IN 2004 Karana Downs Uniting Church was at a point where our income and funds would not meet our expenses – it was going to be crunch time for our congregation. We made that the theme of our stewardship program and handed out lots of Crunchie bars during the presentation in our worship service.
The presentation was so well received, both in response and tone, that we have continued with a chocolate bar theme every year since.
The themes in the following years have often been tenuous, even corny, but that did not matter, the chocolate lightens up a serious subject, and our people have responded well.
We are still building a new congregation and, at the time, we realised that to do that properly, we needed to grow our people as well as our church. Stewardship is a natural part of the life of a healthy church.
Most people see money as a scarce resource. Many have significant financial obligations and they juggle lots of competing demands for its use.
Stewardship is about the responsible use of all the resources with which we have been blessed and money is one of those resources.
Direct debiting should be promoted and encouraged in all our congregations. It makes well-intentioned givers into well disciplined givers. Most of our offering comes in this way now.
The challenge of stewardship is to inform, encourage and inspire, not coerce.
Stewardship is about the responsible use of all the resources with which we have been blessed and money is one of those resources.
Paul's letter to the Corinthians gives good instructions on Christian giving.
Paul writes about the wonderful example of the Macedonian Christians.
They gave generously, even though they were poor, they gave willingly, without pressure, and they gave in response to their love for Christ.
We have always given an opportunity for people to make a response on our Pledge Form to use their time, talents and gifts to participate in our Mission and Ministries (or M&Ms).
