Faithful stewardship:
A spiritual discipline

Faithful stewardship requires that the conversation about wealth, peril, and obligation be an on-going, year-round conversation. Yet many Disciples churches scramble to find resources and stories to conduct their fall stewardship campaigns. Faithful stewardship is a spiritual discipline that cannot be developed in a mere four-week campaign. However, given that this is where many of our congregations find themselves, here are a few thoughts to consider.

The basic premise of stewardship requires the children of God to accept and live out the understanding that God desires wholeness for our lives. Often times in our fragmented world and fragmented lives, the concept of wholeness seems unattainable and the thought of giving more of ourselves only seems to fragment us further. Wholeness, however, begins with an understanding that God has provided for us in a generous, faithful, and abundant means and only asks of us a small portion in return. A theology of abundance does not allow us to see what great percentage God expects in return, but instead gives testimony to the lavishness of God in what God provides to sustain all humankind. Ironically, there is limited space to address abundance in this issue of the Advocate, but at its core, abundance theology directs us to an understanding that indeed there is enough for all and requires more of us than hoarding or holding but giving and sharing. A theology of abundance inspires us to be faithful and generous.

There are many great resources to assist congregations in this conversation. Two resources are www.stewardshipresources.org and the stewardship section of www.churchfinancecouncil.org. In particular, the resources on the CFC Web site are helpful in beginning to address the stewardship conversation in your church from the "50 Ways" series of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Use these resources to guide your church's conversation about abundance and recognize that first we have received in order that we might give.

The Rev. Todd Adams is the associate general minister and vice-president for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).