St. Paul's United Methodist Church

Online Donations

Thank you for Giving to St. Paul's

Click the link or scroll down the page to find:

Secure Online Giving. Regular, one-time, or recurring giving to established church budget areas including our general fund. Read more about these funds here.
Special Offering for UMCOR - Puerto Rico Hurricane Aid for immediate needs and long-term rebuilding following Hurricane Fiona.
Special Offering for UMCOR - International Response & Recovery for Ukraine and the refugees fleeing the war there.
The Pledge Form: Let us know how you can support St. Paul's with faithful giving in the coming year.
That cool chair!: How to get the special "Thank you" gift.
Additional Contribution Options: This allows you to make donations to special causes or anything outside the "regular menu" of offerings. You'll enter the designation in the form, just like you would write the purpose on the memo line of a check.
Designated Special Sundays: More info about special offerings made in connection with UMC churches across the globe to support UMC programs like Native American ministries, social justice programs, or scholarships.
Offering Envelopes: How to receive offering envelopes in the mail, or to ask us to stop sending them.

For questions, please contact Erin Bone Steele, Director of Communications & Administration: stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org.

UMCOR - Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief

Hurricane Fiona, the first major hurricane of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, caused catastrophic damage in Puerto Rico and brought torrential rains to other island nations. It has left millions without power and running water.

Your donations today will go to The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the relief efforts underway in 2022 to help Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Fiona. Through local partners on the ground and its own trained early responders, UMCOR can move quickly to provide aid, and can remain in a community for rebuilding work that goes well beyond the initial response. UMCOR is in close contact with the disaster response coordinator of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and awarded an initial solidarity grant to help address immediate needs.

Click the button to donate by credit card through our secure payment processing partners at CloverGive.

UMCOR- PR Hurricane Relief

To donate by check, please make checks payable to St. Paul's UMC with "UMCOR - Puerto Rico" on the memo line and send to the church office by mail or leave it in the offering plate on Sunday.

Umcor Donations - Ukraine

You can donate through St. Paul's UMC to support UMCOR and respond to disasters and crises, at home and abroad.

To donate to International Disaster Response & Recovery funds directed toward the crisis in Ukraine, click the button to go to our secure donations page.

UMCOR Donations

100% of your donations to The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) goes to UMCOR. Through your support, UMCOR's local partners on the ground and its own trained early responders can move quickly to provide aid, and can remain in a community for rebuilding work that goes well beyond the initial response.

If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to St. Paul's UMC with "UMCOR - Ukraine" on the memo line, and place it in the offering plate on Sunday or mail it to St. Paul's UMC, Attn: Treasurer, 10401 Armory Ave., Kensington MD 20895.

Regular or recurring giving options

Please click here to access our secure giving site for the following funds:

General Fund - the core of our church budget. This covers a myriad of needs for the day-to-day life and work of the church including such things as worship, utility bills, salaries, printing, and office supplies. These things make it possible to engage in vital ministries throughout the life of our church and beyond.
Capital Campaign - fuels the campaign to renovate and link our worship and service spaces, facilitating easier navigation and better accessibility into and through the church. Scroll down for more information about building renovation plans.
Building Improvement Fund - enables necessary maintenance and upkeep of the church's current infrastructure. The Improvement Fund is designated for the ongoing care of our facilities. These funds help keep our building beautiful and safe, covering such things as repairing the heating or air conditioning systems, fixing leaky pipes, providing for fresh paint or carpet, and similar expenses. (This is not the same as the Capital Campaign for the large-scale building renovation project.)
Technology Advancement Fund - The Technology Advancement Fund is a new budget item for 2022. These dedicated funds will allow us to update and upgrade aging computer systems, to keep our network and data secure, to ensure we have the proper equipment and connections to expand our livestreaming and online activities, and to create new comprehensive and secure wifi coverage throughout our building.
Hunger Ministry- supports our ongoing efforts to feed families in the 20895 ZIP code. Visit our Hunger Ministry page for more information.

These donations are processed through Vanco, our banking partners with the UMC. If you have questions, please contact the church office.

Stewardship:

Pledging Support for 2022

We celebrate pledges on Stewardship Sunday, but we gratefully receive them all year! Please pledge your support today as your circumstances allow.

Your faithful giving makes it possible for St. Paul's to maintain a vital, vibrant ministry that reaches our members and friends, our local community, and our world, and enables us to keep our commitments to the people and projects within our walls and the outreach and mission work that reaches far beyond our walls.

To make a pledge for 2022, click the button below to go to our secure online form.

Pledge for 2022

If you wish to make changes or have questions, please contact Rev. Pat Allen at pallen@stpaulsk.org.

We are so grateful for your commitment to this faith community as we journey together!

How can I get one of those folding chairs??

During covid-times, we've all been doing things outdoors - including worship!! - where we need to bring along our own chairs.

So as a special THANK YOU, we've ordered these cool St. Paul's folding chairs and will be giving one to each household that pledges!

To get your chair:

A) Meet Mr. Micah Smartt, Minister of Youth & Design, after worship on Sundays. He will receive your pledge and get your chair for you. Contact msmartt@stpaulsk.org to confirm his availability. This is a good option if you want to fill out a paper form at the church and hand it in on Sunday.

B) Contact Erin Steele, Director of Communications & Administration to arrange chair pick-up on a weekday. (Please note - weekday access to the building is limited during construction.) This is a good option if you want to mail your pledge form to the office. Give us a week for the post office to do its thing and get your letter to us!

C) Pledge online (see the section above!). Give us three business days to add you to the list for a chair, then you can contact Micah Smartt about getting a chair on Sunday or contact Erin Steele for weekday pick-up options.

Additional Contribution Options

There are many reasons you might want to make a contribution to St. Paul's beyond those offerings that appear above in the "regular menu" of giving or scheduled designated Special Sundays offerings. This is where you might make a contribution to Memorials, the Music Fund, Educational Award, or another cause. Click the button here to go to our secure form for Miscellaneous Contributions, and let us know the fund or cause to which we may direct your contribution.

Make Your Contribution Here

If you prefer, donations and offerings by check are always welcome and should be mailed to St. Paul's UMC, Attn: Treasurer, 10401 Armory Ave., Kensington MD 20895, or dropped off at the office. Please make all checks payable to St. Paul's UMC and be sure to note the cause or fund in the Memo line.

All "special funds" donations or online sales are processed through the secure credit-card processor CloverGive/MinistryOne. For questions, please contact Erin Steele, Director of Communications & Administration.

More about...

"Special Sundays" Offerings

"Special Sundays" are designated by the global United Methodist Church and enable congregations throughout our whole denomination to celebrate, commemorate, and contribute connectionally to support important causes.

The United Methodist Church calendar includes recommended dates for celebrating each Special Sunday. According to the UMC's General Council on Finance & Administration, however, individual congregations may also choose to celebrate Special Sundays and welcome offerings on any Sunday throughout the year that is convenient and appropriate.

Special Sundays and the month they are usually celebrated:

Human Relations Day (January)

UMCOR Sunday (March)

Native American Ministries (April)

Peace with Justice (May)

World Communion (October)

United Methodist Student Day (November)

While COVID-19 prevents us from providing the paper envelopes we would normally see as bulletin inserts, we will be posting online giving options for each Special Sunday as it is observed at St. Paul's.

More About...

The Capital Campaign

The Capital Campaign, launched in 2016, has one goal: to raise the funds for a building renovation that will improve our church's accessibility and worship/fellowship spaces.

The feel and functionality of our church is essential to our mission and service goals. It is an extension and reflection of who we are and it is the vessel through which we fulfill our commitment and connection to Christ.

By altering and modernizing our inner walls and renovating our sidewalks and parking area, we can provide a more welcoming environment for visitors and our current members, shape a more accessible space for our community to gather, ensure our church is ADA compliant, and - maybe most important - provide more space for our growing ministries.

Our Building Committee and Capital Campaign Committees, working together, have helped us move toward this renovation. Design professionals have drawn up architectural plans, surveys have been completed, permits have been issued, and other necessary paperwork has been submitted for approval.

Please click here to visit the Renovation page to learn about the project's current status and view the slideshow presented at our Special Church Conference in September 2020 when final plans were overwhelmingly approved by voting members.

Capital giving differs from annual giving in several ways:

• It invests in permanent properties

• It spreads out payments during a much longer period.

• It seeks larger amounts than annual budgets can deliver

• It requires a planned, sacrificial and inspirational effort, and occasionally involves gifting of real estate, securities, life insurance or other tangible assets.

• It is over and above one’s regular or annual giving.

Please contact Tim Simpson, chair of the capital campaign committee, or the church office if you would like more information about this special giving.

Offering Envelopes Available

Members and friends of St. Paul's who give their general offering to St. Paul's using check or cash may choose to receive customized paper offering envelopes. These come from a printing service and arrive at donors' homes, ready to use and pre-printed with the donors' name, address, envelope number, and Sunday dates (although you can use them any time).

If you would normally place checks or cash in the offering plate and now wish to mail it to St. Paul's, these customized paper envelopes might be useful to you. Email Erin Steele (stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org) and she will add you to the list.

Alternatively, if you receive envelopes but shifted to online giving and no longer need printed envelopes, please let us know. This can help keep clutter out of your mailbox and save the church a little money on printing and postage costs. Please email Erin (stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org) with your request.

One last note: Thank you for your patience! Due to the printers' timetable and the challenges of working remotely during the COVID-19 period, there may be a two-month (or more) delay between your request and a change in your paper envelope status.