Teaching Stewardship

This morning I'm looking at stewardship material to use at Cross Road. We will teach and preach about biblical principles of stewardship during Bible study and worship each Sunday in February. As with all Christian disciplines, it's easy to soften on our commitments. While I believe stewardship is a central component of discipleship and include these principles regularly in my sermons, taking a closer look usually helps us renew our commitments or make new ones.

Many pastors that I speak with are feeling an economic crunch. In spite of what we heard in the State of the Union last night, the economy has not bounced back. It hasn't in my world personally and in the realm of my pastorate. Up and down the roads and all around town I hear the same thing.

Some of the financial struggles a church faces are due to economics. A tithe is 10% of a family's gross income. If gross income goes down then the tithe goes down. Income decreases because business is bad, sales are lower, a family member loses a job, factories shut down, the main wage-earner enters retirement, etc. There's not much a church can do about that. If the family is faithful to stewardship and continues to tithe then that is a positive rather than a negative. I hope that I've taught and modeled to be faithful in little or much, less or more.

A church may also deal with tight times because some who tithe no longer attend the church. The migration of church members really doesn't bother me if the members move along because God is leading them to do so. I've heard plenty of reasons that somehow seem to have attracted God's blessing. "This other church offers more for my family." "This other church is where my friends attend." "I like the music better at the other church." I won't say those are never good reasons to move but I can say honestly that I've never heard one of these excuses when it wasn't just a coverup for something else.

Regardless of the reason, when a person no longer attends our church we no longer receive their tithe. We have experienced some of this and have to adjust accordingly.

So there isn't much you can do about economics and migration, but a third reason churches struggle financially is fixable: when members are not properly stewarding the resources God entrusts to them. I don't know that this is absolutely the case with our church but I do know that money is an area where a little encouragement and instruction helps people apply wisdom. So we will study passages of scripture that teach stewardship fundamentals. If just one or a few families become better stewards then the church benefits and the families do, too. God promises to bless those who are faithful stewards.

I should mention a fourth reason churches struggle with money. Sometimes the church is not a good steward of her resources. We expect our members to be good stewards; we should lead our churches to be good stewards, too. Budgets - a better name is Ministry Spending Plans - have to be reviewed regularly just like a family's home budget is reviewed. Adjustments may be necessary to reflect what really is happening and to focus attention on specific areas of ministry. Hard decisions regarding favored projects must be made. You get the point: churches must be good stewards.

The bottom line for me is humorously reflected in what a preacher once said. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that God has provided all the resources we need to do everything he wants us to do. The bad news is that most of it is still in your pocket."

It's true. If we are good stewards with the resources God has given us our churches will never lack for resources to meet the ministry opportunities presented to us when engaging the Great Commission.

Just think about it. The gospel reaches lost people. Needs of the poor and hurting are met. Churches fulfill God's calling. Christians are blessed. Teaching stewardship is good for everyone.