Stewardship as a Way of Life

God’s mission and the means to sustain it belong to God.

The scriptures teach that our worldly possessions are given to us by God, and that we are responsible for managing them well for the purpose of participating in God’s mission in the world. The biblical understanding of a servant ministry of stewardship is being ’servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God’. Stewardship stands at the very center of Christian identity, both for congregations as communities and for individual Christians as disciples of Jesus. In Christ God has reconciled the world to himself. He has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. We are ambassadors for Christ.

2 Cor. 5:18-20

All this is from God , who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. NIV.

Congregations are corporate communities that assist God’s mission in a particular place and time. Congregations consist, not of members with rights and privileges, but rather of disciples who live out the full meaning of the gospel. A congregation is to do this both by nurturing its own life and by serving the needs of others in the larger community. To join a congregation is to respond to God’s call to join in God’s mission as a steward.

The primary responsibility of a congregation is to faithfully bear witness to the kingdom of God. Congregations must take the needs of their local community seriously when considering the stewardship of their resources. The first step is to become familiar with, and show a genuine interest in, the make-up and nature of their neighbourhood. This may involve going places and meeting people that are not within the common circle of their acquaintances. It would include understanding the circumstances of people with whom they may have very little in common in their daily lives.

Congregations stand at the center of God’s redemptive work in the world. We are to enact the reality of redemption in all of life within our own ministry and participate in God’s mission in the world as agents of reconciliation within the larger community.

More to think and pray about……

“Stewardship is not making the budget – it is a way of life for all of life”

• Stewardship is a way of life consistent with the way of the kingdom of God.
• Where is the kingdom of God not…in your stewardship practices?
• Where is the kingdom of God evident in your stewardship practices?

…to the glory of God!