St. Mary’s 2024 Stewardship

Dear Parishioners, November, 2023

As our Sesquicentennial year comes to an end, we can reflect on the support and generosity of the many parishioners who shared our vision and supported our church and community over the years. With your Stewardship commitment, St. Mary’s Future is in our hands as we make our commitment to support our future.

We are the household of God. As you maintain your own household, by paying the bills and providing the required upkeep, the Vestry does all of this for St. Mary's. This includes overseeing the financial management of the Parish to support the many ministries of St. Mary’s, maintain the buildings, provide for our staff, and fully support our Priest, Mother Debbie. We do this with thankfulness for your pledge to sustain St. Mary’s to the benefit of our community. On the practical side, your pledge gives the treasurer an essential tool in building the budget.

A sincere thank you for all your gifts of time, talent, and financial support this past year. We ask for your prayerful discernment in determining your financial support to St. Mary's for 2024. Lastly, and most importantly, thank you for your consideration in helping to assure that St. Mary’s can continue and expand our ministries and leave St. Mary’s in excellent order for future generations.

Your Stewardship Committee,

Tom Long Diane Buckley Marie Lucier-Woodruff'

Al Soyster Gary Smerillo

Where your Pledge goes

How much does it cost per person to run our little parish?

St. Mary’s offers pastoral care, weekly worship, religious education opportunities for both children and adults, publications such as Day by Day pamphlets, multi-media services, a website, and supports many ministries. In addition, the Church and Rectory have maintenance and upkeep demands, there is staff to be paid, Insurance, utilities and office expenses, and of course, our Marks of Mission (Fair Share Pledge) to the Diocese. So, there are real costs involved in operating our little Church.

We have done our best to maintain costs over the years. In fact, our operating expenses have been remarkedly consistent over the past several years. Our current membership is 110, with 65 Parishioners pledging, so while we are keeping costs under control we are receiving less in Pledges and donations.

Each year, we use withdrawals from our investments to meet our operating expenses.

We will continue to need to use our investments to cover operating costs, as it currently costs $50 a week per person to fully operate our Church without using our investments for operating expenses.

We need your help to grow!

We are part of a long history!

On August 31, 1873, members of St. Mary’s Church in Burlington, New Jersey held the first service of St. Mary’s by-the-Sea. Their decision to found a mission in the area where they spent their summers not only gave us our name but established what is now the oldest church in Point Pleasant Beach..

Stewardship Questions

A pledge to St. Mary’s is a financial promise and commitment to support our parish and its missions in the coming year. Your pledge is an act of faith that connects you more deeply to our church. Many find spiritual joy in making a generous pledge to support God’s work through the church. While pledges guide our budget for the year, they can be adjusted, up or down, if your circumstances change.
Members of the Episcopal Church are expected to support their parish through generous pledges of their time and talent (through volunteering) and treasure (through financial pledges). You are not required to pledge to attend services and participate in parish life, but you are expected to support your fair share of our parish expenses and operating costs, in proportion to your resources.
From a spiritual perspective, we are called upon to be generous and joyful givers of our time, talents and treasure, to support God’s church. Giving to support missions we believe in gives us joy, and makes us feel more connected to our parish. There are many opportunities to serve and get involved.
From a practical viewpoint, stewardship is a shared responsibility and duty that we undertake to care for and maintain our parish and its missions. It is the combined energy and financial support of families and individual members that make possible all that we are and do as a parish. Pledges and gifts provide roughly 70% of the funds for our annual parish budget. General donations, rental income and fundraising account for another 20-25%. Any shortfall must come from our investments.
We do have several funds which are like savings accounts which hold funds for specific ministries and account for about 50% of our investment account. The remaining 50% is available for withdrawal for operating expenses. As good stewards of the investments, we strive to preserve the principal for future needs or emergencies and use only a small draw (5 % of average principal) each year to offset a portion of our annual expenses. On average we have had to withdraw 8% annually from our investments to meet our budget needs.
No, we don’t—it’s the other way around! Episcopal churches are usually financially independent, raising most of their operating funds from members. Unlike some churches (e.g., Roman Catholic), we are not funded from the top down. Your pledges or gifts go directly to our parish, and we are then charged an annual assessment (Marks of Mission) to help fund the diocese, supporting it and the missions of the Episcopal Church throughout the world.
Pledges indicate your intended financial donation to the parish for the coming year. They convey a level of commitment that strengthens our bonds with the parish, and they are needed by the wardens and vestry for planning ahead responsibly. Gifts, while welcome and appreciated, usually cannot be foreseen or relied on for planning purposes.
We all receive many requests from worthwhile charities and organizations—but remember that St. Mary’s depends on a relatively small number of pledges (64) for the majority of its budget. Please give St. Mary’s a high place in your annual giving, and make a pledge that feels to you like a major gift!
This is a very personal decision, but there are guiding principles. The Biblical tithe of 10% of income is a worthy goal, and some members joyfully reach this pinnacle. At St. Mary’s, we suggest an initial goal of 5% of income, and encourage you to move up in increments of 1% of income towards a full (or fuller) tithe.
The Marks of Mission is the new name for what we used to call The Fair Share Pledge. That is, the amount the Diocese expects us to contribute toward the running of the Diocese. The amount is based on our past three years income.

We ask for your prayerful discernment in determining your financial support to St. Mary's for 2024 in order to continue and expand our ministries and leave St. Mary’s in excellent order for future generations. We have included a proportional giving chart to help you in your discernment.

Find the current percent of income that you are giving to the church:
- Find your approximate annual income and move across the row to find your current weekly giving amount, we recommend 7%, or higher if you can.
- The number at the top of that column is your current percent of giving.

2. Consider what gift (or percent of your income) would bring you joy. Can you take a first step towards that goal this year? Can you increase last year’s by 1 or 2 percent?

Some people have suggested that we should "give until it hurts," but the practice of stewardship suggests that we

"give because it feels good."