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It’s time for the “giving” talk again. Maybe it’s the annual “stewardship campaign”. Or maybe it’s a capital project for a new building or a special fundraiser for a new program. Whatever the case, most pastors aren’t comfortable giving this talk. And most congregations aren’t comfortable hearing it.
But a large part of this discomfort comes as a result of equating stewardship with giving. Stewardship is much broader than giving. It encompasses all that we do with our finances – indeed, all that we do with our lives, including our time, our relationships, our resources, our labor, and much more.
Stewardship is all about discipleship. So when we empower our congregations to live lives of God-honoring stewardship, we’re enabling spiritual growth. But when we separate out the giving discussion, it becomes all about what we want from our people, not what we want for them.
Believers are wired to be generous. God created us in his image, and He’s a generous God. But the messages of our culture confuse our thinking and create obstacles to generosity. Giving becomes something we do after all the bills are paid, if anything is left over – rather than our top priority. We see ourselves as the source of all that we have and we think of ourselves as owners rather than as stewards managing the Master’s resources. This is why we must approach the conversation about stewardship holistically, not in the narrow sense of giving.
Join us for this important podcast episode as host and author James Lenhoff unpacks the importance of framing up generosity in a context of stewardship. Learn why giving is not first and foremost about the needs of the church – it’s first and foremost about the heart of the believer. And discover how to unlock generosity in your congregation through focusing on discipleship.