What's stewardship?

A few years ago I was working with a pastor search committee to help them begin the process of searching for a pastor.  When we began to discuss the compensation package the committee chair apologized for how poor it was but explained the church had been having financial problems.  I explained that churches normally do not have money problems, but they have vision problems and/or they have stewardship problems.  I asked the committee how long it had been since any stewardship education had been done in the church.  The committee chair looked at me and asked, "What's stewardship?"  I responded, "You just answered my question." 

I'm afraid too many people in our churches could ask that same question because a lot of our churches are unwilling to teach biblical stewardship principles to its members.  In fact, I've had pastors tell me they are forbidden by their church boards to say anything about stewardship.  It is often these very churches that struggle so much with money issues.  For most churches, money issues is a symptom, not the problem.  The problem is a lack of vision (people will only give so much to pay the utility bills, but they will give to a vision in which they have ownership) or there is a lack of stewardship training (people don't know to give and why they should give.)

Another of the churches I serve is doing a Consecration Sunday next month as a way to teach stewardship to its members.  I've been invited to be the outside speaker which requires me to lead two training/encouraging sessions to the team leading this and speak at the Consecration Sunday.  We've already had the first team session, and I'll lead the second session this Saturday.  Consecration Sunday will be held the following Sunday.

What makes Consecration Sunday such a positive experience is that it is not about raising money to meet the church budget.  It is about teaching giving from a biblical perspective and asking the question, "What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?"  All the weeks leading up to the Consecration Sunday and the day itself stresses the spiritual growth benefits of asking that question.  It is about discipleship, not raising money.  The program is based on the book by Herb Miller entitled New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program with Guest Leader Guide & CD-ROM: Revised Edition.  This is the first time I've led this program, and I must say I am very impressed with how detailed the book lays out everyone's responsibilities.

I'm also impressed that this church is willing to use a program like this.  This is the first time in years, if ever, that this church has done such in-depth, intentional stewardship training.  They are going about it in a positive, healthy way and following the program the way it is laid out.  I think they will be very successful and it will prove to be a valuable learning experience for the entire congregation.

The fall of the year is when most churches begin preparing their budgets.  For many, it is a time of deep concern as they look at their giving patterns in recent years and realize they cannot continue to fund everything at the same levels as before.  I'm already hearing from some pastors that their church is cutting staff and taking a hard look at the benefit packages they offer.  One pastor has told me their new budget has cut virtually everything it can before impacting him, so he knows any further cuts will reduce his salary and/or benefits.

As some of you know, for several years our family owned a small business.  When the economy began to tank it affected our business like many others.  We cut and cut trying to stay open, but eventually we had to close.  It was a very difficult and painful decision.  One of the many lessons I learned from that experience was that an organization can only cut expenses so far before it can no longer operate.  To do well the organization must find ways to increase revenue.  Too many of our churches have not learned this.  They continue to see their giving patterns decrease so they think the only thing they can do is to reduce expenses.  However, eventually reducing expenses also means that ministry is reduced as well, and the church finds itself in a downward spiral.

I would suggest that a church would be much better off to seek a compelling ministry vision from God and begin regular discipleship training that includes biblical stewardship training.  Consecration Sunday appears to be one good option, but most denominations have stewardship training programs available for their churches.  Many of these are developed for specific size churches so smaller churches are not merely trying to make something designed for a much larger congregation work in their church.

What is your plan to offer stewardship training to your congregation this fall or in 2014?  Your discipleship training will be incomplete if you do not include teaching about biblical stewardship.