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Wednesday, December 6, 2023

                                MAKE STEWARDSHIP ABOUT THE CAUSE

 

            In continuing my reading the booklet put out by VANCO, titled The Complete Guide to Church Stewardship, I read about the third of eight rules for effective church leadership: Make Stewardship About the Cause!


            The Scripture sited was the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20):

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

            Doesn’t it seem like when we talk about stewardship, it evolves into talking about money, and then that evolves into talking about budgets, and the building and how much it costs to keep it clean, the amount of salaries paid to staff and all the stuff about keeping the doors open?

            Of course, sometimes we do have to have those discussions, but if those are the only discussions that happen when the topic of stewardship is brought up, then we are missing the point.


            The church isn’t the building, and if our entire focus is on keeping the doors open, then maybe we are landlords and not stewards.

            If we change our focus to the idea of how the building serves in the name of God, that might make a difference.

            Instead of fretting about the amount of money the church has to pay for salaries or how much the cleaning supplies cost, maybe focusing on being blessed by a clean facility, and how people are welcomed in a place that isn’t dank and musty, that might make a difference.

            These kinds of discussions can then lead to a better discussion of how all of that is the point, not the money. And then the conversation about how money enables the cause to happen will help.

            Tell the stories of how lives are changed, how the building serves the community, how the saints that came before us saw what God was doing and wanted to jump on with that.


            What is your vision? When you read your mission statement or your vision statement, ask yourself (or better yet, have the leadership of the church ask themselves) so that what????

 

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help 

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