Presbytery Services
The Rev. Jim Nash, the Rev. Warner Durnell (Executive Presbyter), and Harriet Bibb, members of the North Alabama Church Development Foundation. Photo by Robert Kukla.
We offer the following services to presbyteries. Contact CFCS for more information about any of these programs.
Feasibility Study
CFCS assists Presbyteries to determine the readiness of their constituents to support camp improvements, NCDs, or other mission related projects.
Your presbytery may require funds beyond those available through annual mission giving. Therefore, a major funding campaign may provide the resources to move your presbytery's mission vision from plan to reality. Preparing for a financial campaign at the presbytery level requires an intensive process of articulating the vision, determining and prioritizing specific mission goals and assessing the presbytery's readiness to proceed with a campaign strategy.
A presbytery tends to be diverse and often disconnected. Validating the answers to the basic questions to prepare for a financial campaign takes hard data. A feasibility study is a tool used to gather and analyze information about the presbytery and its churches. The results of a feasibility study will provide the foundation for designing a capital campaign that will capture the interest and support of pastors and church members.
Supporting your congregations (Stewardship & Assessments)
CFCS helps members, congregations, and ultimately Presbyteries gain a more generous constituency as their congregations are taught the key elements of successful annual giving campaigns.
Presbytery Stewardship Program
The Presbytery Stewardship Program (PSP) provides practical training in effective financial stewardship to a cluster of congregations within a presbytery. The PSP translates the principles used by CFCS in conducting major fund-raising campaigns with congregations into a practical year long strategy for significantly increasing the church's operating budget pledges. The presbytery targets particular congregations who could benefit from such a program and invites their involvement.
Presbytery Assessment Workshop
CFCS partners with presbyteries, through a one day workshop, to bring a greater understanding of stewardship to local congregations. Each targeted participating church will complete a stewardship assessment and as a result of that assessment develop an immediate plan for improving their ability to approach their members for financial commitments. The evaluated assessments will also help churches implement an ongoing year round strategy to increase the overall generosity of their membership.
Funding the Capital Campaign
CFCS supports Presbyteries around the country in planning, organizing, and conducting capital campaigns to support local and national initiatives.
From the early stages of assessing the level of support for the campaign to receiving the commitments of individuals and congregations, CFCS can offer professional fund-raising counsel.
Presbyteries must plan carefully to focus their constituencies on the need to raise dollars to support worthy projects. These projects often can only be funded with the combined efforts of all churches and key individuals that make up the presbytery.
Once again, clearly articulating the appropriate projects(s) and challenging the financial potential of congregations and individuals to provide the funding requires an intentional planning process by church and presbytery leaders. Devising and helping to implement a campaign plan and time table that leads to the successful attainment of campaign goals is the type of service CFCS brings to presbytery campaigns. CFCS counsel will significantly impact the ability of the presbytery as a whole to raise the funds needed to enhance its mission and ministry.