What is Stewardship?
Stewardship is about being grateful, responsible stewards of the gifts we receive from God. The tradition of giving back to God and to the church comes from the Biblical practice of “tithing,” which means to give back a tenth of our earnings to God.
The Episcopal Church sees stewardship as more than simply contributing money to the church; it’s about reaching out to build relationships from a perspective of abundance instead of scarcity.
Most of us do not think much about the financial side of church life. At Christ & Saint Stephen’s we've come to expect to find a vital and thriving community where engaged clergy offer programs and opportunities for Christian Education for all ages. We count on our professional choir and dignified liturgy to bring us closer to God while fellowship events help us grow closer to one another throughout the year.
However, in the church, we must face many of the same challenges as a small secular business; we have salaries to pay, property to maintain and vital programs to fund. We draw support for all our programs and fixed expenses from three primary areas: rental income from outside groups, investment income and pledge income from our members and friends. More than a third of our annual expenses must be covered by our contributing households.
This means we depend on the support of individuals and households to continue our mission as a church.
That mission is wide-ranging and varied. We feed approximately ninety people per day through our Brown Bag Program; collaborate with another neighborhood church to provide a weekly overnight shelter for the homeless; give significant support to a premier neighborhood food program and offer numerous artists an affordable place to share their talents. We continue to host 12-step programs as we have for decades and the church is open each morning for those who need a warm place to get out of the weather for a time.
Without the support of our members, none of this would be possible.
Pledging
Please consider becoming a pledging member of Christ & Saint Stephen's Church. To download and print a pledge form, click here. Pledges are payable by check or American Express card.
NOW AVAILABLE: To make a simple, secure online pledge payment of other gift using VISA, MASTERCARD or E-CHECK please click here.
If you have any problems with your Simple Give login or have Simple Give support questions, please contact Simple Give directly at [email protected] or call 1-888-368-GIVE (8am to 7pm M-F EST).
PLEDGING BY STOCK GIFTS:
In order to give a gift of stock to the church, the donor should provide the following information to their broker:
Instructions for Electronic Transfer of Gifts of Securities
- Name of the Charity: Christ & St. Stephen’s Church
- Name of Receiving brokerage firm: Fidelity Investments
- DTC number: 0226
- Account number: X83-746773
- Contact at brokerage: Name: Giovanna Digennaro phone: 800-544-5704;
- email: [email protected].
- Contact at Church/Charity: Leonarda Priore, Bookkeeper, 212 787 2755 Ext 4; [email protected]
- Church/Charity’s address:120 West 69th Street, New York, New York 10023
No form is required. (CURRENT 6/2019)
Please also send info of the gift to our Bookkeeper, Leonarda Priore at 212-787-2755 ext 4 or [email protected] so that we can accurately account for your gift. Thank you.
Thank you for your continuing support -- and may God continue to bless you and Christ & Saint Stephen's Church with all the riches of creation and the bounty of life lived in faith.
