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The Stewardship Committee meets each month year round. It is our belief that stewardship is a way of life and not simply an annual fall pledge drive. Through the Sunday bulletin, the Journal and testimonies by parishioners, we seek to teach that stewardship is a spiritual matter rooted in praise and thanksgiving to God. A Christian steward serves God out of love and gratitude, knowing that it is not how much we have, but what we do with what we have that is important.
God is calling us to Biblical stewardship. When asked, most people know that stewardship has something to do with money. some might say it is about time, talent and treasure. While these are correct, true Biblical stewardship involves much more.
The Biblical definition of a steward is one who has been entrusted to take care of another's property and who expects to give a final accounting to the owner. Jesus taught that God holds each steward accountable for the management of what has been committed to him or her.
Using this definition, we can see that Biblical stewardship is about more than time, talent and treasure. It is about how we live our lives. Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) shows that stewardship involves personal initiative and active risk taking. we are challenged to re-think our narrow view of stewardship. We are called to turn away from our self-centered lives and to follow Christ without regard to reputation, economic security, or immediate personal satisfaction!
Stewardship rooted in God's demands and promises calls for daily ethical decisions and deeds: personal and social.
As Biblical stewards, we are called to serve not only in the church, but also in the community and the world. We are called to give generously to meet the needs of our neighbor. We are called to become active in government at all levels. We are called to be stewards of the earth and the environment. We are called to be faithful to God's word - which is the supreme test of Biblical stewardship.
(Adapted from the Women of the ELCA) |
Our vocation to be stewards is at the heart of the Biblical revelation which acknowledges God as the gracious giver of all things. That we are accountable for our use of the gifts of God is no grim truth at all. It is rather a great joy; for to be held accountable is to be treated as being of great worth. We are, then, stewards of the worth which God has conferred on us. The stewardship of our lives and of our deaths embraces the joy we find in our own worth. We are stewards of the mysteries of God, as we are stewards of the gospel of God. We are also brothers and sisters of all God’s children. The hungry, the naked, the prisoner, the disposed, the tormented, the thirsty; all have been placed within our stewardship. Being stewards requires us to find a strategy and a means for giving ourselves to the needs of all of our brothers and sisters. To do the work of evangelists it is not enough to proclaim God and God’s gifts. Stewards give gifts. They give their resources. That means that the steward gives his or her life. To give one’s life is to give one’s time, one’s hours and days; it is to give one’s capacities of whatever human strength he or she may possess; and it means our money. One cannot be a steward if one does not also give whatever it may be by which a person measures wealth.
- Stewardship Standing Commission of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church |
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