CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP

A Statement from The Office of the President
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
1333 South Kirkwood Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63122
United States of America

I would like to take a little time to visit with you concerning the topic of stewardship, and specifically the subject of helping the members of our congregations grow in their lives of Christian stewardship. The reason I am making a point of this is because of a growing concern that I have in this connection. Simply put, I am concerned by the fact that an increasing number of our congregations are apparently no longer having an annual stewardship emphasis. Now, before you simply turn me off, please read on so I can share with you the gist of my concerns in regard to stewardship.

When I was yet a parish pastor, not a year went by that we as a congregation did not have our annual stewardship emphasis. Usually, it came in the fall. The purpose of these stewardship emphases was to review with my people those very basic truths which the Scripture teach us when it comes to the stewardship of all that we are and all that we have. I have to give credit to the senior pastor where I began my ministry. He really helped me understand why this was an important emphasis and got me headed in the right direction on this issue. I can still hear him saying, "If we were not to have such an emphasis, Al, we would be doing our people a great disservice." At first I thought this was merely a pious thought, but the more I watched what happened in this connection, and the more I did this myself once I had moved on to my own congregation, the more I recognized that his comment was absolutely true.

Unfortunately, when many people hear the word "stewardship," and being good stewards of our lives and all that we are, all they seem to hear is the word "money." Unfortunately, Satan has done a pretty good number on us in this connection. The way of correcting this misconception is not by surrendering to Satan's lying deceptions, but instead making it a very genuine point to discuss the topic of stewardship with our people on the basis of the Word. Let me repeat that — on the basis of the Word.

Now, in saying this, I am not implying that stewardship has nothing to do with money and all the many earthly gifts with which the Lord has so generously blessed us. Yes, God does expect us to be good and faithful stewards of all these gifts also. Likewise, He expects us as pastors, full-time church workers, and lay leaders to help our people develop still better and better attitudes about stewardship. When it comes to an on-going annual stewardship emphasis at the congregational level, we do also need to help our people develop better and more joyous attitudes and understandings when it comes to Christian stewardship.

Having said this, let me say that a God-pleasing life of Christian stewardship is not limited just to finances. Annual stewardship emphases need to be much more than a "how-to-separate-our-people- from-their money" emphasis. Martin Luther liked to say, "The last part of a person to be converted is his wallet!" I think he was making a really significant point. How we manage our finances will reflect our understanding of and appreciation for how much God has done for us in our lives. St. Paul described our attitudes toward God's gifts in this way, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). He made this point in the midst of encouraging the Corinthians to contribute generously to the work of the church elsewhere. The key point here is St. Paul's emphasis first on what Christ has done—very much a Gospel and Christ-centered approach to stewardship. This too must always mark our stewardship efforts.

I have always appreciated the stewardship book that was prepared a number of years ago by R. C. Rein titled, Adventures in Christian Stewardship. Rein covers the whole subject of stewardship, not merely devoting his attention toward raising funds for projects. He discusses stewardship of life, body and mind, time, talents, treasures and stewardship of the Gospel itself. After reviewing how God first intended life to be on earth, Rein explains how through sin man- kind lost this original righteousness from God. Through Christ the Christian is reborn and recreated to again serve God. Here is how Rein explains it:

"I live to fulfill God's purpose for me. I live to do the will of Him who created me for His praise and who redeemed me through Christ that I might forever be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. I live, not unto myself, but unto Him who died for me and rose again (2 Cor. 5:15). All that I am and have and receive, and all that I hope to be in eternity, I owe to Him. As a Christian I look upon my life as a sacred trust. I am only a steward, a custodian and keeper of it. I must safeguard it as a priceless treasure. My body and soul, my talents and powers, my time, my earthly possessions—everything I have belongs to God. I am to use it all properly and profitably to accomplish God's purpose in my own life and to help in accomplishing God's purpose in the lives of others. In thus losing my life for His sake I have found my true life in Him and through Him, and with Him I will live forever in the world to come (Matt. 16:25)."

This is a powerful way of present- ing what stewardship is really all about. Throughout his book Rein is constantly referring the reader back to the Word of God as he discusses the various aspects of stewardship. He again and again grounds his discussion in God's promises, an approach we too need always to follow as we discuss stewardship with our people. The key point to be made is that "Christian stewardship" is not just about money. In fact, I would be so bold as to suggest that the giving of money is merely an outcome of a proper stewardship perspective. If all we do as a Synod, and as a congregation, is talk about giving money, we will have made a very serious error. The more we discuss Christian stewardship in this very limited way, the more we will increase the church's difficulty to receive the money it really needs to do its work.

Christians recognize that all things they possess, including their money, is not simply theirs to do with as they please. All that we have and all that we are is a blessing from God, to be used in accordance with His good and gracious will for us. Thus we read in the Scripture statements such as these: "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts (Hag. 2:8). "The land is mine" (Lev. 25:23). "All the beasts of the forest are mine...and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 50:10-12). St. Paul wrote, "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Tim. 6:7). All that we have, and all that we are, is a gift from God.

Again, Rein: "God gives us daily and richly all that we need to support this body and life. As His redeemed children in and through Jesus Christ, He daily and richly forgives us all sins, and daily and richly blesses us with all spiritual blessings" (Eph. 1:3). All that we are, all that we have, and all that we receive, comes from Him.

Often, as I travel around the Synod, I hear people saying, "What we really need as a church body is to get back to the basic Biblical principles of stewardship and stop this confounded fund raising/money raising approach. We need to focus on raising up good Christian stewards, as opposed simply to raising money." To this I say, "Yes and Amen." So let's get to work and start once again to make a very genuine effort to help our people understand what the life of Christian stewardship is all about.

Every now and then people ask, "Do we really need an annual stewardship emphasis?" I would like to answer that question with an illustration. Twice a year I go to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned and checked, as I am sure many of you do as well. Every year when the dental hygienist is finished cleaning my teeth she once again reviews with me the proper way in which to brush one's teeth. After all these years, you would think I would pretty much know all of this already. But every time, she still reviews with me step-by-step the proper approach for brushing my teeth, and every year I leave recognizing that I needed that review once again.

So also with stewardship principles. A similar annual "check up" is also very much in place when it comes to Christian stewardship. It will help our people examine their own personal stewardship attitudes and life. It will also strengthen them as believers in the great things God has done for them. I believe that it is very much a necessity that our congregations emphasize the practice and teaching of Christian stewardship at least annually in their congregations. With the emphasis on the Christian's response to all that God has given him and done for him through Jesus Christ, our stewardship programs will surely be a blessing to many. If, on the other hand, we attempt to mimic the secular methods of raising money, through emotional appeals based on nothing more than human sentiment, we will have turned the theme of stewardship into a manipulative process of extracting dollars from our people. This is what we do not want to do. Thanks be to God that we have a much better way, the way laid out for us by the Lord Himself in Holy Scripture.

You no doubt will recall the parable our Lord told about the wealthy man who left three of his servants in charge of varying amounts of money when he left. Two put the money to good use, but one simply buried it in the ground and did nothing. When the master returned he was displeased to learn that one of his servants had done absolutely nothing with the treasure he was given to manage. The other two heard their master's praise for being good stewards of the gifts that they had been given. We too have been given great and wonderful treasures, from our Lord. He too is providing us with the opportunity to reflect our love for Him and our thanks to Him in the manner in which we manage the gifts He has entrusted to us.

So, again, just a word of encouragement to our congregations that they make a real effort at providing an annual opportunity for our people to examine how they are conducting themselves as Christian stewards, explaining and describing once again the Biblical principles in regard to the same and offering them encouragement in their lives as Christian stewards.

There will be a special insert in the September issue of The Reporter that will highlight our Synod's work and the need for our support of that work. I would like to encourage you to give this report your prime attention.