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Promote Planned Giving in Your Church with
New Series of Newsletter Articles

Your congregation can promote opportunities for charitable bequests and other planned gifts by incorporating some newly developed articles in your church newsletter. The articles are available in Word format for editing, or as a PDF.

Used throughout the year, these articles can help educate your congregation's members to the need to have an estate plan -- and how charitable gifts made through an estate plan can provide a wonderful legacy of Christian witness.

To download the Word document, click here.

To download the articles as a PDF, click here.

Additional publications and materials related to planned giving can be found on our Resources page, or by clicking here.

Spencer Austin, center, looks over birthday greetings with son Roy, right, and Foundation President Gary W. Kidwell.

Pioneer of Foundation celebrates 100th birthday

Rev. Dr. Spencer P. Austin, a retired Disciples evangelist who headed up Unified Promotion and was the engineer that created the Christian Church Foundation, celebrated his 100th birthday Dec. 15 in a Carmel, IN, retirement facility.

“I didn’t expect to get to be 100, but if you hang around long enough, it just creeps up on you,” the centenarian told a small group of family and friends at a reception in his honor.

A native of Oklahoma, he served a variety of pastorates before becoming a world evangelist out of the denomination’s Indianapolis headquarters in the mid-1940s. “I think I preached or lectured at least once in every state of the United States, and most of the provinces in Canada,” he recalled. “My job was world evangelism, and I was constantly raising money to send missionaries all over the world.”

He became the executive officer of Unified Promotion during the 1950s and 1960s.  Unified Promotion was the Disciples unit that coordinated the uniform approach to raising mission dollars to fund the wider witness of the church. In the late 1950s, he led a team that envisioned a churchwide foundation that would allow church members to endow the church’s mission.  His early vision resulted in the creation of the Christian Church Foundation.

“The total of all his accomplishments is too long for a simple tabulation,” said his eldest son Roy, who crafted a poem in his father’s honor.

As part of his birthday celebration, family members created the Spencer P. Austin Century Fund for Week of Compassion through the Christian Church Foundation that will undergird the witness of Week of Compassion – a cause Dr. Austin championed throughout his ministry.

“You not only taught them how to live well, but you taught them how to give as well,” said Foundation President Gary W. Kidwell in presenting a certificate to Dr. Austin. “You taught them stewardship, and we celebrate that.”

Bowling Green Congregation Honored with
James P. Johnson Stewardship Award

At the 2009 General Assembly, First Christian Church of Bowling Green, KY, received the Christian Church Foundation's James P. Johnson Stewardship Award. The honor is bestowed at each General Assembly to a congregation that has demonstrated leadership, creativity and integrity in answering God’s call to faithful stewardship, including the faith discipline involved in the stewardship of accumulated resources.

Criteria for this award will include one or more of the following:
            Overall commitment to financial stewardship
            Innovative approaches to stewardship
            Support of local, regional and general ministries
            Proponent of planned giving and permanent fund policies
            Advocate of general mission funding

Watch the video below to learn more about the church's story as it seeks to be a good steward of gifts while expanding its witness and ministry, both locally and around the world.

Permanent Funds: Everyone Can Make a Difference

Rev. Eugene Moore, a retired Disciples minister, was honored by Phillips Theological Seminary in January. As part of his remarks, he shared how using a permanent fund through the Christian Church Foundation is a wonderful way to perpetuate ministry -- and something anyone can do. To see the video clip,

Revised Church Treasurer's Handbook Available

The 2009 edition of the Church Treasurer's Handbook is now available online as a PDF. This handbook, prepared by general ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), provides assistance in the day-to-day management of church finances, including the counting, the record-keeping, the banking and the distribution -- often the jobs of the church’s treasurer and financial secretary. To view and download the PDF version, click here.

Robertsons receive Harry T. Ice Award

Saying "if you want to give, it is not a sacrifice," the Rev. Bill and Benny Robertson were presented the Harry T. Ice Distinguished Service Award from the Board of Directors of the Chrisitan Church Foundatian.

The award, named in honor of the man who helped create the Foundation nearly 50 years ago, recognizes Disciples for their personal philanthropy and support, love and commitment to the whole church. The award was presented April 27 at the Board's meeting in Indianapolis by Robert Patterson, chair of the Board. To read the full article about the Robertsons, click here.

Distributions in 2008 reach $7.2 million

The Christian Church Foundation distributed $7.2 million for ministry in 2008 from permanent funds, life-income gifts that matured and other donor-directed gifts.

“These dollars undergird the ministries of congregations, regions and other Disciples causes,” said the Rev. Gary Kidwell, Foundation president. “Yet this figure does not include the millions of dollars in subject-to-withdrawal accounts, owned by Disciples ministries, which were distributed to those ministries to expand their own work and witness.”

Disciples Mission Fund, the general funding system for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), received more than $1.2 million from permanent funds and donor-advised gifts. This figure is the largest distribution to the church’s mission funding system in the Foundation’s history.

To see the full report, click here.

2008 Audit Now Available - Click Here 

Checklist for Permanent Fund Trustees

Being responsible for a congregation's permanent fund is an important task. And with trustees often serving staggered terms, it is important that the knowledge and responsibilities are constantly shared and understood to maintain the integrity of the fund. The Foundation staff members have prepared a "Trustee's Checklist" that your congregational leaders may use. To view and download the PDF version, click here.

Managing Estate Gifts

Gifts from donors’ estates are a special blessing. These gifts, received from the saints of our congregations, are often their final testimony that the church is called to stretch and serve many future generations. What a great gift this testimony can be to all of us!. In all of the work that we do, however, one paramount consideration deserves special focus: We must make it a priority to understand and to honor any donor restrictions on gifts made to the church.

The Christian Church Foundation is providing a new resource to congregations to help them better understand their role as stewards of these gifts. Click here to download a copy, or to order several for your congregation's financial leaders and trustees, call us at (800) 668-8016.

2010 Disciples Development Materials

Click here for Janet Hedrick's presentation.

Click here for Ann Updegraff Spleth's presentation.