wfn.org | [ENS] Consumer culture challenged at stewardship conference

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

July 25, 2005 -- Monday Mission

Consumer culture challenged at stewardship conference

By Jerry Hames

[ENS] In what one participant described as a "watershed event,"
Episcopalians came to Minneapolis and the Mall of America for a
stewardship
and education conference that examined the moral issues related to
consumption, consumer spending and the effect of advertising aimed at
children and teenagers.

The conference, "Will Our Children Be Stewards?", was a historical
change of
course for the national stewardship office of the Episcopal Church in
which
children from ages 4 to 9, as well as several teenagers and young
adults,
joined their parents to discuss what support the church could offer to
combat the consumer lifestyle of North American society.

Participants had a personal encounter in a "living laboratory" of
consumerism, the Mall of America, the largest enclosed retail and family
entertainment complex in the U.S., with more than 520 specialty stores,
four
department stores and Camp Snoopy, a seven-acre enclosed theme park with
30
rides and attractions.

"We're not against the mall, or mall shopping," the church's missioner
for
stewardship, Terry Parsons, stressed before buses took everyone from
their
hotel to the mall. "But we need to be sensitive to what we hear, see and
smell. Who, and what, is it that is shaping our financial habits?"

Underdeveloped values, overdeveloped expectations

Speeches from experienced financial advisors, family life experts,
consumer
alert advocates and stewardship leaders from other denominations left a
clear message: churches provide little support to help beleaguered
parents
counteract a culture in which consumer advertising reinforces a message
to
children that says "It's all about me."

"Our country now faces a crisis because children are growing up without
balanced financial values or a well-thought approach to how they use
money,"
said Nathan Dungan, president of Share Save Spend, an organization that
promotes wise financial habits, and author of "Prodigal Sons & Material
Girls: How Not to be Your Child's ATM."

"Today, every young person is at risk of growing up with underdeveloped
values and overdeveloped expectations." Duggan said the average young
person
has four credit cards and is $3,000 in debt. "That's consumer debt, not
the
cost of school tuition," he added.

He said young people receive a lot of advice on issues such as sex,
dating,
drugs, alcohol and careers, but get very little help on how to deal with
money. Parents themselves are poorly equipped to talk about money
management
because few have developed their own values and financial philosophy,
Dungan
said.

"Society is working overtime to addict our children to spending. What is
leading our moral values today? Consumerism, greed and materialism."

Gary Ruskin, co-founder of Commercial Alert, a non-profit organization
that
he described as designed to protect children and communities from
commercialism, said that virtually every consumer-goods industry targets
their advertising to children. He encouraged parents to shield their
children from television programs and movies that are in conflict with
their
values.

"Turn your home into a refuge, a sanctuary from the advertisers and
marketers," he said.

The Rev. David Bell, director of the Center for Christian Stewardship of
the
United Methodist Church, said that Christian stewardship is a life-style
decision.

"God is the owner of all. Our Christian responsibility is to take care
of
ourselves, others and all that we experience in life," said Bell.

Sharing, saving, spending

One after another, speakers stressed the concept of sharing as an equal
component to saving and spending, and said the church had abdicated its
role
as a support to parents.

"If the churches don't help to integrate into our culture a "share,
save,
spend" attitude, it will fundamentally affect the churches," Dungan
said.
"People will say they want to be generous, but the question is 'Will
they
have the capacity to be generous?'"

Eugene Roehlkepartain, director of family life and congregational
initiatives for the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, and author of
"Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Giving and Serving," said
churches
need to identify positive experiences, relationships and opportunities
that
all young people need in their lives to help them make healthy choices.

He encouraged an "asset-building approach" in which families,
neighborhoods
and faith communities unite around a shared vision that builds strength
in
the lives of young people and their families.

He said the Search Institute concluded there are several broad obstacles
in
congregations that impede to financial giving by youth. "There is
discomfort
in talking about money; there is often a loss of tradition to motivate
giving; there is frequently an exclusive focus on institutional needs,
such
as roof repairs; there are financial anxieties of clergy and youth
leaders
and often there is a belief that youth shouldn't be expected to give.

"Young people can find enjoyment and fulfillment through acts of giving
and
serving if given the opportunity," he said. "When they are personally
invited to participate, they possess self-confidence and a belief in
their
own ability to make a difference."

Leaving a legacy

The newest field officer of the Episcopal Church Foundation, Charlene
DeWitt
of Nebraska, encouraged Episcopalians to develop a spiritual and
financial
legacy.

"How would you feel if you had achieved something of significance? Would
it
transform you? Think honestly about what you own and don't own, and what
you
owe -- also about what you possess spiritually," she said. "Do you have
any
confidence that you will be leaving a legacy? If you don't have
confidence
yourself that you will leave a legacy, then how will you pass that idea
on?"

Parsons said "Will Our Children Be Stewards?" was not a conference
designed
to provide all the answers. "We wanted to be clear first about the
questions
and then determine what the church should be doing," she said. "With our
children receiving some 3,000 messages a day urging them to spend, where
is
the church -- the voice in the village -- inviting them to share?"

She said that the response from participants on the final day clearly
showed
they want and need resources for the congregation.

"Primarily, they say they need a solid curriculum about consumerism and
debt, one that provides a theological perspective. They want a resource
for
clergy to help them talk to children about money matters. They want
resources for teens, including pledge cards and envelopes.

"There is a popular, but wrongly held, perception that you need to be a
college grad, or over the age of 21, to pledge to the church," she said.

Parsons said overriding concern of her office is how to be a better
support
for families. "We have got to think much more about family ministry, how
we
nurture and support healthy families."

--Jerry Hames is the editor of Episcopal Life, the Episcopal Church's
national newspaper. Susan Barksdale, assistant in the communications
office
in the Diocese of Minnesota, contributed to this report.

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