Stewardship Ministry offers you the following from an outline article penned by John Frank - Christian Leadership Alliance (Online Article from OUTCOMES), as well as secondary sources Resource UMC, Stewardship 101 Lutheran Seminary and Barnabus Foundation.
Enjoy!
Living in relationship with the One who owns everything.
To live a Stewardship Life is based on the understanding that God owns everything. We are called to be stewards of his creation. A lifestyle of stewardship produces a generous spirit integrated into following Jesus.
To understand stewardship, we must first come to grips with the issue of ownership. It is easy to quote Psalm 24:1, but living it requires a huge commitment. Do we really believe that everything, I mean everything, belongs to God? We talk about time, treasure, and sometimes talent. But consider relationships, priorities, and our environment as things over which we are also called to be wise stewards.
501(c)s are not in the Bible
Our organizations are not in Scripture. What we do is. To feed the hungry, care for the widow and the orphan, share the Good News, are clearly in Scripture. But your organization, denomination, or local church structure is not defined in the Bible.
The steward, by contrast, is scripturally defined. God cares about how we live. He is concerned with how we as stewards invest ourselves in frontlines ministry. We will be held accountable for our stewardship generosity in caring for God's people (Phil. 4:17). Our churches and ministries are conduits for stewards to exercise their priorities and callings.
Where is the money in all this?
Those in the church and outside the church respond, "That sounds fine, but isn’t a churches success measured by members and building?" Money is a key measurement of stewardship priorities. The challenge for us is not to see/focus on money as the ultimate goal.
Money is a tool. It accomplishes many good things. It also destroys some lives, ruins some marriages, and pulls some people away from following Jesus. Our ministry call to example and teach how to use, save, earn, and give money. And like Jesus, we must also teach and warn about the power of money. We vision every steward understand that like time, money is a resource that God cares about.
Living as stewards
Stewardship Life is about a relationship. When we live as stewards, we live in relationship with our Creator, who is the owner of all. Our lives reflect a transformational view of stewardship when this is understood. People, our environment, and our daily decisions are all stewardship related. When we spend time with our family rather than work, isn't that a stewardship decision? When we prioritize our prayer life and study of the Word before the morning paper, isn't that a stewardship decision?
It's about the Journey
- God is more concerned with the journey of the steward than he is with our budgets or campaign goals.
- Living a stewardship life involves managing and using the gifts and blessings that God has given us in a responsible and accountable manner:
- Acknowledging God: Recognizing that God is the creator and owner of everything, and that we are stewards or managers of God's gifts
- Being grateful: Giving thanks for the gifts that God has given us
- Using gifts wisely: Using our time, talent, and resources to do what is important and to share with others
- Returning gifts: Giving back to God a portion of what we have received, and acknowledging that God owns it
- Prioritizing: Making sure that our time and resources are spent on what is truly important
- Simplifying: Living a life that is simplified
When we face God
Have you given thought, ruminated that when we face God, he will not say, "Let's see, John and Suzan, let's count up the church offerings you gave. …" I think it will be more like, "I put you in one of the greatest times of history, in a country of great wealth, and gave you education, a wonderful spouse, children, jobs, money, talent, and a beautiful place to live. I gave you the Internet, global air travel, talented pastors, and good health. So what did you do with all of that to love my people and impact my kingdom?"
Many may be surprised to learn that we are to be stewards in all of life. Join us as we seek to live a lifestyle of stewardship, and see how God is faithful to supply all of our needs through his riches in Christ Jesus.