MIM EZINE, NOVEMBER 15, 2005

CONTENTS

– Login Leadership: True Stewardship

– Book Review: Rich in Every Way: Everything God Says About Money and Possessions  

– Classified Ads

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Login Leadership:  True Stewardship

by Tom Hanover

How do you practice stewardship?  One believer told me that stewardship was everything one does after one prays, “Lord, forgive my sins.”  While most people narrow the definition of stewardship to money and possessions, it really does relate to a variety of other dimensions of our lives.

I believe stewardship relates to three books most of us carry with us:  a checkbook, a date book, and an address book.  Over the next three months I would like to reflect on stewardship of our money, our time, and our relationships.

In my first parish some of the older leaders of the church advised me to take care of the spiritual matters and they would take care of the money.  What I have learned over the years is that money is a spiritual matter.  How leaders and churches practice stewardship does influence the effectiveness of their ministries.

For ministry leaders the way we practice stewardship will set the pace and the potential for our churches.  Perhaps not every church lives up to the example of its leadership; but rarely will a church go beyond the level of its spiritual leadership.

How do you practice stewardship of your money and possessions?  The Bible is persistent in asking three questions:

• Who owns it?  (Psalm 24:1,2)
• Who has it?  (Matthew 25:14-30)
• Who is on first?   (Matthew 6:32-33)

Little Jack Horner is a Mother Goose rhyme about a boy who concludes he is pretty good fellow when he finds a plum in a Christmas pie.  But Jack did not bake the pie.  He did not roll out the dough.  I suspect he had nothing to do with picking the plum.  Yet, he assumes he is a pretty good fellow just because he found a plum.  If that is so, why is he sitting in the corner to begin with?

The Bible is teaching that God owns it all.  When we discover a “plum,” it is not a sign of our goodness.  It is a sign of God’s grace.  Faithful stewardship begins with an awareness that all we have and all we are is a gift from God.  It is not about us.  It is about God.

Who has it?  For some mysterious reason God loans it to us.  In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus suggests that it is distributed according to a variety of factors including ability and readiness.  Why does God do that?  To give us the opportunity to invest it in ministry.  If we do well, God rewards with greater responsibility and opportunity.  If we are negligent and avoid any risk, what we have will be lost as well.  Matthew’s point is if we cannot handle money, how can we handle real power, spiritual power?

Who is on first?  Stewardship requires obedience.  Where is my security invested?  Who is number one in my life?  How we handle our money as individuals and as a church reveals who we really worship.

I’m convinced after serving several churches of different sizes and contexts that stewardship is an on-going constant and consistent task of leadership.  John Maxwell tells the story about the man who after church complained that Maxwell was preaching too often about money.  Maxwell pulled him aside and whispered, “Apparently, you don’t tithe?”  The man was startled, but confessed, “How did you know?”  Maxwell replied, “Tithers don’t complain about giving.  They don’t think I preach enough about money.”

Effective church leadership will seek consistent faithfulness in providing training what the Bible teaches about giving as well as providing opportunities to make giving commitments.

The best time to plan the next year’s stewardship campaign is while doing the previous year’s campaign.  Frankly, there are only a few different types of campaigns.  The gimmicks are fun, but less important than the principles.

1. The highest motivation for giving is in response to how God has first given generously to us.
2. People are generally not motivated by a budget, but by a vision.
3. People give to people.
4. Churches need to practice what they preach.

One type of campaign is for people to visit people and invite them to make a commitment to the church.  Sometimes, this is done by visiting each household.  Sometimes it is done through letters or phone calls.  All of these styles emphasize people giving at the invitation of other people.  It provides a wonderful opportunity for people to share what they value about the church’s ministries

A second type of campaign is to gather people in small groups to hear the vision for future ministry as well as to share together their own values about ministry.  Again, it emphasizes people sharing with people and a focus on vision.

A third type is to gather everyone in one place and celebrate the generosity and commitment of the congregation.  These often involve a meal and a worship style announcement of the pledges gathered.  These can generate significant enthusiasm and awareness of the church’s ministries.

A fourth type relies on printed materials that are mailed to each member to be reviewed in the privacy and comfort of one’s home.  One dear saint scolded me.  She did not understand why we were doing all of this campaign stuff.  She would give her tithe no matter what.  I replied to her that if everyone in the congregation was like her, we would not have to do campaign stuff.

The various styles have strengths and weaknesses in their effectiveness in reaching your congregation, communicating your vision, motivating them to respond, and raising their awareness of stewardship.  For example, a letter will likely reach nearly all of your people, but has less impact on motivating a person to give.  Large group events often are more effective in motivation and building awareness, but rarely reach more than half of your congregation.

Consequently, effective leadership will use a variety of approaches in rotation with each other as well as pairing methods with different strengths to increase response.  How are you practicing, teaching, and preparing opportunities for others to grow in their stewardship?

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University , the MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton . Contact Tom at thanover@pastors-study.com

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Book Review: Rich in Every Way: Everything God Says About Money and Possessions