In my opinion, the lay witness talk is one of the more challenging stewardship activities a parish can do. Why is that?

For one, it can be scary for a pastor to trust a person to speak about stewardship and not go "off the rails" and give the parish a lecture about should, could, and would. Or some other mixed bag of stuff that is not helpful.

Then, add stage fright and fear of public speaking by the people we invite. We have a perfect recipe for hard work.

What if I told you there is another way to build community via the lay witness talk that makes this big idea smaller? More palatable perhaps.

We have the five pillars of stewardship; Hospitality, Prayer, Evangelization, Service, and Formation. Rather than have our people speak about one or more of these pillars, we invite them to share a personal story under one of the five pillars. 

For example, we could start with this:

Note-- Each question can fall under more than one pillar.

Hospitality:

• Jose, you have been an usher at mass, would you give a lay witness talk sharing your experience in this ministry?
• Eveyline, you have been taking communion to your home-bound mother for over a year, would give a lay witness talk sharing why this is important to you?

Prayer:

• Jane, you have been leading a moms' bible study for a few years, would you give a lay witness talk sharing how God is working in this group?
•  Justin, your wife died last year and yet you faithfully come to mass, would you give a lay witness talk sharing why you come to mass and why it is important to you?

Service:

• Bob, you have been a sacristan for years, would you give a lay witness talk sharing why this is important to you?
• Katrina, I heard you open up your soccer practice with a prayer, would you give a lay witness talk sharing why you do this and how it affects your team?

Evangelization:

• Damion, you organized the March for Life event downtown this year. Would you give a lay witness talk sharing the fruitful results of this event and why it is important to you?
• Julie, you are Maria's sponsor for OCIA. Would you give a lay witness talk sharing why this is important to you?

Formation:

• Monica, you and your husband attended the Eucharistic Revival this year. Would you give a lay witness talk sharing what you learned and why you went?
• Greg, I see you have graduated from Pastoral Ministries Formation. Would you give a lay witness talk sharing why thought this kind of process was important to you and what you gained from it?

This format changes the lay witness talk from a potentially intimidating request into a smaller request. What we are asking for is a personal story that connects to a bigger idea. Plus, we build community by getting to know the people we worship with. Give this format a go and report your results to me. I bet it works.