“All
They Want Is My Money”
Stewardship at Journey
In church circles, the word “stewardship”
carries with it a lot of baggage. You hear that occasional
sermon on stewardship and someone leaves worship saying, “all
they want is my money.” You get a packet in the mail with big
red letters on the front screaming at you, “Important:
Stewardship Campaign Information Enclosed” and then sigh, “here
we go again, its budget time.”
The tension between our understandings of
stewardship as a God-directed way of life vs. stewardship
as the strategies we use to fund the church continues to live
and breathe here in the 21st century.
No one can deny that it takes money to do
what we do as church. Without financial resources,
congregations can’t continue to perform good and wonderful
ministry on behalf of Christ. We need budgets. We need
financially astute leaders to help us keep the doors open. But
when the church asks for money, some become uncomfortable and
question the need. After all, there are some “church and money”
horror stories out there . . .
On the other hand, training the body of
Christ to embrace God’s call to daily stewardship through
sacrificial living—and giving—as an act of trust in God has
proven to be a pretty tough trick. Even though we know that all
we have is owned by God and that everything we have has been
given to us by God, we struggle with the concept of
stewardship. Even though we know that God will always meet our
needs and that God wants us to prosper, we struggle some more.
So, how does the church convince people
that God has prepared a life of joy for them as good and
generous stewards, while also convincing them that funding the
church and its ministries is a legitimate and necessary response
to God’s call to stewardship?
One of the important disconnect points
seems to be that many churchfolk believe their personal
stewardship practice is a private matter. In other words, the
church has no right to know how much money anybody gives to the
church. But what about this: how do church leaders plan as well
as underwrite their program, ministry and facility needs, if
they don’t have some idea what they can expect to receive from
their churchfolk? It’s a pickle, indeed!
So, we at Church on the Journey have come
up with a way to “reconnect” this disconnect. Every JourneyFolk
family or participant receives two Stewardship Covenant Cards.
One is to keep at home. The other one is for you to mail back
to the church’s post office box. When you look at these cards
you might notice something different—there’s no place for your
name on these cards. That’s right—we don’t want to know your
name! We just want a card with a dollar amount to help us
faithfully plan and fund ministry. Your stewardship practice
remains between you and God. That’s the purpose of the card you
keep—it serves as a daily reminder of your personal financial
commitment to God in forwarding the cause of Christ through
Church on the Journey.
So all you have to do is fill in your
pledge amount on the card, stuff it in envelope and mail it.
The rest is between you and God . . . and we like it that way!
