EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER

The Stewardship Committee and You

As you have read in the newsletter the past few months, we have been introducing you to the duties and functions of various committees of Redeemer. I was asked during the July .Church Council meeting if I could write something about the Stewardship Committee. My first thought was, "What could I write about?" How many ways can you write about asking people to tithe to the church? I have always associated Stewardship with tithing to the church and completing pledge cards. I sort of missed the point.

Stewardship is about managing, managing the resources and gifts that each of us has been given. All of us are given different gifts. We all share a common resource. The resource given to each and every one of us is time. There are 24 hours in a day for all people, rich or poor, young or old. What we make of that time is up to us. How we use our time can say a lot about our stewardship with God. How we manage and use our gifts says a lot about our stewardship.

Stewardship is based on a relationship, a relationship between a master or owner of a resource and a steward who is charged with managing that resource and will one day be held accountable for the management of that resource.

The resources I am talking about are the gifts we each receive from God. We all receive different gifts from God. These may be a special talent or a resource that others may not have. We all have a responsibility to God to manage our gifts to the best of our ability and for the glory of God.

With our management of these gifts we accumulate wealth. This wealth may be money, but is much more than that. It is the talent we develop, the skills we increase, the friends and families we have and the love and sharing we do. Your gifts may be working with your hands, your voice, your mind or the love you can express to others. God gives you the gifts. The reward you receive from using them is your wealth.

Stewardship is about pledging, but it's not just about money. It is about each and every one of us and how we manage the wealth god has given us. We often think of . wealth as money and yet that is only a product of wealth. God does not give us money,

but he gives us time and gifts and allows us to manage them. How we manage them and what we give back to God is directly related to your stewardship.

We may think we worked hard for what we have and deserve the right to own and keep it. The fundamental principle of biblical stewardship, if fact the fundamental principle of Christianity, is that we own nothing. God owns everything and we are simply managers. The Bible says, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. ' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deuteronomy 8: 17 -18).

What does the Stewardship Committee have to do with this? The Stewardship Committee is responsible for helping Redeemer manage our resources. Our duty is to provide ways for others to share their wealth in service to God. We help discover Redeemer's resources and use them to the best of our ability to serve God. Part of the Stewardship Committee's job is to match resources to support Redeemer and our service to God. Each and every one of you is part of this committee in the fact that you have a special talent or God-given gift. My job as committee chair is to discover these gifts and help all of us use them to serve God.

Over the next few months we will work together to discover what gifts we have at Redeemer and how we can put these gifts together for the glory of God. Together we can all be better stewards in serving our Lord.

In service to our Lord,

Rob Work, Stewardship Committee Chair

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105