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The Church

The Bible has more than 2,350 verses dealing with money and possessions. More of these verses deal with the area of giving than any other financial subject. As Believers, we must take seriously the biblical teaching that EVERYTHING BELONGS TO GOD and we are called to be the steward or manager. The message of financial stewardship does not end with the tithes and offerings. Most churches today, across all denominations, fail to properly present the biblical truth that we are to be stewards of our estate.

Estate stewardship is about preparing for the distribution of what has entrusted to our care and distributing to heirs in a manner that helps the heir rather than hurts. Do I give it outright or is over time the best method for the heir? Do I treat each heir equally? Would God be pleased with my leaving assets that belong to Him to an heir that is not living a life pleasing to God? The list of questions goes on and on. It is important that we take action while living to prepare for the proper distribution of assets at our death.

Sadly, more than seven in ten people today fail to have even the most basic document in an estate plan in place - the Will.  That trend is no different among Christians. Many of the most faithful long-term supporters of their local church fall into this category. They have every intention to leave a charitable gift to their church from their estate but they never get to the point of putting their plan in place that would provide for such a gift.   

The Baptist Foundation of Alabama is committed to sharing this message with Alabama Baptists that how we plan our estate is perhaps the largest single act of financial stewardship any of us will ever undertake.  With over 1.1 million Alabama Baptists, 3200 plus Baptist churches, and 75 Associations, we know this is a great task for the staff of professionals at The Baptist Foundation of Alabama.

To meet this goal, we have turned our attention to equipping local church leaders to learn, understand, and implement a low-key ongoing educational ministry of being stewards of our estate. We invite you to click on the following links to learn more about this important ministry initiative. Big church, small church, large estate, or small estate, it is important that we hear and understand this message of estate stewardship. Please feel free to phone our Office of Development at 334-394-2025 or email tbfa@tbfa.org for more information.

Kingdom Stewardship Alliance^TM: A ministry of The Baptist Foundation of Alabama as an equipping resource for the local
                                                      church stewardship ministry. Learn more, CLICK HERE

Planned Gifts:  For information on creating a planned gift for the benefit of your local church or other Great Commission Ministry,
                         CLICK HERE.

Evangelical churches of all denominations have taken steps to assist their members in discovering how to budget, reduce and eliminate debt, and participate in the current ministry of the church through their tithe and offering.  However, the church is failing to teach one of the most significant aspects of the stewardship message. It is the one area of stewardship training that could have a major impact on the ministry of the local church in the years to come - estate stewardship.  Why is this so important?

 According to the attorney authors of The Midas Curse, more than 90% of all estate plans fail within three years. The reason - they fail to transfer morals and values and in a manner that hurts rather than helps the individuals. Scripture has a powerful message with regard of how we handle God's blessings to us as Believers. Yet, the church remains silent!

Fewer than 3% of all seminaries train pastors appropriately preparing them to teach a holistic message of stewardship.  Many pastor's themselves are saddled with a tremendous debt load causing them to remain silent on teaching from Scripture that which they are not practicing themselves. This is not a problem unique to Southern Baptist. It is a problem experienced in ALL denominations and one that is just now beginning to surface for solutions. The solution is the same message spoken or more than 2,300 times in Scripture. It is the same message shared by our Lord Jesus Christ as he taught his Disciples.  That message - all we have belongs to God! We are temporary stewards charged with storing treasure in heaven and using that which he has blessed to us to bless others. 

Randy Alcorn, author of the best selling. The Treasure Principle, says, “The Lord intends giving to be one of the most blessed and joyful experiences of our Christian life.” Too many times we try to talk about finances and faith as separate issues. The Scriptures teach these are inseparable.

The Baptist Foundation of Alabama will be happy to assist the local church develop and implement a ministry of estate stewardship. This process consists of the following key components.

1. Meet with church leadership in the discovery process.
    
2. Draft the following administrative documents for the local church:

1. Gift Acceptance Policy outlining those key areas the church desires its members to give. These are usually missions, scholarship, and facility upkeep and maintenance. It spells out that if a direct gift is made to the church, the process has already been determined whether the church will use all at once or place to its permanent fund.
    
2. Endowment or Foundation Fund Resolution: determines how this oversight group is selected and functions within the church.
    
3. Endowment Agreement or Foundation Fund Agreement: This document established a fund under The Baptist Foundation’s 501 (c)3 nonprofit umbrella. This also gives the local church access to the professionally managed Institutional Investment Management program. This fund is portable meaning you are free to move from TBFA should your church so desire. Our goal is to help God’s people create “Kingdom” impacting gifts.
    
4. Investment and Spending Policy: This document is determined by the local church setting the parameters for how funds are invested and how they will be used in ministry.

3. During the planning process we will assist the local church determine how best to launch this important ministry to their congregation. We emphasize to the church this is a biblically based ministry – not a program. The focus of this ministry is on helping the local church grow faithful givers. Studies have shown that on average it takes about three years for a church to implement and cultivate a ministry for it to then become a part of the educational fabric of the church.
   
   For The Foundation, this is a long term ministry commitment to partner with the local church. We recognize that people will be ready to plan their estates at different times in their lives. The Foundation has several options for this portion of the process including the following:

1. A web based product providing training materials for church leadership and materials for leading internal sessions to church membership. The site also instructs church members on estate stewardship and leads them toward making a decision to plan their estate through the eyes of a steward. 
    
    
2. Several levels of ongoing and onsite planning meetings for private one on one sessions with church membership. No products are sold during any part of this ministry. This ministry initiative is strictly a biblically based educational event leading the member toward a full understanding on planning the estate as an act of stewardship. 
    

Each local church is unique and this ministry is customizable to fit the need of the local church.

For more information on developing this ministry within your church, contact our Office of Development at 334-394-2025 or email tbfa@tbfa.org.

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