Perhaps we could reach beyond the traditional members of the UCC and ask others who enjoy visiting the Cafe to make a contribution as well.  

good point!

I give monthly to my congregation through pre-authorized deductions. I have specified a portion of that to go to the M & S fund.

That's interesting - I didn't realize some M&S funding came here.  Thanks for pointing that out.  My M&S givings are through PAR - I highly recommend that! 

And indeed Seeler - great idea re encouraging some of our non-UCC folks to consider supporting this mission if they are able.

Tomorrow is the last Sunday for 2011 givings for us, as we are worshippng as joint congregations on Dec. 25. I have always split my givings 50/50 between local and M & S. I have also discovered that like many ministry personnel, I am one of the top givers in the congregation I serve. If you are going to talk the stewardship talk, you have to walk the stewardship walk.

Interesting fact: GCO staff  are a massive supporter of M&S, too! 

Another interesting fact: many are not United Church members.

Yet another interesting fact: GCO is run on speicific donations, and dedicated fund revenue. M&S funds do not run GCO :)

There are lots of resources for stewardship for pastoral charges/ministry sites: Give Sarah Charters a call! 1-800-268-3781 x 3410

Mission & Service get most of our donations one way or another because they have some well-selected ongoing efforts and, at the same time, a rapid response capacity. M&S is also efficient and trustworthy.

As for contributing to WC… I'm not so sure about that. But I trust M&S wisdom on that.

I thought Wondercafe was started with specific funds donated (was it a bequest?) to the UC of Canada to reach out to a specific age group?

Was that not the case?

that is true, tabitha; however, for a minimal cost, the church ws able to ekep wc running after the special project ended.