Vicki Nelson challenges us to see the discipleship building that happens through stewardship, which is its own spiritual practice.
As a stewardship person, I am focused on the holy work of generosity. This means I look at giving information; I look at how people choose to support a congregation; and I think about gratitude and how people may be best invited to engage in the spiritual practice of giving. I do this work with a number of congregations, and I almost never look at their budgets.
Don’t get me wrong: I think that treasurers and trustees are also engaged in holy work, but I don’t love how stewardship ends up getting bound up and confused with financial management. Stewardship is really part of discipleship formation, and I would rather see it bound up and confused with prayer or justice work, but alas….
Too often, stewardship teams are also caught in this net of making sure the budget balances, instead of educating and inspiring people for the joyful, faith-filled act of sharing themselves and their resources with a community of faith. Their work is often judged by the ledger or the bottom line, and not whether the community has a rich culture of gratitude, or whether individuals and families are thinking about their whole lives and how they share themselves in acts of service and Kindom building.
And because this judgement and pressure for “results” exists—however quiet it may be—stewardship teams get sucked into fundraising work. They spend time planning events, or doing appeals for specific projects, or even focusing on attracting renters into the building. To be clear, none of this work is bad, and in most contexts it is indeed essential, but it isn’t building disciples. It isn’t helping people grow in their faith and push their growth outside of one hour on Sundays into a life that gratefully sees God’s abundance and faithfully responds.
And it is funny that the ministry of stewardship is treated this way, when no other aspects of discipleship building are held to the same accounting. The essential work of justice and peace that happens in our churches is not considered failing, even though there are still wars, even though the evils of White supremacy exist. No one doubts the importance of their work or its validity. We don’t use attendance to determine if the worship was meaningful, and we don’t make financial decisions based on whether people are heeding what worship leaders are saying in their sermon. Instead, we know that Spirit is at work, through worship, outreach, pastoral care, community partnerships, prayer, studies groups, and more.
I want to challenge all of us to see the discipleship building that is happening in stewardship work in the same light as all these areas of church life. When stewardship committees tell inspiring stories about the work of the church, when they express gratitude and delight at how people are Kindom building, and when they invite people to consider a generous response, they are building disciples, NOT fundraising. Inviting generosity is not a means to an end, a necessary evil so that we can pay the bills—it is wholly its own spiritual practice.
When we uncouple conversations about money from the needs of the church--as a building or as an institution—and instead focus on ministry and mission, we are freeing stewardship committees to ignore the budget (or at least not feel haunted by it) and instead focus on the faith lives of individuals and growing the impact of the community of faith. So, if you are in church leadership, I am giving you permission to help your stewardship team take a breath, stop worrying, teach discipleship—and ignore the budget.
—Vicki Nelson, Community of Faith Stewardship Support for Pacific Mountain, Chinook Winds, Northern Spirit, Living Skies and Prairie to Pine Regions of The United Church of Canada
The views contained within these blogs are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of The United Church of Canada.