For the past several years I, like many, have been very encouraged in witnessing a change that is occurring in several of our church-school congregations. This change is from a "dues mentality" to Christian Stewardship. Our hierarchs and most of our clergy have been very supportive of this change. This is not to imply that change will be automatic or immediate. Sadly many of us often resist any change to the "status quo," and will talk negatively about stewardship.

We need to be mindful that sometimes people speak not simply from ignorance but also from a lack of Orthodox Christian Spirituality. One could say that, unlike early Christians and many over the centuries, we have not sufficiently understood that everything that we possess, our lives, our families, our jobs, our special talents and, yes, even our money, are gifts from God. Nor have we learned that a portion of our money and talents (our first fruits) are to be used for helping our brothers and sisters and to proclaim the Gospel and God's love to all.

I have personally observed over the past many years that most of the Serbian churches in the United States would be unable to financially support themselves if they did not have outside fund raising activities, i.e. "Las Vegas nights", "Days at the Races," as well as raffles and bingo which thank God are being discontinued. One can not say that our churches are running deficits due to the "high salaries" that are paid to our clergy, because in fact they are among the lowest paid of our brother Orthodox jurisdictions, not to mention other communities. Now I would say that there are many reasons we experience financial problems at our parishes.

In my opinion the primary reason for our problems is that we have had a "dues mentality" for as long as the Church has been in this country. When someone joins a private club whether it is a golf club, a health club, etc., they are assessed monthly or annual dues. The management of those organizations develop an annual budget and divide that budget by the number of members and the resulting number is the amount of "dues" that must be assessed to each member in order to meet the annual budget.

When the operating expense increase, the annual "dues" assessment increases. Members of those organizations have the right to expect that as long as they pay their annual dues that they do not have to "pay" anything more.

We often have that same type of thinking in our Serbian churches in this country and yet our "dues," besides being spiritually opposed to Christian Stewardship, do not come close to paying the annual operating costs of our parishes. I have personally heard Serbs say "I paid my dues, i.e. $150 and I do not have to give any more money." Lord have mercy on us! The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). For 100 years we have sown "dues" and predictably we have reaped a "dues mentality."

Recently I had a discussion with a lay leader from one of our larger parishes who stated "our parish will never give up the dues system because it forces an individual to submit an application and to be voted upon by the board before being allowed to become a "member."

When I asked, "what about an individual who is Orthodox, attends church everySunday, goes to confession and communion regularly, whose children are in church school and who pledges $1,000 a year as a steward. Is this person a member of the parish and can he vote at the annual meeting? His response was a firm "no because he failed to complete an application and be voted upon!!" So one can see that if you pay $200 in dues, fill out an application, attend church two or three times a year, you are considered a member of the Church-School Congregation and can vote on congregation policy, as opposed to the practicing Orthodox Christian steward who is an active part of the parish but not allowed to vote at the Church-School Congregation just described. I guess that I have to re-read the book of Acts because I do not remember reading about the Apostles requiring a "membership application and dues" in the early church or the unhealthy dualism of "Church-School Congregation" and local parish.

Thank God this is not the case in every parish. In 1998, St. George Serbian Church in San Diego , California under the spiritual guidance of V. Rev. Stavrophor Bozidar Draskovic terminated its dues system, switching completely to a stewardship program under the leadership of congregation board President Wayne Papic. I am happy to report that they went from 66 dues paying members to having 228 stewards today generating more in donations and gifts than ever before.

The faithful of St. George parish understand that Orthodox Christians are called to be faithful stewards of what God has entrusted to them and that they are to give sacrificially for the continuation of God's work and ministries.

May the seeds of "stewardship" that are being sown in San Diego (Ca), Fresno (Ca), Alhambra (Ca), Seattle (Wa), Lake Forrest(IL) and in Lackawanna (NY) be examples for all of our Serbian parishes that our future in this country depends upon teaching our leaders, the parents and grandparents, and especially our youth that God's earthly kingdom does not run on a "dues system" but rather is based upon love - first God's love toward us and in return our love to Him, demonstrated through sacrificial giving of our time, our talent and our treasure back to Him for the furtherance of His Kingdom on earth.

Brian Gerich

Brian Gerich is a parishioner of St. Steven's Cathedral in Alhambra, CA, and is treasurer of the Central Church Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the US and Canada as well as chairman of the Standing Committee on Stewardship.