Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2004
Sept. 27 - Oct. 3, 2004
SOLI/Update
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."
-Acts 2:42-47
A colleague in ministry attended a conference on evangelism and came away rolling his eyes. All the programs and earnest ideas seemed like gimmicks, he said, compared to the simple evangelism strategy he read in the above passage from Acts. I’ve been mulling it over and think it may apply to the fund-raising and budget making aspects of stewardship as well.
Notice what God’s people are doing:
A very good list for Christians, yet not one of the activities would fit into the outreach and evangelism categoris mentioned in most programs, conferences and talks. Yet the last verse says the membership of believers increased.
My colleague points out that it is not the people who added to their roll, rather it was God who led people there. My colleague concludes that in evangelism, the job of the church is, first and foremost, to be faithful to apostolic teachings, prayerful, and generous and loving to one another.
Those things are the bedrock of evangelism, yet my colleague believed many church leaders at the conference were looking for external fixes and programs, when instead they should have been concentrating on getting their houses of faith in order first.
Church treasurers, stewardship chairpersons and pastors might find the same principle applies to fund-raising and budget-making.
-Rob Blezard, webmaster and editor (webmaster @stewardshipoflife.org)
New This Week: Sept. 27 - Oct. 3
Mission
Week Festival
Congregations looking for a new way to
handle an annual stewardship program may find inspiration from this resource of
the
New Jersey Synod
of the ELCA, whose website contains a great assortment of
stewardship resources. Mission Festival outlines a weeklong
mission-oriented program designed to lead parishioners into the ways of
stewardship.
We
must be compassionate, yes, but strong
"Mother Theresa
is portrayed as loving and compassionate, and certainly she was, but to work
under the conditions she did and care for the dirty, filthy, cast-off people.
She had to be incredibly strong and brave. To leave a well-to-do household to
live on nothing but what God provided, she had to know that Jesus that I know." In
Dana Reardon's weekly reflection.
Zacchaeus
Here's a great stewardship sermon on Luke 19:1-10, which comes up
on the lectionary cycle Oct. 31."Zacchaeus
was changed.
Zacchaeus
was changed, from being greedy to generous, from selfish to selfless, from a
thieving heart to thankful heart. How did this happen?"
From Edward Marquart, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church (ELCA), Des Moines, Wash.,
whose website,
Sermons from Seattle,
offers lots of free resources.
Tithing:
A good response?
"When
giving is based on thanks, those who cannot tithe will not feel shame or guilt.
One person said, 'I know I am cheating my Lord when I do not tithe, but I cannot
give more than 5 percent.' Another whose income was barely enough to pay the
rent and feed his family said, 'Do I give to feed the hungry in Africa and not
have enough to feed my own family?' "
By the Rev. David F. Conrad,
in
the Lutheran Laity Movement Archives.