Stewardship-Ways to give
Catholic Church of the Incarnation
Fostering a Stewardship Way of Life
Stewardship of Prayer, Time and Talent, and Treasure
Our spiritual formation in stewardship continues throughout our life long journey with the Lord. Remember, stewardship is spiritual because it is based upon the choices we make in life. Our year-round approach reminds us that our responsibility to stewardshiip should be embraced as a way of life in our parish.
By placing God first in our lives, the Stewardship of Prayer, Time and Talent, and Treasure enables our parish to work successfully towards its mission “To bring Christ, the Eucharist, and the Sacraments to every parishioner so that they may become Apostles to the Collierville community”.
Our Stewardship Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for teaching me to be generous as you have been generous with me.
Thank you for showing me that all I am and have are gifts from you.
And that these gifts from you, Lord, are meant to be shared.
Show me the joys of generosity. Help me to understand that others, perhaps unknown to me, depend on me for help.
Remind me that my world, my parish, needs, “Good Samaritans” to heal the wounds of our times.
Make me a gift to others in your name. Amen.
Stewardship of Prayer
What is prayer?
• A way to talk to God, who loves you
• An expression of our love
• A way to receive God’s guidance in our choices.
• A way to walk in the presence of God, and thank him for this day, and all our blessings.
How can I increase my prayer life?
• Pray more often!! Anywhere, any time! God will listen. Like all friendships, you need to talk to your friend.
• Schedule prayer time as you schedule other things in your life.
• Be aware of God’s presence in your everyday life, talk to Him.
• Give thanks to God before every meal at home or at work or in a restaurant.
• Make Sunday Mass a priority in your life: pray and participate.
• Attend Holy Day masses: pray and participate.
Do you have a daily commitment to prayer?
• Prayer is essential to establishing and maintaining our unique relationship with God.
• Like all good habits, the practice of prayer in a personal or communal way, requires a commitment.
• We ask you to increase our commitment to prayer each day. We encourage you and your family to increase your personal spiritual growth through individual, family, and parish prayer.
Sacrificial Giving
Sacrificial giving begins with the recognition that everything we have has been given to us by God… our time, our talents, our money, yes, even life itself. Sacrificial giving is based on an understanding that “as Christian stewards, we receive God’s gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord”. (U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Stewardship)
Stewardship of Time and Talent (Ministry)
Time and Talent: When we consider our participation in parish stewardship, we need to include our time and talent as well as our financial resources. Sacrificial giving of our time and talent expresses our gratitude to the God who has given us these gifts.
Our gifts of time and talent do not substitute for our gift of money. Neither does the gift of money substitute for the gift of time and talent. All our gifts are from God. As you make your decision about the portion of income you will give Incarnation, the poor and other charities, please consider as well what you will give of your time and talent to ministry.
Consider as a guideline of committing five hours a week to our parish or other church ministries and activities, community work or other kinds of social service. We may give more or less than this guide depending upon our situation.
Prayerfully look at our ministries on our website to see how you can help:
Stewardship of Treasure (Finance)
Placing God first in our lives. This means making God’s priorities our priorities. When we place our loving Lord at the center of our lives, we become more focused on loving and caring for our families and our neighbors in need and less preoccupied with material things. We must challenge each other, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to value God above all else. This belief will lead us to put our faith in action by finding the time and money to promote God’s priorities because we have made them our priorities as well.
Planning our Giving. We generally plan the things that are most important in our lives. When we plan our giving, and set money aside first, we show the importance that God and the support of the Gospel has in our lives.
Acknowledging our Creator as the source of all we have and all we are. Everything we have has been given to us by the God. We are called to be good stewards of our gifts by using them for God’s purpose and priorities.
Putting your trust, security, and faith in God, instead of in money and possessions. When we give our gift at the offertory, we are expressing our belief that God will “make good” on the promise that we will be taken care of. And trust in faith that the remainder we have left will met our material needs.
Ways to give to help Incarnation Parish attain its Mission
Offerings at Mass
Weekly Offertory for operations
Monthly Maintenance operations
Holy Day offerings
Monthly Debt Retirement for Parish Interest and Principal Debt Monthly
Incarnation Catholic School Scholarship Fund
Other special monthly Diocesan offerings
Special Offerings
Our Catch the Vision Pledge payment for Parish Interest and Principal Debt
Stock or Securities Donations. Click for more details.
Bequests for the benefit of the parish
Memorial Donations
Altar Flower Donations
Mass Intention Donations
West Tennessee Catholic Newspaper Donation
Specific Faith Formation Activity Donations
Specific Youth Ministry Activity Donations
Parish Food Bank Donations
Project Outreach Donations
Bishops Annual Appeal
Major Parish Fundraising Activities
Debt Retirement Campaign
The Annual Knights of Columbus Lenten Friday Fish Fry
The Annual Incarnation Catholic School Golf Outing for Scholarships
Incarnation Catholic School (Home and School) fundraisers
The Annual Preschool/Mother’s Day Out Spaghetti Dinner and Auction
If you have any questions regarding contributions or fundraising, please call the parish office at 901-853-7468.
Automated Giving (EFT)
Church Envelope: We ask all parishioners who are making weekly or monthly contributions to use their church envelope. If you do not use a church envelope, please when writing a check; include your parish account number on the check along fund direction: Offertory, debt retirement, etc. This is the only way we can keep track of your contributions for year end tax reporting.
Automated Bank Check: A parishioner may contact their bank to authorize the bank to issue a weekly check payable to Incarnation Catholic Church for their contributions. The parish office usually receives bank checks on Monday. The checks list the family account number and the fund to apply. Not everyone attends Mass at our parish each week (for a variety of reasons), so this method of automated giving ensures the parish receives the intended gift as planned by the parishioner on a regular basis.
Electronic Funds Transfer System: For your convenience, we are pleased to be able to offer parishioners the ability to make automated payments directly from your checking account.
Forms are available to do the following (also available in the parish office). Print one or more of the attached forms and return to the Parish Office. Instructions for completing the form are included on the form.
Regular Offertory Giving (Click Here)
Capital Maintenance Giving (Click Here)
Debt Retirement Giving (Click Here)
Catch the Vision Pledge Payment (Click Here)