminaries listed above also participate, along with 64 other seminaries across the country, in a Lilly endowed program for theological schools that addresses the Economic Challenges Facing Future Ministers (ECFFM). This program is moving into its third and fourth years. In a recent report positive findings have been highlighted regarding students that are participating in financial education from organizations like...
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First leadership conference for youth of color draws more than 400 participants Glen Alexander Guyton is chief operating officer for Mennonite Church USA. Culture Shock kicked off Friday night, Aug. 28, 2016, with close to 400 youth, young adults and parents in a high-energy worship service that included dynamic music and a comedian, KevOnStage, who poked fun at culture, community rituals and church traditions that in the moment generate high emotion but often leave us empty after we walk. The young people and youth sponsors who attended Culture Shock definitely did not walk away from the weekend empty. They walked...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. Henri Nouwen has written a classic booklet entitled, The Spirituality of Fund-Raising. In this inspiring text, Nouwen does a great job talking about the necessity and virtues of inviting people to give to the mission and ministry of the church and other faith based organizations. As compelling as the message from Nouwen is, there are still relatively few people, pastors included, that feel the call to the ministry of fund-raising. Kerry Robinison, another notable Christian writer and speaker on this topic, has identified that when asked about stepping up to this...
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Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education for Everence. "‘Tis a gift to be simple" – 19th century Shaker song Living into the spirit of contentment or discontentment is largely a conscious decision. We choose which "tent" to live under by deciding what life is all about and what we want our life to represent. Adam Hamilton, pastor at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, is also author of the book, “Enough: Discovering joy through simplicity and generosity” (Abingdon Press, 2009). In this book he takes on the subject of conTENTment and disconTENTment. Choosing contentment is more than just not...
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