Stewardship by Small Steps is the name we give to all the small ways by which people and parishes can change the way they live, in order to draw closer to the Lord. If stewardship is a journey, and if a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, then a multitude of small stewardship steps can produce big changes over time in the way people live. Stewardship by Small Steps is a way to get people moving without overwhelming them. These small steps are meant to complement the teachings people receive from preaching and stories.

There is no limiting definition of "Small Steps." Generally it means something that an individual, family, or parish can do simply, easily, and for little or no dollar cost. Some small steps are symbolic; others produce a specific result. Not all the items on this list fit these criteria; for example, some would require some parish spending. But all are worth considering in a creative, prayerful way.

Items are divided here between those oriented to individuals/families and those oriented to parish work. Within those categories, the items are in no particular order.

INDIVIDUAL/FAMILY

• Take your watch off when entering church for Mass — symbolize this is God's time, the Mass a doorway to eternity.
• Set a prayer to come up on your computer screen when you start work in the morning and again at 3 PM.
• Attend daily Mass at least once a month.
• Create a Refrigerator magnet: "What can I do to help people who don't have a well-stocked refrigerator?"
• Purchase a less-expensive car than you can afford — share the difference with your parish.
• Read each day the MinuteMeditation(www.AmericanCatholic.org/Features/Minute/default.asp) and the related Saint of the Day page.
• Put a crucifix in your house — in a place where it is visible to guests.
• Pray while standing in line at the supermarket, for all those in the store, for all those who grow and process the food, and for those who are hungry.
• Pray while waiting for the next piece of equipment at the fitness center — pray in thanks for your own health, and pray for everyone in the center.
• Visit with an elderly neighbor or relative, either in person if close by or by phone.
• Commit to doing one good act each week that will benefit someone without his/her knowing it. At the end of the week, share what you did with your family.
• On the First Sunday of Advent, review spending for the year, particularly charitable sharing.
• Decide on year-end sharing (including, if necessary, making up for missed parish offertories).
• Put a piece of straw in your wallet before Christmas shopping, to remind yourself of the greatest gift, Jesus in the manger.
• Put a stewardship sticker on your credit card, to remind you that spending is not everything.
• Take an inventory of your clothes. Decide which items you don't need, and donate them to a charity that will put them to use.
• Thinks carefully about alternative uses of the money before purchasing luxury items or recreation equipment or fancy clothes.
• After saying grace at the family meal, ask each family member to relate something he/she is thankful for that day or some way that he/she has shared his/her gifts that day.
• Each month distribute a blank calendar showing each day. Ask people (children especially) to enter each day the time they gave to God. Collect each filled calendar at the beginning of the next month and take to the altar for blessing.
• Recite a stewardship prayer at Mass, perhaps as part of the Dismissal.
• Parish proclaims a "Random Acts of Kindness Day." Parishioners then try to do as many acts of kindness as possible, especially for people they don't know or wouldn't normally be involved with (such as a homebound neighbor).
• At the beginning of Lent, ask people to write on a card what they will do to move closer to the Lord. Collect and take to the altar for blessing.
• Commit 1/2 hour a week to say the rosary for parish intentions.
• Establish a "prayer corner" in the home; decorate with a crucifix, holy cards, pictures of deceased relatives, etc.
• Celebrate with your spouse your "month-aversary" — the day of the month on which you were married — every month.
• Encourage people to set goals not only for stewardship of treasure but also for time (especially as prayer) and talent.
• Build a habit of thanking people whose work usually goes unnoticed — those who clean our business office, those who serve the food in fast-food restaurants, cashiers at the supermarket.
• Send hand-written notes to senior members of the parish, thanking them for all they have done in their lives for the church community.
• Rake leaves, shovel snow, etc., for elderly neighbors/parishioners.
• Visit Senior residences to read to the residents.
• Invite a person who is not able to get out of the house easily to go grocery shopping with your family.
• Make arrangements to pick up a homebound person for Mass each week.
• Take a can of food or another non-perishable item to the parish food bank each week.
• Help an elderly person learn basic computer operation and e-mail, so he/she can keep in touch with relatives and the world in general.

• Perform the Blessing of Community Service (to obtain a copy, e-mail wsr@cathdioptldme.org).
• Put a stewardship sticker on all envelopes and other parish materials (e.g., grocery bags for food drive).
• Distribute Stewardship Steps for Advent (to obtain a copy, e-mail wsr@cathdioptldme.org).
• Use the language of stewardship instead of volunteering, giving, etc.
• Distribute the Corporal Works of Mercy form (see separate document) as part of Time/Talent renewal activity; ask parishioners to commit to one activity in each Work. (Make sure they know the breadth of each work, such as "helping people learn is a way to 'give drink to the thirsty.'"
• Put a stewardship prayer in the front of the Missalette.
• Stewardship (or Church Life) Commission members cut out and mount on a bulletin board in the church the wedding announcements, birth announcements, and obituaries of every parishioner (or family member). Ask the family for a photo, so that people who know faces but not names can make a connection in church.
• Have available in the Church (1) slips of paper on which people can write (anonymously) how they have used their gifts for others during the past week, and (2) a basket in which to place them. Then bring the basket to the altar.
• If the office uses a postage machine, add a stewardship message to the printing. Most machines can print a message along with the postage. "Stewardship -- A Disciple's Way of Life" would look good on all the envelopes.
• On All Souls Day (or all through November), label a bulletin board the "Wall of Remembrance"; invite people to post pictures of their departed loved ones.
• At the beginning of weekend Mass, the priest asks all visitors to raise hands. The assembly responds with applause.
• At the end of the Mass, the priest thanks all the ministers by name.
• Include in the Bulletin weekly or monthly a story of a saint whose life illustrates an element of stewardship. (See Hueckel book Stewardship Saints and Saint of the Day on Web)
• Leave thank-you cards in the church; ask people to address them to people whose ministry might otherwise go unnoticed.
• Plan and manage a parish Clean-up/Fix-up Day for parish facilities, ending with a meal.
• Publish the names and phone numbers of Parish Council members and Commission chairs in the bulletin periodically.
• Put a sticker on Brown Bags, Caring Tree tags, etc., with stewardship logo and phrase: "Doing a good deed? Be a steward — dedicate it to the Lord's service." Hand out sheets of the stickers to Commissions, parish staff, and parishioners.
• In the Bulletin, in general announcements before Mass, and/or in parish newsletter, report results of all parish activities that demonstrate stewardship -- e.g., Caring Tree
• Take a picture of the church. Then have it made into a picture puzzle, with enough pieces so that every family can have one. Mail the pieces to parishioners and ask them to bring the pieces on Commitment Sunday. (Alternatively: People have to bring in their pieces as a symbol they have completed some step, such as visiting a Parish Ministry Fair.) At the Ministry Fair, have a table where pieces can be placed. The message is, "The parish isn't complete without you."
• Create a button: "I'm a Steward for Christ." Ask ministry leaders to wear them regularly, in order to build interest. Then distribute them to the parish.
• Give each parishioner a report on his/her sharing three times a year, without any request for funds. Most people will make up any missing amounts.
• Make the Offertory an important part of Mass. Have the presider say a brief prayer before it is taken up, asking people to pray about their offering and to dedicate it to the Lord's service. As it is taken up, have no other activity going on. Bring the combined offering to the altar, where it is blessed by the presider.
• Publish stories of stewardship in the Bulletin, with emphasis on actions of parishioners.
• Recognize a ministry each week, either at Mass or in the Bulletin.
• Invite community organizations to participate in Time and Talent Sunday (Ministry Fair).
• Provide Stewardship Prayer Candles to families each week. They should be lit for family prayer (including meals and other time together). Also ask for prayer each day for stewardship intentions.
• Ministry of Praise (known in some places as a Prayer Line): at-home moms, homebound folks, others who can't get around, pray each week for the needs of the parish and specific intentions collected each week at Mass. Each member calls a few designated members to spread the word about the intentions.
• Collect travel-sized shampoos, lotions, toothpaste, etc. (hotels often have them available; after one use, the bottles are thrown out). Give them to shelters.
• Print a stewardship prayer on a business card or similar vehicle. Give one to all Commission members; ask them to say the prayer at the start of each of their meetings.
• On the back of Children's Envelopes, leave a space under a heading "What I Have Done for God." Ask children to fill it in. Publish the total offering and samples from the "What I Have Done" in the Bulletin.
• Youth Ministry members write, produce, and act in a play each month; the play is to spotlight a problem facing society in general or teens in particular. In order to be an actor next month, each person has to bring a guest to this month's performance. Have the best play each year performed after Masses on a given weekend.
• If the parish has an unused convent or other shelter, run an overnight shelter.
• "Lunches of Love" — ask parishioners to make, bag, and bring to the rectory lunches using non-perishable items. These lunches are then given to people who come to the church looking for help.
• Set up a Caring Tree for Christmas — Youth Ministry may be the best group to manage. The parish identifies individuals and families who are not likely to receive gifts. Create an "ornament" for each of these persons, with information that would guide gift selection (e.g., age, size, needed items, etc.). Ask parishioners to take an "ornament," purchase a gift, and bring it to church on a designated weekend.
• Visit Senior residences regularly and give each resident a stewardship prayer.
• Open every parish commission meeting with a stewardship prayer.
• Provide a vibrating pager for to anyone in the parish who is critically ill; ask parishioners to pray for that person and to dial the pager each time they say a prayer.
• Put a collection box for St. Vincent de Paul in the church.
• Distribute stewardship commitment cards on "coffee mornings."
• Encourage kid's groups to do community service.
• When people register in the parish, take photos. Mount them on a Welcome bulletin board, with appropriate information. After three months, transfer the photos to a permanent album.
• During general intercessions, ask parishioners to think about how they have been blessed by good things and bad, and to thank God for these blessings.
• Create Attitude of Gratitude calendars.
• Do a greeting in the pew at the beginning of Mass — encourage people to ask their neighbors, "How are you?"
• Invite parishioners to form a group that will provide meals, housecleaning, etc., for terminally ill people and their families, and other people in crisis.
• Provide credit counseling for those in need.
• Visit new parishioners in their homes. Invite them to discern their gifts and then to use them in the parish and the community.
• Invite people with auto mechanic skills to band together to obtain old cars and bring them to running condition. Give the cars to people who need transportation but cannot afford to purchase a car.
• Hold a "Come As You Are" soup-and-sandwich supper.
• Ask the parish to recognize the gifts of the students in the parish.
• Adopt a student who cannot afford higher education; provide financial support for education.
• Ask the parish to be aware of special-needs students in their midst; encourage help for the students and the parents.
• During Religious Education and Youth Ministry, help children to learn about their gifts and how to use them.
• Include a "Stewardship Tip of the Week" in Mass announcements.
• Bring a loaf of bread to each new family in the parish, to signify the desire of the parish to help them materially as well as spiritually.
• Adopt a poor parish in your own Diocese or in a mission land. Develop contacts with that parish; exchange priests, if that is feasible, at least once a year. Provide financial support and prayer support for that parish.
• Send the Diocesan newspaper to every parishioner at least six times a year.
• Provide a food pantry where those in need can come for food.
• Host meals at the parish for people who are living in shelters, so that the guests can have variety and companionship.
• Adopt one or more families for Christmas. Ask parishioners to bring unwrapped gifts and wrapping paper; then invite the adopted family to come to the parish to "shop" and wrap their gifts. Make sure there is at least one gift for every member of the adopted family.
• Put photos in the Bulletin of people being married, baptized, etc.
• Arrange with a local hotel/motel to accept transients and charge the cost to the parish.
• Conduct a "cards" drive: ask parishioners to bring boxes of note cards/envelopes, which are then distributed to prisons for use by prisoners. Put a sticker on each box to inform the recipients this is a ministry of X Parish.
• Place a basket near the church entrance for canned goods and other non-perishable foods.
• Establish (or re-establish) activities that will make the parish a social center for youth as well as adults: card parties, computer game contests, softball leagues, etc.