By Trish Greenidge
On March 9-10, a group of Covenant pastors, missionaries, and spouses from across the denomination gathered at Eastridge Covenant Church in Oregon to participate in the Jump Start Retreat, an introductory personal finance course. This is a first step course in the Financial Leadership initiative funded through the Lily Endowment to address the financial struggles that ministers and their families often face. The Jump Start Retreat offers the opportunity to assess one’s financial health and the values and experiences that often drive our money choices.I was gratified to attend the Jump Start 1-1/2 day seminar. A trio of presenters utilized written curriculum, scripture, group verbal discussions, questionnaires, audio visual presentations and even a deck of “Money Habitude” cards to allow my husband and I and others to take a focused look at all aspects of our current financial situation. We were all encouraged to have a financial plan that realistically addressed spending, saving, insurance, retirement, handling debt and credit.
From the impactful information we gleaned, we were able to adjust our financial plan to ensure we were on the path to financial wellness enabling us to provide for ourselves, our family, our church and the needs of others.
Afterwards I realized that as church leaders, we can unwillingly put so much emphasis on tithing and giving that we can neglect to give our members holistic financial information for their financial wellness. Jump Start is a vehicle to do just that! Let’s start those engines and roll this seminar into all our ECC churches!