 Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Southern New England Conference weekly webinar. I'm Marilyn Kendricks, Bridge Conference Minister for Discipleship. We've been meeting weekly to provide various kinds of support for churches and pastors during this coronavirus crisis. We have with us today my Bridge Conference Minister colleagues Kent Solati and Don Remick, our Associate Conference Minister for Communications, Tiffany Vale, Debbie Ringen, our Minister of Health and Wellness, and our special guest, Andrew Warner, Generosity Outreach Officer of the United Church of Christ in the National Setting. I will be opening us today with a short devotional moment. We'll have a couple of updates to share, and then the bulk of our time together today will be spent with Andrew sharing information about church finances during this crisis. You know, I've been thinking in this time of enforced isolation, how we can live into being disciples of Jesus. Being his disciple means living as he lived, using his teachings as a guide for life. And he himself gave this statement as the single most important thing we need to do to be his disciples. Love your neighbors and yourself. When Jesus spoke these words, the universe of neighbors was just a few thousand strong, I would imagine, just limited to those folks whom you might interact with during your lifetime. But this pandemic has expanded in a real way who our neighbors are. We've been asked to stay inside to limit our in-person social interactions only to those who live inside our homes with us. And this is how we care for and love our neighbors in this time. It is the whole world who we can count as our neighbors today. This is a time when what we do, each one of us individually impacts others in our towns, but also in our states and in our nation and in the world. This is how we can live as disciples of Jesus in the midst of pandemic. And this is not easy stuff, I know, for us as clergy keeping our congregation spiritually united yet personally separated. It's not easy for us as sons and daughters, as parents and grandparents, as people sharing space under one roof day after day, none of this is easy. But if we love one another enough to do what's difficult, we will be living as disciples of Jesus. So let's pray. God of love and God of healing, God of majesty and mystery, we are your people gathered together in this time to support one another in our various efforts during this unparalleled challenge. We ask that you be with us in this time, providing us with inspiration and strength to keep on keeping on, to help us continue to make a way out of no way, and to witness to the world the power of revolutionary love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And now I'd like to pass the meeting over to Debbie, who will provide us with some health and wellness updates. Thank you, Marilyn. I know that we're all watching the news. We're all paying attention to our governor's updates. The numbers of cases are growing. The healthcare provider's personal protective equipment is decreasing in availability. People are making masks. People are trying to find ways to help each other. The food banks are continuing. And I know the food pantry at my church in Connecticut has been seeing more and more people and fewer and fewer volunteers. So that is a struggle, you know, as we all, many of our volunteers are in the high-risk group, very elderly. So we have to find where we can serve as individuals using all the safe precautions and where we can perhaps contribute financially to our congregations and our local food banks. And you know, one thing that really has been coming up for me with people I've been interacting with on the phone is the issue of stigma around the pandemic. People who are victims of the virus and are at home are seeing things on the news, getting texts and emails from coworkers who are angry. Newspaper articles that identify a place of work for an individual have comments online about we need to know the name of that person and know what our risk is. And we come in contact with that individual and statements such as it's our right to know. We need to support the people who are ill. We're all out there and the public health system is tracing contacts as they can and talking with people as needed. So I think the more that we as spiritual leaders can inform people and try to really enforce the need to just reach out in kindness and compassion to someone who is ill or who may be ill and is in quarantine without the blame, without the accusations and without the angry words. I think we would do everyone a really good service that way. People who are under quarantine and ill don't need the added stress of anger directed specifically at them. That's my brief update for today. Thank you. Folks, you are receiving a flood of information and we have been doing a lot of work to gather information for our churches and there's some incredible resourcing and thinking going on out there so much so that eventually all this great stuff becomes so overwhelming as to be kind of productive. So there are three things I want you to do and five things I want you to know this week for around resources from our conference. We are revamping the web page on coronavirus at S-N-E-U-T-C dot org and we're putting on the very top of that page the three things we want you to pay attention to today. I encourage you to go to that website three times a week just to check out the information. We're also spreading out the information on the web page into categories so if you're looking for specific infrations it is easier to find it. I also encourage you to look at the email that comes out each week the five top things that your conference wants you to know. Read that when it comes out there's information in there that will continue to guide you and support you. We're also going to be sending out some individual emails on some upcoming issues and these are the five things I want you to know that are coming up. Just week Congress passed and the president signed a new law which will require many churches to increase paid leave for employees under certain circumstances and that's the question we're doing research on right now. What are the implications of this family's first coronavirus response act for our churches? Be attentive and email will be coming your way soon with information about that. We've also received a request from MIMA the Massachusetts Emergency Management Association to survey all of our churches so that they can do a coordinated effort across the state in terms of what resources churches are providing locally. We're also in contact with the Connecticut and Rhode Island to see what they're doing so again be watchful for an email coming out with that information. There is a group working on resources for Easter worship pay attention we're going to be getting some great stuff coming your way around that as well. Yesterday an email went out to all of our churches in transition to the search teams and the interim pastors with some new guidance around search and call in the midst of a pandemic watch for that. And we know that this is an unusual time that is reshaping everything. We have talked about the church of the future for years if not decades and it is coming sooner rather than later. And we are discovering in this moment new ways of being a church that will shape how we are a church in the future. We'll be doing a Zoom invitation to gather your best wisdom that helps us describe the narrative of this new church in the new normal that is to come. And talks about how we're getting there and how we will get there. Pay attention to an email coming your way soon with a Zoom invitation to that. I want to pass this over to Kent to lead us into the conversation for the day. Bless you all. Thank you, Don. Good afternoon. Welcome the Reverend Andrew Warner to this conversation. We're glad you're here. Andrew is the generosity officer of the United Church of Christ national setting and he does double duty because he works with the Wisconsin Conference as a director of development. Welcome Andrew. Thank you. It's my pleasure to be with you. Andrew, would you just say a couple of words to introduce yourselves to those of us who don't know you about just say a couple words, please. Thanks. So as generosity outreach officer, I work to strengthen the fundraising capacity of both our congregations and our conferences, which primarily primarily means that I make myself available to do trainings and teachings for pastors and leaders across the United Church of Christ. In Wisconsin, I work as a director of development doing direct fundraising for the conference and again assisting our congregations and in particular working on plan giving for our congregations and the conference as a whole. Before taking on these two roles, I served as a senior pastor of a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I served there for 22 years. And Andrew, you make really unbelievable desserts, I've been told. I love all things French, but particularly macarons and other patisserie. That is my great love. So we're not here to talk about desserts, unfortunately, today. Maybe that's another episode where we'll talk about best recipes for desserts and we'll bring you on again. Andrew, I want to start with a question. As we find ourselves where we are today in the midst of enormous change and challenges, what's the central message that you as the generosity officer of the United Church of Christ, you as the Reverend Andrew Warner, want to offer to us for these days? Yeah, I would say I also answer that as just as a person and as a person experiencing this too. So I would say that I believe in Jesus's word. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. I've never experienced experienced something like we're going through now. But I know that I don't experience it alone. God moves with us through this moment. Remembering God's grace keeps me from slipping into the mind instead of scarcity. It doesn't mean that I know how this will end. But it does mean that I trust in God's love and know that I'm not alone. And I believe in the church. Now as a gay man and one who grew up Catholic, I know that no church is perfect. But church, our congregations can be powerful embodiments of community. I remember what Martin Luther King said. The Holy Spirit is the continuing community creating reality that moves through history. I cannot see the future. But I believe God has not done creating community through the church. And I believe in people. The beloved community, not perfect, often contentious, sometimes tedious. The beloved community that is the local church deeply impacts people's lives. Ministry changes lives. And I believe people will continue to support communities of meaning and purpose. Now all of that is more spiritual than practical because it's both our theology and research support one central fact that whether we are in a crisis or not, fundraising isn't a trick or technique, but rather a spiritual practice. I think this is the most central thing for us to remember. Thank you, Andrew. So this is a time where there's fear and anxiety in our culture. And I'm interested from your perspective out of the faith perspective that you bring to generosity ministries. How is this time we're in provide a unique opportunity for generosity? Yeah, so again, I think that when we think of fundraising as a spiritual practice, then we ask a different set of questions. When fundraising remains a task or a chore, then we want to know, how do I do that? But when we approach it as a spiritual practice, then we ask a different set of questions. How does generosity change me? Does generosity deepen my relationship with God? How does generosity live out my faith? I think this present moment offers a chance for us to really think about generosity as a spiritual practice, to treat it as a form of discipleship, much like prayer and Bible study and service and justice work. In my own life, my husband and I gave our annual gift to our local church now in March. We did so because that congregation makes clear it's extravagant welcome, that no matter what, you are welcome. And so we wanted to make a gift in this uncertain time to say to our local congregation, no matter what, we are with you. Our gift came out of our gratitude, our commitment, but it also expressed our hope. And that's what I discovered in my practice of generosity, that my gift both expresses my hope and that the act of making a gift deepens in me a sense of hope. Thank you so much. So you've written a wonderful resource that we've made available to the conference. Tiffany's putting that link up for our viewers now so that they can access it. So as churches, as we all are trying to flatten the curve and keep people safe during this time, working out of our home offices or our homes, what are the resources that you think that churches should be using around issues of faith, finance and stewardship? It may not just be unique to a time of global pandemic, but what are some resources that you've found to be helpful that, as you've had to make recommendations to people, what are you, where are you directing people to go to? Yeah, well, I think of a couple of things. Early on, the CDC advises about this virus to wash our hands. And all over Facebook, I saw friends posting comments like, who wasn't washing their hands? And we learned in this pandemic the importance of doing things that we ought to have been doing all along. And I think that's really true of generosity, that there are some practices that we ought to always be embracing. And so one of the lessons that I do is to look back on what we learned through the Great Recession and what were the things that mattered and were important to do in 2008 to 2010 or 2011 that we can learn that we'll need to do again and really things that we should have always be doing. But also, I think a great resource is from the Lake Institute, the National Study on Corrugational Economic Practices, and it talks about what's going on in congregations across the country, and it highlights the things that matter. But a couple of things from both of those sources that I think come up, and I'll continue to talk about them, but one is communication, that this is a time to communicate with members and friends of your congregation, to work on building relationships, to make calls, to send snail mail letters, and to listen carefully. Talk about what you're learning and what you're missing. I think we could structure our letter around we're learning that we can be the church without a building, and we know that we can't be the church without you. Communicate to people that they matter, and talk about the things that you can do together that also matter. So that's, I think, key. I'd also say transparency. This is a time to be transparent with your members and friends. Too often in church, our finances remain a mystery. Many congregations only disclose their finances once a year. Be transparent about what's happening. No, transparent doesn't mean to be despairing, but instead to be clear. The congregation can work to adapt to this new moment, and you can celebrate what you're doing, name your questions, one of which might be finances, and look to scripture. Acts 2, the believers held all things in common, each giving as they could. Make clear about the ways that people can help and be transparent about the ways that they can help. And lastly, I think, again, we need to learn how to ask. Too often in church, we forget to ask people to make a gift. We decide for them that this is not the right moment, but I think people deserve the right to make their own decisions. This only works if we follow Jesus' advice, let your no be no, and your yes be yes. People need to know that they can make their decision without rupturing the relationship. We're increasingly aware of the economic damage caused by this pandemic. Over 3 million people filed for unemployment, but there are still people in a position to give. In part, this is because Americans give, on average, 2% of their income to charity. We can do more, but also not everyone is losing a job or ours. Others have secure income, they might have social security. Others have a donor-advised fund or need to make minimum-qualified distributions from their IRA. There are options, so ask. In particular, ask donors who give once a year to give now. Ask largest donors to make a gift now, and ask those who don't pledge to make a gift. So I love the analogy that you make, Andrew, around the hand-washing and that we should be talking, we should be washing our hands, of course, at all times, but also around generosity, how that connects to that, that we should be talking about these things within the life of the community of faith. And I really like what you said, Andrew, about don't presume that people are hoarding at this moment in time. That's what the news is characterizing, that we're all going out and buying a lot of toilet paper, right? And so that's a control issue in some ways, and we live out of a different ethic, right? We live out of the ethic of generosity and love. So I like the idea that asking certain donors, possibly some of your higher donors, to make a special gift or to give now for the whole year, as you've given an example from your own life, I think that's really, really solid advice. What other best practices could you offer to us? Yeah, a couple more best practices emerge from that Lake Institute study, and I really think this would be a great time to have a group of lay leaders read it and reflect on the practice, what's going on in a local church. They found that there were three particular practices that correlated with increased revenue and congregations. First, and most importantly, teaching about generosity is a spiritual practice. Currigations that taught weekly or monthly about generosity were the most likely to see an increase in giving. We've done this work about human sexuality. We've learned how to talk theologically and spiritually about human sexuality. We're working about that around climate change and racial equity. We can do this around generosity. Teaching about awkward subjects makes them less awkward. And also people really don't know what it means to be generous. And so they struggle with what to give and what's appropriate and what that would mean for them. Second, I think the research is clear. One best practice is to offer online giving. Most, while most donations still come in through the offering plate, churches with online giving are more likely to see an increase in giving. This was true before we stopped worshiping in person and it's doubly true now. And third, the third best practice I'd recommend is that pastors should know what people pledge and give. This can be controversial among pastors and lady alike, but the research is clear. Pastors knowing is correlated with increased giving. And I think that's because treating generosity as a spiritual practice means that the spiritual leader needs to know. And lastly, this doesn't emerge in the research by Lake Institute, but I'd say this is a really good time for us to talk about our double bottom line. A lot of our congregations are worried about their cash flow and their financial statement. But I also think this is a time for us to look at our mission alignment and to look at both of those double bottom lines, not just finances, but also mission and ask how are we living as Jesus's community? That's really helpful. And we put the link up for the Lake Institute that you're referencing, Andrew. It's a really good resource for churches. If you don't know about the work of the Lake Institute, we commend that to you for your generosity work within your local congregation. So what are we learning? What is it we're learning in this time? What are we discovering about either ourselves or the world? What are your reflections on that, Andrew? Yeah, I think, again, I think there's a number of things that we're learning. Mostly I think we're learning again how to be creative and inventive as leaders. I'm deeply encouraged by the ingenuity that I see across churches. People are finding lots of new practices and approaches to being church. We're also learning that church is more than a building and our calling as pastors is more than Sunday morning. People notice my sister lives in Massachusetts but doesn't go to church. Yet she sees the way the churches around her are organizing to care for people, not just their people, but anyone who needs assistance. We're learning that our greatest cathedrals are not made of bricks and stone, not soaring arches or high steeples, but instead woven out of relationships. Lastly, and I think this will come even more apparent with time, we're moving into an adaptive period of leadership. Ron Heifetz wrote about this back in the 1990s. He talked about the difference between technical fixes and adaptive challenges. At first, what I saw in Wisconsin, congregations concentrated on technical questions. How do we get the Sunday service up on Facebook Live? How do we receive an online donation? But now I see leaders moving into more adaptive thinking. How can our home be a place of spiritual depth? Much of this, we needed to ask ourselves already. Much of it, much of what we were doing before wasn't really working. Now we face an adaptive challenge and that will be innovating over the long term. It's really helpful, Andrew. And we're asking folks if they have questions now, we've got a few moments to sort of receive those questions. But before we start digging into whatever questions there might be from our watchers, what else do you want to share with us, the Southern New England Conference and anyone else who's watching this webinar? I just think I'd observe that I think after this period of social distancing, during this period of social distancing, while people are experimenting with lots of ways to content to build community, I want our congregations to be creative in that same space. People will learn new ways to be in a relationship. I'm hoping that our congregations will be invented, inventing those ways with people. But I also think when this period of social distancing ends that people will have a hunger to be in physical community with each other. A week ago, David Brooks wrote about his nostalgia for little things, the way people pressed into an elevator together. People will come back if we were there for them during this moment. And people will support the places that are providing them meaning, purpose and connection. Such good, rich content. Thank you so much, Andrew. So we've got some curiosity questions about some things you've referenced. Someone has asked the question about the MLK quote. Could you cite that again? And maybe where you found, well, we can find it, but can you cite that quote? You can find it. It's in his book, A Stride Toward Freedom. And it's in a section where he's talking about agape. And he talks about the role of Jesus, of what the resurrection talks to us, teaches us about God's commitment to restore broken community, that the Holy Spirit is the continual community creating force moving throughout history. It's a beautiful section that comes just after he talks about the meaning of agape. Excellent. And someone also asked, did you reference proverbs in your opening remarks? No, I referenced the Gospel of John, John 1010. Gotcha, thank you. So do you have any specific advice, Andrew, questions coming in about investments? There are congregations that have endowed funds and in some parts of Southern New England, they interpret those as the rainy day fund or the last day fund as this one person is asking a question is, do you have any advice, what to say about investments at this point in time? Well, yeah, I mean, I think there's a couple of great resources and books out there about endowments that I've found personally really helpful. One of those is Edgar Villanova's book, Decolonizing Wealth that really invites us to reflect on our relationship with money and investments. And I think that's a great resource to go to so that we're not thinking about in this moment of panic, do we break the glass and use the endowment? But instead to think about really, what is our whole approach to wealth and money and how are we managing it? I'm not saying that we wouldn't use it in this moment, but I think it would be great to be more informed by something beyond our fear or panic and to have a kind of theological grounding. And Edgar Villanova's is grounded in the church, even though his book doesn't specifically frame this as a theological conversation. It's one of the best things I've read around that topic for sure. So I commend it as well. The question about the stimulus package that some folks may be receiving, what's your thoughts about that being used as a resource for mission and ministry? You mean the stimulus money that individuals might get? I think that was something that came up in 2008 and 2009 when there was a stimulus package then as well. And I think that it was an invitation to make, to say if you can to give that. And I know certainly when I was a pastor at that time, there were families who made that choice. I think it's a great moment to make a new communication. To me, the question that we ought to be organizing around in the church is to look at some of the justice questions and economic justice questions that are involved in the stimulus package. And I think there's a role for us in our church communities to say, while everyone is at home, they ought to be calling their senators and representatives and voicing how their faith is informing their views on this question. So there's an interesting question that's come along, Andrew. It's about the inequities within about wealth and assets within our congregations, many of our congregations. Some have endowments, some are struggling and may be closing or set a closing date coming. Those are in some in the weighted center perhaps. The question is, what do you think about the idea that wealthy congregations could help those that are not as wealthy at this moment in time? Well, again, I think that's a question of how it is that we use our wealth and to who are we serving with those resources? And those questions around the impact, I think are great ones to ask. The often I see in philanthropy that a lot of the giving that happens is to support ourselves. So the arts community often receives tremendous amount of giving. And I know many people are deeply wanna see their funds go there. I personally like my own giving to go to vulnerable communities. And so I personally use Matthew 25 as a guide to my giving. And if I was in charge of a foundation or I was making choices about a foundation granting, I would really be guided by those imperatives to help the vulnerable. It doesn't directly answer your question, but I think you have to have a strategy that's gonna guide your giving. I think the question of the impulse of those who have endowments and wealth, some of it which may not be used for operating expenses is this, that moment where they might reach out to a sibling congregation nearby that needs assistance. We would hope that that could be a possibility. We certainly can't require that in any way, but we do know of congregations that could be generous. And maybe this might be the moment where they'd be able to do that. So among our vulnerable congregations, we're certainly working frantically to try to think of what resources we might provide to one another, thinking about ways in which we might be looking at whatever assistance might be coming through small business association. There's lots, I mean, it's very fluid right now. So my hope is, is that the generosity that we can extend is not just the hand washing moment that'll carry beyond that. There's a really sweet story that I wanna share that's in the chat, but those of you on Facebook might not see this. So I'm just gonna, I think we'll close with this story, Andrew. This is from someone who said when an offering envelope came on the plate and a note was written on the front and it said, sorry, this is all I have. Inside was $2.48 exactly down to the penny. We don't know who that was or is this pastor writes, but we know that it's gospel and it provides a preaching moment that's powerful whether or not the widow's might comes up in the lectionary. So thank you, Andrew, for a one more question. I'm sorry, we've got time for this last one. No more. Thank you. You can ask questions along the way. We'll try to answer them in the feed as well as we come to a close. Our 50 member church has built a community on Facebook. What approaches can you suggest to avoid being perceived as oily hucksters? Yeah. So again, I think that's where transparency is really key. You know, what makes fundraising icky is when it's not clear and when it comes with a sense of, obligation or shame. And I think to say, this is an invitation. This is something that we're inviting you to participate in. You know, it's not an obligation. And that people are transparent about the invitation. Excellent. Really, really glad to have you with us, Andrew. Lots of good theological food for thought about generosity. We are blessed to have you on our national setting staff. We are grateful to you. Lots of thank yous are coming true for you that you can't see right now. And so we thank you again, Andrew Warner, representative of our generosity officer from the National Setting in the United Church of Christ and director of development for the Wisconsin Conference. Thanks for being here. Take care. Next Thursday, folks, just looking ahead to the bridge conference ministers, we will be hosting the Reverend Matthew Kreben, who is the senior pastor of the Newtown Congregational Church, who has written a compelling blog piece on ministering it in a time of pandemic. You will not want to miss that conversation with Matt Kreben, who has much wisdom and insight to give to us in the future. Blessings to all of you this day. Wash your hands, be generous, and be well. Amen.