More than balancing the church's books

 

I have been hearing and reading what I have already recognized:  There is a disparity between what stewardship leaders want to teach and lead and what congregations want.

 

Congregations are looking for a plan to increase the amount of money they take in every week so they can balance the budget and keep the doors open.

 

Stewardship leaders want to talk about generosity as a way of life.  We like to talk in general terms about seeing a need and filling it, or living lives of thanksgiving.

 

There are many thoughts going through my head about this.

 

First, stewardship is about more than balancing the books at church.  I tell that to my finance and stewardship people all the time.  Stewardship is about all of our lives and how we share what God has given us in thanksgiving for what we have.

 

The more we study and learn in life, the more we pray, and the more we give, the more we realize that.  So, too, in the midst of so many needs, such as hunger and homelessness, it seems hard to find enough for these needs and the demands of a church budget

 

But I began that faith journey at the font in a little church that is struggling now -- as many are -- to stay open.  I learned first about God's love in a basement Sunday school room.  We sang, "Jesus love the little children of the world."

 

As we grow in faith, as we work toward tithing, we do it in the midst of community in a church.  As our lives blossom and open and we become more aware of the needs all around us, we cannot forget the needs of the church that nurtures the faith of ourselves and our children.

 

I was reminded of that Sunday in church when a woman who came to me for help with her rent was greeted and welcomed at coffee hour and began to become part of the community.  A social service agency might have helped her with her rent, but there would be no community here for her.  And this community got another chance to learn about generosity in the flesh.

 

So while learning to be generous goes way beyond church budgets, we will find enough to care for the hungry and the homeless and the congregation and its building where all find a welcome and a word of grace.

 

Lord, 

Open our eyes to see your abundance and also to see the needs of your people and your church.  May we be good stewards of it all.
Amen

 

 

Copyright (c) 2004, The Rev. Dana Reardon. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Email her at mspastor@aol.com.
 

The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI.  A lifelong Lutheran, she came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric intensive care.  She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before becoming a New Englander.  She is still trying to understand the accent.  While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship Team.  That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more, what makes for generosity. She has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of life she learned from them.