Together, Love Overflows - yesterday, today and tomorrow

by Debbie Ackerman, Ministry Board

10/12/26

Reflecting on this year's stewardship theme, "Together, Love Overflows; When we pour out what we have, God pours in more than enough", I thought about what that has meant for me over the years I have been a member at St. Paul's UCC. When I joined this church 23 years ago, I was a recent college graduate and new resident of Minnesota. I wasn't sure what the future would hold and where my faith would fit into adulthood.

Together, this congregation decided in 2007 to remain here and strive to renew the church. When my son Luke was born in 2008, we weren't sure if we were going to stay here as there weren't many other young families. I wanted him to be baptized in the congregation that would be there to support him on his faith journey. We took a chance on this congregation and baptized him here and together, we slowly built a community that would have enough teachers for Sunday School, have faith companions, teach Milestones, and finally confirmation for Luke.

Today, my heart overflows with joy hearing the children play together in the sanctuary, seeing the families sitting near one another and supporting one another. I smile as the children come forward for the children's message and then carry the light of God with them to Sunday School. Watching the middle school and high school youth grow in their involvement and leadership in the annual button and baked goods sale at the Artisan Festival and chili cook-off is a joy to witness. Together, we pour into our young people to let them know they are valued and loved in this community of faith.

As secretary on the Ministry Board, I am privileged to be a part of visioning conversations. I see in our worship, music, programming, community, and social justice outreach the abundance that we have as a congregation. We have dedicated members on the ministry board and committees who work to ensure that we pour out our abundance into this community. When we give of our time and talents, as well as our financial resources, our love overflows.

I remember one stewardship campaign season feeling called to increase our pledge for the coming year, this was in the midst of financial uncertainty during a period of unemployment for my husband. I felt in my heart that we could do it, I had started a new job that would bring more financial stability, and we decided to give out of an abundance mindset. After a couple of years of feeling scared of our financial future, that pledge was a turning point to the abundance we have, both in employment and in the community, we share here in this church.

As we make our pledge for 2026, I am filled with hope for the future. I know this community has sustained our family for over 20 years, and is a place where together, we can live out our values and love our neighbors through the abundance of our time, talents and financial gifts.

Together, Love Overflows - Extravagant Welcome and Radical Hospitality

by Ben Hande, Belonging & Community

10/19/26

I joined the Belonging and Community committee back in 2022. I don’t recall exactly how it came about, but I think Sarah came home one day and said “hey, you’re going to be on the Belonging and Community committee, ok?” I came to find out later that access to the bouncy house we owned was a major factor. Apparently, this is a highly sought after item in the world of belonging. My kids have since outgrown it, so the church is now the proud owner.

For the last 3 ½ years on this committee, we’ve met monthly to try and live up to our goals of extravagant welcome and radical hospitality. A couple of examples big and small: when we had some tears at our Easter Egg hunt three years ago we changed our approach to make sure the little ones had just as much of an opportunity to enjoy themselves as the older kids. We believe that intergenerational community is important, so for this year’s Elders Luncheon, we brought in two young musical prodigies (Sam and Olli) to play instruments for church elders prior to their meal. We have monthly game nights here at church. Marla, Donna, Sheryl, Dani, Brenda and others have worked so hard over the years writing and delivering cards and care packages for homebound members. We try to reach all ages, all members, childhood center families, neighborhood folks, anyone who wants to join us, and I’m so glad I’ve been part of this fun committee.

You might think Gwen, Martin, and I are required to come here because Sarah and I are married. While it would be a little complicated if I opted out of coming to church, the truth is we’re here just about every week because this place matters in our lives. I recently had a conversation with a non-religious friend who asked me if I would go to church if I wasn’t married to a pastor. I thought about it and said “I don’t know how to answer that because I’ve been married to a pastor for 17 years, but I am certain that this community is exactly the type of church I would look for.” This is our fifth church in Sarah’s ministry career, and the genuine commitment to belonging that you’ve made here is unmatched. I mean that. In other words, you are the reflection of God that we seek. This is a place where we come every week to think beyond ourselves; beyond the little pressures of school, career, relationships, sports. This is why we make a significant pledge, because this is a community where we belong and are loved merely because we are people. That’s it, that’s the requirement. And you all truly live up to that commitment. I cannot imagine anything more deserving of our resources-bouncy house and all. Thank you.

Together, Love Overflows - Passing the Plate

by Branden Pfefferkorn
Children, Youth & Family

10/26/26

I greatly appreciate the Stewardship committee’s invitation to share my stewardship story with you. I grew up attending a vibrant UCC church in SE Wisconsin. My father served as the church’s Christian education director, and so from an early age I saw church life and youth ministry “from the inside.” My dad then went on to become a pastor himself and took his first call at a small rural church in central Pennsylvania. One of his go-to stories that he shared at many opportunities was about how he organized a church service in his home when he was 5 or 6 years old. He had typed up a bulletin, he put on a robe of some sort, and he invited neighbors to attend his service. After welcoming his very small congregation, the first order of business in his service—much to his mother’s surprise--was to pass the plate and collect offerings.

I think sometimes giving to the church can feel a bit like my dad’s childhood experience. Giving can feel expected up front or immediately, ritualistic, or, in our society, like yet another entity trying to part us from our hard-earned dollars. What I like to consider from this experience, is what our families are learning as we participate in and share resources with our church family. Clearly my father had learned from a young age that “passing the plate” was a regular ritual. I like to think, though, that he also saw what those financial resources did for the congregation in which he participated.

Throughout my church life, I have been in congregations that had more resources and congregations that had fewer resources. When the church was struggling, it was easy to feel like all we talked about in congregational life was money. Where could we cut, which purchase needed to happen now and which purchase could wait, what was the next fundraiser and how about your own or your family’s giving and can you increase that right away?

I feel so blessed to have found St. Paul’s UCC a few years ago and to now serve on the Children Youth and Families committee. You may be interested to know that after attending one of the first Sundays at St. Paul’s, I noticed a congregational annual report and brought that home to review. If I was going to commit to participating in this church’s life, I wanted to know that the staff were well paid, that the program offerings were varied and robust, and that the congregation had enough financial stability to meet its own needs while also recognizing that every congregation is part of a larger community of giving and sharing resources.

To that end, we have sought to instill in our family a sense of shared responsibility and commitment to supporting our church community. When we were setting up allowances for the kids a couple years ago, we let them know that the total would be spread across spending, saving, and church stewardship. We feel it is important to have both our family contributions and also individual contributions from each member of our family. While they understandably don’t always love this choice we made for them, my hope is that they can see and learn through our experiences as part of this amazing church family that we all need to share our talents and our resources as we’re able. Whether that is putting money in the plate on Sunday, scheduling a donation online, volunteering at a church event, donating an item for the upcoming silent auction, or whatever talent anyone can contribute, we all can sustain St. Paul’s UCC as the healthy, vibrant, loving community that it both is and also strives to live more fully.

I hope that you will join me and our family in continuing to support St. Paul’s in all the ways you can as we grow together in faith, in community, and showing the world God’s love in a time that our world is hurting and societal divisions feel like they’re deepening. Thank you for the chance to share my story and for everything each one of you does to make St. Paul’s the incredible source of strength, stability, and compassion that we all so desperately need right now!