NEWS AND EVENTS - Wednesday, September 30, 2015
PAN ORTHODOX STEWARDSHIP RETREAT HELD IN CHICAGO AREA
Palos Park, IL - On Saturday, September 26, 2015, Chicago Synergy organized a Pan Orthodox Stewardship Retreat presented by Bill Marianes. The day’s agenda focused on many aspects of Stewardship from a new and different perspective. Over 60 attendees met at Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Palos Park Illinois.
Topics included:
- The importance of Greeters in the parish and the critical role they play
- How you can witness the Orthodox faith when presented with your own “Jerusalem moment”
- The creation of a Ministry Book to identify and describe the parish’s ministries, leaders and contact information
- Visiting Stewards at their homes and how this increases interest and support
- Developing your Stewardship team and the role they play in growing commitments
- The college student ministry and why this makes such a positive impact within your Church community
- A new look at the parish council/executive board with the members and Clergy at the center and the respective Ministry leaders forming a supportive circle around them
- Strategic planning from the Orthodox and Stewardship perspective and why this is a necessary process to support future growth
The speaker, Bill Marianes, has traveled throughout the country, for the past eight years, every available weekend and logged over 180,000 miles as a “stewardship and strategic planning evangelist” inspiring parishes and parishioners to understand what true Orthodox Christian stewardship is, how to live their stewardship calling and how to reorganize and re-energize their Parish.
Father Ljubomir Krstic, parish priest at Holy Trinity in St. Louis MO, drove over a total of nine hours to attend. He commented “that it was well worth the trip and I’m looking forward to attending again in the future.”
Chicago Synergy is working with Bill to plan a few more retreats in the Midwest. Please visit www.chicagosynergy.org for future updates. You can also access Bill’s materials at www.stewardshipcalling.com
