Stewardship shows trust in God

Some thoughts to help us serve our God with the resources He has given to us.

“Copyright © 2000 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission.”

Do we need go gather financial commitments from our members? The answer is “Yes.” If we don’t, giving will begin to erode. It is amazing how many congregations contact their district requesting financial stewardship help because they are in financial difficulty. When asked what they have done to cultivate and challenge growth in giving among the membership the response is “little or nothing.” And they are surprised they have financial difficulty!

    Stewardship life and growth don’t just happen to people. They need to be motivated, taught and challenged in stewardship. Left to ourselves in this area of discipleship, we find the devil in our pocketbooks. He wins whenever he get us to back off in our funding of the congregation’s ministries.

   Our defense against the ongoing, aggressive attacks of Satan on the church is the Word. Only motivation by the Gospel counters his plans to pilfer our pocketbooks of resources allocated to ministry. We teach financial stewardship from God’s Word and challenge people to grow in this aspect of Christian life. To do nothing in this area or to go at it sporadically or sloppily simply opens the door for the devil to win the battle for allocation of our resources for ministry.

    So, do we need to gather commitments? Absolutely! The congregation will pay the price if it falters in this area. Congregations that do not rise to the challenge have learned this the hard way. Don’t become one of them. Teach financial stewardship. Challenge people to grow in the grace of giving. Motivate with the Gospel. Do it often. Do it well. Do it regularly. You can defeat the devil in this area and lift up the cross of Christ in the process.

 

My pledge to St. John Lutheran Church for 2007       ___ Envelope #

Knowing God has blessed me with all things to support this body and life, and His desire for me to use them to his glory and reflect His generous heart,

 

I pledge to contribute __________ dollars per month to the work of God’s kingdom in this place, or

 

I pledge to contribute __________ dollars per week to the work of God’s kingdom in this place. In addition,

 

I pledge to contribute __________ dollars per year to the work of to the work of God’s kingdom in other parts of the world. (To be given on Mission Sunday)

 

Please prayerfully complete this, put it into an offering envelope and place it in the plate during the month of May.

 

    What is one of the major factors that causes significant increases in financial giving among church members? Answer: asking people to give.

    Next to proper Gospel motivation for giving, a church’s willingness to conduct an effective annual financial stewardship campaign determines whether or not its members increase their offerings. Stewardship committee: conduct an annual financial stewardship program.

When approaching the congregation about financial stewardship, keep three items in mind:

• Stewardship does include money.

• Stewardship should be addressed on the basis of Scripture.

• God’s people need to be trained how to manage their financial resources (100 percent) to the glory of God.

Do not avoid talking to people about money. Scripture has much to say about money. Jesus talked often about it:

• There are more than 2,000 references to money, finances and earthly possessions;

• One out of every 10 verses in Scripture deals with money and possessions;

• Forty percent of Jesus’ parables deal with money and possessions.

For several good reasons, congregations are urged to conduct an annual stewardship emphasis. Typically, that annual stewardship emphasis takes place in the fall. However, another time to consider the stewardship of giving could be in the spring when people tend to be more upbeat, and summer is ahead, vs. a fall emphasis with the negative factor of approaching winter. Another reason to consider spring is April 15, the deadline for filing income taxes. By that date, many people realize they earned more money than they thought during the previous year and can respond accordingly to blessings received from God when pledging.

 

THEOLOGY FOR TODAY

At our recent Quarterly Voter’s meeting, Voters requested the church to offer a pledge opportunity for 2007.

 Before one pledges, he/she should understand Biblical principles, which are reprinted below.