Uh-Oh! The word “steward” is in the title of this blog. We are in the month of October, which means it’s stewardship time at church. This blog will probably consist of an anecdotal story that encourages me to give more money. Maybe I should stop reading now…
Often, when stewardship is brought up in a church setting there is a fear that what will proceed will be a plea for increased monetary giving. There is good reason for that fear to arise. First and foremost, the church as a whole has a history of using stewardship time to talk about budget deficits and increased proportional giving. Second, some of us, deep down, have a small ounce of shame that we don’t give more to God’s mission than we currently do. Rest assured, I will not ask you to give more money in the course of this blog post. Rather, I would like to share with you a little of what I learned in my intensive class on Missional Stewardship.
For the past week I have been attending my Fall Intensive class at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. It was led by the Rev. Dr. Mark Allan Powell and focused on missional stewardship. This was the first class about stewardship that has ever been taught at Trinity Lutheran Seminary during it’s 188 year history. Dr. Powell believes it may have been the first class that focused solely on stewardship that has ever been taught at any Lutheran seminary. It’s no wonder that our churches have done such a piecemeal job of trying to teach congregants about living a life of stewardship.
Our main text of study was the best-selling book, Giving to God, written by Mark Allan Powell. The book is an easy, yet phenomenal, read and I am willing to lend my copy to anyone who would like to read it. Of the many points about stewardship that Dr. Powell makes, I would like to focus on one: What does it mean to be a steward? “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” - 1 Corinthians 4:2
To steward something is to be appointed to look after or manage another person’s property. God has called all of us to be stewards of God’s creation. Everything we have is a gift from God. Everything around us is a gift from God. Everyone around us is a gift from God. We are a gift from God to those around us. How we treat ourselves, others, and the entirety of the world around us matters to God. Are we being good stewards of our possessions, time, relationships, resources, and talents? We know we will never be perfect stewards, but there is always room for growth. As we enter into a season of growing at Lord of Life, I encourage you to join with me in evaluating one or two ways in which we can be better stewards of all that God has entrusted to us during this limited time we are on Earth.
Ever growing,
Pastor Corey
You can review Lord of Life's Proposed Mission Spending Plan for 2019 online.