Click on the links below to view our bulletin inserts from "Making Our Lives Count" series, which include more in-depth information, further resources, and practical examples of good stewardship.
Our Stewardship of God's Mission, God's Gifts and God's Glory
The Stewardship of Our Spiritual Gifts
The Stewardship of Our Finances
The Stewardship of Our Time
Some reflections on Stewardship from the Pastors.
Pastor Amy Rohler
Any mention of the word “stewardship” invariably turns to the discussion of money, which is either your favorite or least-favorite topic of conversation, depending on how much of it you have. But we miss out on a lot if we only think of stewardship in terms of dollars and cents, or even in terms of donating our time, talents and money to the church. Stewardship is much bigger. It’s actually about a set of values, and these values are antithetical to our American way of life. You see, the “American Dream” is all about ownership. We strive to own cars, own land, and own our own homes. We work for years so that we won’t have to share ownership of our things with the bank, so that we can do whatever we want with our possessions. Owners value taking possession of, holding title to, and having control over. It’s about independence, and ultimately, power. But the values of a steward, and especially a steward of God, are much different. Stewards take joy not in what they possess, but in what they have been entrusted with, what they have access to use, and how they can creatively and effectively manage on the owner’s behalf (God).
Too often, we see ourselves as owners. We see God’s creation as ours to use as we please; we see God’s church as “my church” and are upset when we lose control over it; we want to own our live—be masters of our own universes. When we submit to God’s grace, however, we relenquish this power (of
course, we never really had it in the first place). We begin to see ourselves as stewards, to whom God has entrusted much responsibility. We have been charged with caring for God’s creation, the Body of Christ, and our own bodies. They are not ours to control, but ours to cherish.
The book Kingom Assignment tells the story of one pastor who took $10,000 out of the local outreach budget (church treasurer—don’t freak out!), and distributed $100 to 100 people in the church with the assignment to further the Kingdom of God. The participants were to think of it as God’s money, and would return in 90 days to report what happened. The results were amazing. In 90 days that $10,000 turned into over $100,000 but what really excited the people who participated was not the increase in dollars, but the change in their own lives. The use of the money was as diverse as each invidual but all agreed that they received more than they gave and discovered how connected we humans are to each other. Mostimportantly, all found that they began to see things through God’s eyes. And I suppose that this is the true definition of stewardship: seeing everything—even money!—through the eyes of Christ.
Pastor Adam Rohler
Actually, Amy, according to Webster’s dictionary “stewardship” means: “the office, duties, and obligations of a steward,” or “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” And the dictionary definition of a “steward” has at least five variations, but the one that struck me the most was the last one: “one who actively directs affairs.”
Of course, the classic stewardship story is the one Jesus tells in Matthew 25:14-30 in which a master leaves three servants in charge of some money while he is vacationing. Upon his return he find that two of the servants have doubled his money through investment, but the third servant only hid the money so as not to lose it; it is this servant who the master becomes angry with, saying, “to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given,...But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.” And it seems that Webster’s final definition of what a “steward” is would fit the first two servants nicely—and I would agree, this is what it means to be a good steward.
But (and you knew there would be a but) how the business world thinks of investing money and how the church invests money are two different things, even if the result is often similar. In the business world you protect your investments, you let your money do the work for you, and the more money you begin with usually leads to more money in the end. Thus it makes sense that the servant who was given the most money by the master would have the most money in the end (Mt 25). The church, however, actively directs it affairs and invests its money (of course, like Amy said, stewardship is not just about money) mostly by giving it away, by offering it not to a broker, but to the broken. We do so because we do not have to protect our investments—we let God do that. Our money doesn’t do the work for us, God works in ways we cannot possibly do. And usually the less we have to begin with, the more we end up with.
God likes to do things like feeding 5000 people with five loaves and two fish (Lk 9:10-17), allowing Gideon to defeat the Midianites with only 300 warriors (Judges 7), or saving the whole world through the death and resurrection of one person—Christ. Because it is then that God, our master, gets the glory and honor and praise and not we who are the servants/stewards.
