Holy Trinity Church
Inwood

Mother Johanna with future Vestry members

Percentages of Transformation

*The Vicar’s article is re-printed from the December Issue of the Episcopal New Yorker

In 2004, the pledges of Holy Trinity Church, Inwood were $36,085.  In 2005, they were $56,202.  Let me tell you how this happened. 

On Sunday, November 14, 2004, I announced that someone from the Diocese was going to come and preach on stewardship the next Sunday.  November  21st arrived but the congregation didn’t.  There were approximately 13 parishioners in the pews.  Somewhat flummoxed, our Senior Warden, Abigail Snow, and I moved to the front of the nave and listened with growing and then rapt attention as The Rev. Jerry Keucher spoke.  The mechanics of the gift he gave us that morning were very simple.  Instead of pledging a weekly, monthly or yearly amount, he suggested we choose a percentage between .05 and 10% (preferably one which would make each of us just a little uncomfortable) and pay that percentage FIRST on any money that might come into our lives.  I know of few spiritual practices that simple.   I know of few spiritual practices which have as profound an effect.

Those of us who were in church that day got very excited.  Why had no one told us about this before?  Looking back, I can see that Spirit presented us with this practice not only when we were ready to hear it but also positioned to manifest it.  My Warden and I were so excited, we “buttonholed” Jerry even before he’d had a post-liturgical cup of coffee and pleaded with him to return and do his presentation all over again on Pledge Sunday, December 5th.  Then those of us who had heard Jerry preach began to encourage absent parish members to “Come and see.” (John 1: 43b) 

Jerry returned.  So did the congregation.  Nearly half the congregation committed to percentage giving for 2005.  At the end of Pledge Sunday, Abigail and I just looked at one another: for 2005 our pledges had increased by over $20,000.  (And, in case you’re wondering, not only was the amount pledged realized, we ended 2005 with $2,588 more than expected!)

There was anxiety among those who had adopted this practice.  To address that, we formed a %age Club which met once a month.  We shared a meal and then got “down and dirty” about how proportional giving was working in each of our lives.  Imagine: Episcopalians talking with one another about money…and laughing…a lot.  There were tears, too…of fear but mostly gratitude.  That year (and all the years since), I’ve been privileged to observe Spirit transform lives. A man, who had struggled every month to pay the bills for him and his wife, suddenly found he had been relieved of the struggle.  He was making the same amount of money but there was not only enough to meet all his obligations but money leftover.  Further, he’d had a shift in his thinking.  He was simply giving back to God what God had given him.  Here’s another story.  A freelance actress found as long as she kept up her proportional giving, the freelance work not only kept coming but was almost more than she could manage.  When she slacked off on her percentage giving, the work slacked off as well.  I can hear you skeptics and cynics out there crying, “Coincidence!”  “Serendipity!”  But when this woman told her story in those %age Club dinners, the place where we met was suffused with a sweetness which only Spirit can bestow.  “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” (Ps. 126:2)

My story?  As an unmarried, part-time, self-supporting priest, percentage giving looked scary.  But calculating backward, I realized I was already pledging about 6%.  So, for 2005, I chose 7% (and 8% in 2006 and 9% in 2007) and wrote that check first on all money that came my way.  By the way, you can write that check on your gross (which saves you from having to write a really BIG check when your IRS Tax rebate comes in) or on your net.  What’s important is that your keep to your percentage and write that check before paying or spending anything else.

Now here’s where the “rubber hits the road.”  Spirit can pour out all Her abundance on us but if we are either unwilling (or unable) to receive it, there can be no transformation of any depth.  In order to manifest (that is, to bring into the material world) abundant lives, sacrifices may be required.  Possible scenarios:  Is your 31 year-old son still living in your basement apartment?  You may have to push him out of the nest for his sake and yours.  Have you been engaged to that guy for 6 years with no wedding date in sight?  You may have to give back the ring, do the grieving and embrace a different future.  And here’s the real “kicker”: you may have to give up financial “victim-hood” as a lifestyle.  In short, you might have to surrender being poor as an identity.  This spiritual practice is the ax which bites deep into the root of the tree of fear.  (Mt 3:10; Lk 3:9)

I received so much more from this practice than I expected.  Both my physical and mental health improved.  Most days I live with a heart full of gratitude.  I have so much more than 85% of the people on this planet.  I had to surrender some unhealthful relationships but it was worth it.  Further, my parish has grown and I don’t mean just monetarily.  We have money when we need it.  No, this parish has grown fat…fat with humor, generosity and tolerance.  Instead of being “a pillar” of the community, we’ve become a sort of “pyramid” of the community.  Our foundations have broadened.  We’re more deeply rooted and resilient.  Pillars tumble down in the wind.  Pyramids endure.  And as long as all the parishioners of Holy Trinity, Inwood continue to percentage give and are willing to endure the growth pangs of God’s gracious abundance, this parish will continue on this path.

One last thing: Don’t do this spiritual practice for your church.  Don’t do it for God.  Don’t do it for your wife, your boyfriend, your father, your boss or any other person.  If you choose to do it, do it for yourself.  Spiritual practices taken on for others swiftly fall by the wayside.  However, if you can get a substantial percentage of your parish to percentage give and your priest, vestry and congregation can persist through whatever comes their way, I believe your parish will grow.  God bless them, mine has.

Mo. Johanna+

Mother Johanna and Bishop Catherine Roskam in the garden

Vicar's Bio