Stewardship

Stewardship 2022
Every Perfect Gift

Dear Church Family,

What is the best gift you ever received?
“Every Perfect Gift” is our theme for the 2023 stewardship campaign. We are reminded that everything we receive and everything we give, comes from God.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” - James 1:17
      Giving of our time, talent and treasure is how we show our gratitude for all the gifts God has given us. It takes all of the congregants to fulfill the task at hand for God’s work in our community and church.
By Reaching Out, Engaging, Connecting and Belonging we can reach our goal together.

Kickoff for stewardship season is October 9th.
Commitment Sunday is October 30th.

      Through the reflections in the weekly e-news and from the speakers in worship, kicking off on October 9th, we hope that you will consider each precious gift you have received, reflect on God’s abundance, look within your heart and thoughtfully respond with a meaningful commitment for 2023.
      We hope that you return your Covenant card or make your pledge using Realm on or before October 30th.
      Show us how you’d like to give your time and talent by completing and returning the enclosed survey.

      When we give out of our love for God, we can trust that our gifts, large or small, will be used by God to meet the needs of our church and community.

Faithfully,
Darcel K. Tabb & Dana Hall
Stewardship Co-chairs

Time and Talent Form

Covenant Card 2022

Completed Time and Talent forms and Covenant Cards can be
Emailed to catherine@fpccov.org
Brought/mailed to the Church office
1169 Clark Street SW
Covington, GA 30014

Narrative Budget for 2023

A Narrative Budget tells the story of how our church practices good stewardship of the gifts entrusted to us. It provides a vision of where our church hopes to be in the coming budget cycle.
Click below to view a PDF of our Narrative Budget and learn all about what you will be contributing to when you share your every perfect gift with FPCC this year!

Narrative Budget

Stories of Stewardship: Janet Carmichael

I find great joy when given the opportunity to use the skills with which God has blessed me. This includes Singing and Group Leadership.

My membership in Church choirs from the age of nine, in many different places, has also included choral training. Today, at FPC, my main aims are to have the soprano section well represented, (Thankfully, the days are gone when there were just two of us!) and to sing with joy any soprano solo I’m asked to sing.

As moderator of our Presbyterian Women (PW), 2015 – 2017, circles enjoyed our activities and took opportunities to prove how successful a women’s church group can be.

We had:

Retreats
Women’s Day of Worship once a year
“Change the World” involvement
Opportunities to identify members who qualified for PW awards.
A new banner

Now, as District Five Leader, I try to keep interest alive within other PW groups, which, because of the pandemic have been forced to “pause”. Others have found ways to remain active— FPC is among the latter.

My recent visit to one Church in District Five was a double success, in that I congratulated PW members in the congregation for starting afresh this year, and then sang their Anthem—breaking a pause of Anthems there.

May I now close by joyously singing Hymn 700 from our Hymnal—"a hymn of dedication and stewardship”?

I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

Thank you,
Janet

Stories of Stewardship: Tom Stillerman

When I was 14 years old, someone put me in charge of recreation at Vacation Bible School (VBS). I wonder how that happened. I doubt a session meeting was called. Maybe, there were not enough volunteers.

The transfer of power was quick. That first day I went to the playground and found a dozen kids waiting for me. I did not panic. I did what any teenager would have done: I organized loose games.

I supervised kickball games where fifth graders punted balls into the church's brick walls and glass windows. When I played dodgeball with third graders, they were so revved up I could not stop them. Dodgeball continued through snack time (and on into Bible study and music, I’m sure). I organized a water balloon fight that was fun until I was left picking up balloon pieces.

I was lucky that first year. The church suffered no broken windows. Kids inevitably injured during dodgeball vowed revenge against their friends instead of complaining to parents. However, I was told, “Please give parents a day’s notice before the next water balloon fight.”

Those early days leading recreation were reckless, wild, and fun. I had so much fun I came back and led recreation again and again. Over the years, I’ve become much safer. (These days I reserve dodgeball for fourth and fifth graders on VBS’s last day.)

Looking back, I only can conclude that whoever put me in charge knew what they were doing. Someone must have seen something in me to entrust that much responsibility to a teenager. Leading recreation connected me to my church and provided a positive experience working with children.

Sometimes God calls you before you are ready. Sometimes He entrusts you with a responsibility for which you are not prepared.
How can you respond to His call?

Sincerely,
Tom

Stories of Stewardship: Dan Walden

FPC Covington has been my church family for 30 years. You all - and the many dearly departed saints of the church - have been the family that helped raise my children in the faith, and today are helping to raise my grandchildren as well. As Sam Hay, Jr. used to say, you all have been there to "prop us up in our leanin' places" and to encourage us to become part of God's beloved kin-dom here on earth. In short, you have been God's grace incarnate in our lives and I will be forever grateful.

Stewardship is not so much as me trying to pay back a debt that I owe because the gifts I have received are priceless. Rather, stewardship is my attempt to pay it forward to the church family today. So I’m delighted that I am able to contribute to the mission of the church by working with the Tech Team to produce an audio/video archive of our worship experiences. I have also enjoyed serving with the many feeding ministries that FPC is involved in, including Meals on Wheels and our Community Food Pantry. I especially enjoy sharing the gifts of music and story telling with our children at Sunday School and VBS. And just recently I’ve been given an opportunity to lead our Thriving Congregations cohort, a process that will help us to sharpen our focus and make a difference in our community as a family of faith. So many exciting opportunities await us and I couldn’t be more grateful!

And of course, each year we make a commitment for financial giving to support the work of our talented staff and volunteers. This commitment is important because it gives our Session a basis upon which to set a budget for the coming year so that we can do more good work together. I hope you will consider doing the same. Get involved. Make a financial commitment. See the fruits of the Spirit flourish in your lives and the lives of our neighbors!

Grace & peace,
Dan

Year-Round Stewardship Ministry:
An Attitude of Gratitude

“Everyone should give whatever they have decided in their heart.
They shouldn’t give with hesitation or because of pressure. God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 (CEB)

A Message from Bob Tabb: Elder, Chair of the Finance Team