First United Methodist Church of Emporia had a long-standing endowment program in place, but leadership knew it needed to be streamlined and refocused.
“The big picture is stewardship,” Ed Bashaw, Chair of the Permanent Endowment Committee said. “We are supposed to be good stewards of what we have and our goal is to create disciples for Christ. We saw some inefficiencies both from the operational side and promotional side.”
The church knew the positive impact of having an endowment ministry as generous gifts given to the endowment in the past made possible many ministries, including allowing the children and youth ministry leaders to attend a conference. The conference was a valuable tool for the leaders to continue learning and finding resources for Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. By attending prior to the pandemic, the leaders had creative ideas to help the ministry continue through COVID-19.
Leaders from Emporia First attended the Leaving a Lasting Legacy workshop presented by Rev. Dr. Dustin Petz, President of the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation. As a result, they saw the potential for the church’s endowment ministry and how the Foundation could help them make it happen.
“Rev. Petz was very gracious to offer his services as we began looking at updating our charter and forming a Permanent Endowment Committee,” Rev. Karla Sheffy, Co-Pastor at Emporia First UMC said.
The church worked through an example charter provided by the Foundation, which included disciplinary guidelines and issues to have included in their working document. During this process it became clear that the endowment program needed to be simplified and have direction from one standing committee.
“The one committee really has knowledge of a lot of things and are able to make the directives for the cash flow a little bit better with that knowledge,” Ed said.
In addition to streamlining the committee, the leaders also worked to form a vision and refocus the giving areas to improve communication. Many of the funds that the church previously established were combined to create an unrestricted Legacy Fund, with two other targeted ministry funds, the Ministry Impact Fund and the Property Fund.
The updated charter was then adopted by the congregation and the church is excited for the future of growing their endowment ministry to strengthen and impact their ministry. The leaders at Emporia First are grateful to Rev. Dr. Dustin Petz for his work in helping to update the program.
“Everything we do is for the future,” Rev. Karla Sheffy said. “Our Christian faith is no different. To keep Christ’s life giving love in focus is important and the endowment program is a resource for building the future of faithful Christians.”
