This brand new package draws on Christian Community's extensive research to give your congregation four options for the annual commitment program:

• Cottage Meetings
• Celebration Sunday
• Pass It On
• Every Member Visitation

You can choose the most appropriate strategy for your church at this time and use the other options in future years. Each option directly connects giving to the development of the spiritual life and helps participants focus on how giving is directly connected to spiritual health. And you can expect to have a great time with the dessert first theme that also connects food and pleasure with your stewardship program!

The Dessert First Complete Financial Commitment Program includes:

• The Dessert First Notebook filled with detailed instructions for all four campaign options.
• A separate packet of materials ready to photocopy.
• A computer cd with letters in several formats.

Permission to duplicate the above materials is included in the price of the kit. The kit also includes copies of these additional publications (that are described in more detail later):

• The Desires of Your Heart: Financial Giving and the Spiritual Life which reports on Christian Community's research and offers 10 strategies to increase giving in the congregation.
• The Dessert First Devotional Booklet, a 28-day resource for use by church members. Quantity discounts are available.
• Cell Phones, Dessert, and Faith, a personal reading or group study book for congregational use. Quantity discounts are available.

There are many myths about money that impact our lives as Christians – bringing harm to our financial lives and our spiritual lives. This book is a frank look at those myths combined with practical advice that balances healthy financial planning with healthy spirituality. This book avoids the trite and often manipulative advice sometimes associated with Christian financial planning. This book has been written for personal use, family use, or class/group study.

The ten myths challenged in this book:
-Your worth and happiness are determined by what you earn and by what you own.
-God wants you to be wealthy; if you aren't you are failing to follow God's guidance.
-Having additional money would solve all your financial problems.
-You can't manage your finances without a budget, and a budget is a great deal of work.
-Sales people, financial planners, stockbrokers, and bankers have your best interests at heart.
-Debt is always good or always bad (depending on which "expert" is involved).
-Money problems are the primary cause of marriage and relationship problems.
-Ministers shouldn't talk to the congregation about money.
-A tithe (10%) is the correct level of giving for all Christians.
-Estate planning is primarily for wealthy people.

The Desires of Your Heart: Financial Giving and the Spiritual Life reports on Christian Community's major research on giving that involved 1,157 congregations from thirty different denominations. That study made clear that the single most important step needed to increase church giving is to directly connect individual giving to the spiritual life of each person. This book shows how to make that connection and provides ten practical strategies for increasing the giving in your congregation.

This booklet provides devotions for 28-days that directly relate spirituality to financial giving. Providing one of these for every household in the congregation is a great way to involve everyone in daily reflection on the spiritual life. The devotions help people deal with their anxieties about money, with issues of consumerism in our culture, with concern for the poor, with priorities on time, and with the environmental aspects of stewardship-as well as providing motivation for people to increase their giving.

$5 each for 1-25 copies; $4.50 each for 26-50 copies; $4 each for 51-75 copies; $3.50 each for 76-99 copies;

This book has been written for individual reading or for group study and provides a positive, insightful look at the place of money in our lives. Readers will:

• Be helped to recognize how their childhood experiences influence their present practices and values on money.
• Recognize that cell phones and other aspects of our culture offer tremendous pleasure but also exert enormous control over our lives.
• Look at the ways that time management and concern for the environment are also a part of stewardship.
• Learn to challenge the force that consumerism has on our lives.
• Find helpful strategies for dealing with their anxieties about money.
• Better understand how the our generosity affects the ministry and outreach of the congregation.
• Better recognize the way that money in our society determines our opinions of other people and of ourselves.
• Come to see that God seeks to bless our lives not only financially but in other ways as well.
• Learn to celebrate dessert and all the other blessings of our lives.

Contains strategies and information that have not previously been this accessible for local church leaders. You'll not only learn the basics about wills, estates, life insurance giving, endowment funds, and similar topics but also how to develop a comprehensive planned gifts program. This report is clearly written, easy to understand, and includes a resource section with additional information not in the main text. Your church may be missing out on tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars by not having a planned giving program in place.

Church members across North America give generous support to the current budget and capital campaigns of their congregations. Relatively few members, however, have considered the benefits of helping the church and other charitable causes through planned giving. In this easy-to-read booklet, leading stewardship authority Tom Rieke gives clear explanations of planned giving options and answers your questions. Tom Rieke was for many years in charge of Stewardship for the Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church. He is one of the most knowledgeable persons in the country on planned giving.

Intentionally priced low at $6 each so you can provide copies to people in your congregation.

This notebook contains forms and formats you'll find helpful in setting up current and planned giving within your church.