An Old, Old Story
The other day a member of the congregation I belong to stopped me and said I have a book that I found in a pile of old library books that was written on stewardship years ago, do you want to read it? Certainly, I said, thinking I would probably never get the time but it was a nice gesture. It lay on my table for about a month and one day when I didn’t have anything too pressing, I picked it up and browsed through it. Written and published in 1929, it was a Handbook for Stewardship to be used by congregations planning the coming year’s activities.
As I read through this little handbook it became very clear the more I read that the description of the attitude of the congregation toward giving and the reputation stewardship had among most Christians at that time was a mirror image of what we see today. It explained that even though stewardship and a good steward should be continued to be taught as “one that uses all the gifts of God in a way which is pleasing to the Lord, it requires each gift to be used to advance the cause of God in the hearts of men.” “The term stewardship” it continued, ”in it’s most comprehensive sense, includes practically everything in the Christian life; the responsibility for the stewardship of time, talent, prayer and one’s influence. Sometimes the church leaders have magnified the comprehensive use of the word stewardship in order to present with less offense a consideration of the stewardship of material possessions, but the average layman who hears that word stewardship thinks of money immediately.”
Time hasn’t changed that factor one little bit and if we went back two thousand years to the time when Christ was walking the earth and preaching --- it would be the same. There has always been an inordinate focus on the “goodies” of life and the money it takes to acquire them. As I read on it explained how “this focus on material things has created a great divide between where we are as Christians and where we should be, and was getting greater with time”. I wonder what they would have thought if they had lived long enough to see today’s culture and how deep that divide has taken us.
All in all, it was an interesting read and it was amazing how close to where we are today in stewardship activities and attitudes right down to a description of a collection of commitments named Consecration Day! The only thing different in what some are doing today and what they described 79 years ago is that the word Day is now Sunday! Can it be that what worked 79 years ago to motivate and inspire people to give that were driving Model T’s and just getting their first telephones, also works today with people who are driving SUV’s and carry their cell phones with them? Maybe we need to take another look.
The challenge hasn’t changed in 2,000 years, but the people we are trying to motivate have! The Bible and our religious purposes and missions haven’t changed, but the demands and psyche of the people we are trying motivate to accomplish those purposes and missions --- have! Do we need to retool our approaches and rethink our strategies to inspire true stewardship?
No, I don’t think so. The Good News of Jesus Christ is still the best story ever told and it’s meaning to every Christian can’t be more clear! We just have to make sure we keep telling that story and make sure that they are getting the message! And that’s just good stewardship!
About this time of the year, as summer nears and our congregations plan on “ramping down” the activities some to better fit the lifestyles of the members, we look around us and find we have some plates that are half full with unfinished plans and goals. It’s either a time to review the progress of each unfinished plan or pack them away until fall comes to see if anything has changed. The urge to pack them up until fall is pretty inviting but our better instincts tell us that we will be in better shape to deal with them later if we review them now. As we go through the pile, we divide them into two stacks, one that’s “important” and one that’s for the issues “on hold”.
When we finish our mini organization, we generally think to ourselves, “we have a lot of “irons in the fire”, which ones are the most important to move our congregation forward?”
That was the question that a congregation that I have been coaching on growth, told me that they were asking themselves. They are proactive about growth and are considering becoming involved in planting a new congregation in a nearby town that is presently without a Lutheran prescience. They have done the necessary “homework” and now are asking themselves, “Can we afford to do this project or should we put our efforts into what we already have?” They debated the pro’s and con’s and finally the pastor asked them, “What does God want us to do?” It became clear in answering that question that their congregation’s DNA was made to order for starting this “baby” church and that they were the perfect “parents” for this new child.
Not every congregation has the genes that would lead them to be successful in planting a new church, but the DNA of their congregation is perfectly suited for some other project that will fulfill God’s call to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. When these projects are broached in leadership meetings however, they are many times met with the opposition that “we can’t afford to do that” or “that’s OK for another congregation, but not for us.” Seldom, if ever is the question asked, “What does God want us to do?” The urge to maintain and protect the status quo is overwhelming in a majority of our congregations today. There is absolute fear in the leadership in most council meetings to do anything that would change their congregation. Spreading the Good News of Jesus as their mission has been replaced by “We like it the way it is”!
There are opportunities to bring God’s message everywhere you look and there is a huge need in our country today for that message to be heard. It’s the duty of every congregation of every denomination to expand their evangelism and bring the Good News to the unchurched. That’s what God’s Great Commandment is all about.
What is the DNA of your congregation? What are the avenues that your congregation’s traditions, heritage and faith can travel upon to bring new people to Christ? Every congregation has a strength that can used to build upon; what is that strength in your congregation?
The question isn’t “should we talk about expanding our evangelism”, or “is it possible for us start a new congregation, merge with another one to build a stronger model to spread the word, or help another congregation that is struggling to grow”; the real question is “What does God want us to do?”
That’s the most important question --- and it’s just good stewardship!