Events in May target personal finances

• May 5 in Oklahoma City at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church
• May 19 in Broken Arrow at Abiding Harvest United Methodist Church.

These two events will prepare your pastor and church leaders to launch EQUIP in your church. We especially encourage attendance by the senior pastor, the finance or stewardship chairperson, and other key leaders within each church who desire to help the members become debt-free.

EQUIP uses Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU) and teaches the members of your church how to handle money the way God intends. The program leads each church to prepare and offer FPU to a majority of the congregation, either in one large setting or over the course of several sessions.

EQUIP has the potential to change the culture, even the DNA, of our churches regarding stewardship and money.

We believe our churches are filled with faithful people who would like to give more in order for the Church and its ministries to reach more people for Christ. However, many Americans have fallen victim to our culture’s call to spend all we make—and even a little more.

Financial Peace University helps people take control of their finances, helps them get out of debt, and shows them how to wisely spend, save, and give.

At the one-day EQUIP training, you will learn about demographic information specific to your community, strategies for enrolling the majority of your active members in FPU, and a week-by-week how-to for implementing EQUIP. We also will provide promotional tools you can use in your church and community.

You will learn how FPU relates to community involvement, have opportunities to address the unique characteristics of your church family, and work on ways to tailor EQUIP for you. And there will be time to share ideas with other churches considering EQUIP.

The crown jewel of EQUIP is to apply the same principles it teaches to your church budget, altogether avoiding financial "emergencies" within the church, resulting in true financial peace.

Make plans to attend one of the May training dates. To register for EQUIP or for more information, call Kristin Van Nort at the Foundation, 800-259-6863, or visit our website, www.okumf.org.