Stewardship and discipleship
Grace Duddy Pomroy from Luther Seminary shared an excellent post about stewardship with the subtitle Making the move from counting to cultivating. Stewardship is not about counting the money but cultivating generous followers of Jesus. She writes,
“Stewardship is a key part of our discipleship journey. It is the way that we love God and neighbor with all that God has entrusted to our care – our money and so much more! It changes the way we look at all of the resources that God has entrusted to us – reminding us they belong to God and not to us. One of the ways we live out our call as stewards is by giving generously to God’s work in the world, particularly God’s work through our local congregation. However, I have yet to meet a single person who has walked into church for the first time knowing this! It has to be taught not just in a single one-off stewardship education hour but deeply embedded into the congregation’s life together.” [underline mine]
She captures so much essential stewardship theology in this paragraph:
“It’s all God’s stuff” - everything comes from God and it’s not ours to keep. Stewarding what God has entrusted to our care lands differently than deciding what to do with our time or our money. We share what God has given us. Remembering that it’s not our stuff makes sharing easier.
Call to stewardship - Christians are called to give generously to God’s work in the world. We pray for God’s kingdom to come; our money can follow our prayers. A community of faith helps us see what God is doing and encourages us in our group project of generosity.
Discipleship requires discipling - our culture teaches us to spend money as consumers. Giving money away is deeply counter-cultural! A “one-off stewardship education hour” based on guilt rather than gratitude isn’t sufficient to learn generosity. Stewardship needs to be “deeply embedded in the congregation’s life together.” Like the spiritual discipline of prayer, believers learn the spiritual discipline of generosity over time.
Practicing gratitude helps here, something I write about often because gratitude enables generosity and because I need constant reminding! Weekly worship helps us model stewardship as a grateful response to our generous God. As we thank God, celebrate the offering and prayerfully seek God’s direction in how to best love our neighbours, we embed stewardship in congregational life.
Sharing stories of how people learned to be generous is one of my favourite stewardship education tools. As Pomroy notes, silence makes a poor instructor. People don’t necessarily know how to practice generosity. If your congregation is blessed with someone who has been giving for decades, ask them: who taught you how to be generous? Worship, Bible study, service projects, book clubs and much more offer other ways to learn and grow in generosity.
How have you learned generosity? What gifts do you have to offer?