Years ago, nearly every church had a Stewardship Committee. The committee’s job was to support the various ministries of the church through raising capital. Translated: Fundraising. Always on the lookout for new and creative ways to increase the income side of the ledger. Hold on! Before you delete this message, give me a few more seconds. This is NOT what I am mean by bringing back the Stewardship Committee.

Stewardship is about the management of another’s resources according to their owner’s wishes and expectations. Christian stewardship recognizes all that we have, our occupations, our resources, even our very lives, belong to God. Therefore, we are stewards charged with managing God’s resources according to his wishes and expectations.

So why bring back the Stewardship Committee? To flip the committee on its head. Rather than looking for more ways to bring resources into the church. Let’s bring back the committee to look at the resources we have and use them well. To give rather than to receive.

In this time of social distancing and restricted gatherings, many of us are tempted to focus on the things we do not have. In my church, we long for the time when we might return to in-person worship. We are frustrated by the inability to have children’s programming. We wonder when we will be able to gather without face masks and social distancing. There are many things we have lost. While we are focused on the things we do not have, we can too easily miss the things we do have. The things God has given to us to manage, to steward, well.

What are some of the resources we have? I have debated whether to list actual ideas here. I want this post to be about giving people permission to dream and do rather than to do the ideas I have heard. Still in hopes that it might help us think about what I mean. Here are some things we have:

  • We have a large field. Community Garden? Outdoor movie?
  • We have property. Make and install a Blessing Box?
  • We have a building. Food distribution point?
  • We have wi-fi. Access point for online learning?
  • We have a Transmogrifier, several of them.
  • We have paper, markers, crayons. What could be done with them?
  • We have ____________. What could be used?

Someone once said, “If you want to kill a good idea, form a committee.” After all of that, maybe we don’t need a committee, we just need to look around and dream. What do you see?

It’s not just the church. Look around. What do you have? What have you been given? How are you managing the resources of God?

Blessings,
Stephen