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Year-Round Stewardship
“It is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” I Corinthians 4:2
PURPOSE STATEMENT
To design and implement a year-round stewardship program that is integrated into the total spiritual life and practice of members and friends of the congregation.
To design and implement a year-round stewardship program that is integrated into the total spiritual life and practice of members and friends of the congregation.
RATIONALE
Scripture reminds us when we have become “new creatures in Christ” we are becoming the people God created us to be. This new life in Christ means transformation of the entire person and requires a totally new lifestyle. In I Corinthians 4:2 Paul calls the new born “stewards”, stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward is identified by his or her faithfulness. Faithfulness means a commitment to a lifestyle that celebrates that we have been created by God. Therefore, what we have and are belongs to God. Each of us is to serve in ways that reflect who God is and what God calls us to be. By naming it is a lifestyle, we integrate stewardship into the total life of the congregation programmatically throughout the year.
Scripture reminds us when we have become “new creatures in Christ” we are becoming the people God created us to be. This new life in Christ means transformation of the entire person and requires a totally new lifestyle. In I Corinthians 4:2 Paul calls the new born “stewards”, stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward is identified by his or her faithfulness. Faithfulness means a commitment to a lifestyle that celebrates that we have been created by God. Therefore, what we have and are belongs to God. Each of us is to serve in ways that reflect who God is and what God calls us to be. By naming it is a lifestyle, we integrate stewardship into the total life of the congregation programmatically throughout the year.
DESIGN COMPONENTS
- Monthly stewardship celebration, marking the anniversary of each person’s or family’s membership or participation in the congregation.
- Honoring and rededication in worship.
- Submission of an estimate of giving card in worship.
- Time and talent survey completed by honorees.
- Special recognition of those marking particular anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20, etc. years).
- Meal honoring and celebrating honorees (perhaps between worship services).
- Special multiple awards for creative, new, or long standing ministries.
- Prayer Ministry Team that prays for the people to be honored and celebrated.
- Twelve Ministry Care Teams track and respond to special needs of honorees.
- Receive new members and baptize on the same Sunday.
- Encouraging Faithful Stewardship
- Guardians of God’s Creation: Identify current or new lifestyle (stewardship) ministries and/or programs which preserve, restore, conserve, and celebrate the goodness of God’s creation.
- Faithfulness in sharing our financial resources: Promote tithing as a biblical guide for giving and a spiritual discipline.
- Faithfulness in ministry: Identify and engage special gifts for ministry in and beyond the local church for all persons.
- Faithfulness in prayer: Emphasize and teach about the importance of a disciplined and active prayer life both for individuals and the congregation.
- Faithfulness in worship and nurture: Plan and implement worship experiences that are meaningful to all ages and are faithful to Wesleyan understanding of the purpose of worship.