Teaching Stewardship Lifestyle
Daniel Conway, President and CEO of Mission Advancement Services, explains that church leaders frequently ask him, “What are the most important things we need to do to teach stewardship as a way of life? According to Conway, there are five principles that should be observed in all our stewardship education activities:
Make stewardship education a top priority. The U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, makes it clear. For baptized Christians who seek to follow Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option. It is essential to living our faith on a day-to-day basis. The same can be said for parishes and dioceses. Stewardship is not an option. It is essential to the growth-in-faith of parish communities, of the diocesan church and of the Universal Church. If this is true, then stewardship education (the task of growing stewards) must truly be a top priority.
Keep in mind that teaching stewardship is a lifelong process. We are impatient for results. We want stewardship now! But it doesn’t work that way. While it’s true that some people have an overnight conversion experience, the vast majority of us learn to be Christian stewards gradually. We may accept the basic principles of stewardship intellectually, but putting them into practice is the work of a lifetime. We become good stewards through repeated acts of generosity, sharing, accountability and “giving back to the Lord with increase” over an entire lifetime. Parishes and dioceses should begin the stewardship journey now, but they should not expect dramatic results for a generation or more.
Adopt a comprehensive approach. If we only talk about stewardship once a year (on Stewardship Sunday), parishioners will only think about stewardship once a year. And they will almost certainly equate it with the Sunday collection. We need to find appropriate ways to teach stewardship constantly – and to make every Sunday a Stewardship Sunday! Obviously, we can’t talk about time, talent and treasure every weekend. But we can find appropriate ways to encourage one another to be grateful, responsible and generous in our homes, at work and in our service to the Church and to the communities we live in. A narrow approach to stewardship education brings limited results, but a more comprehensive approach can help us to integrate stewardship principles into all aspects of our lives.
Provide witness through prayer, reflection on stewardship themes, and personal commitment. Christian stewardship is a form of spirituality. It is a way of living the Gospel in an affluent, consumer-oriented culture. It is a way of following Jesus that is particularly suited to life in the 21st century. Responsible stewardship begins with prayerful discernment: Lord, what do you want me to do with all the gifts and talents you have given me? We grow as stewards by meditating on the inspiring and poetic messages of the bishops’ pastoral. Above all, we must begin on the stewardship journey by making a commitment and taking the first steps.
Go, sell what you have; give it to the poor; and come follow me. Each of us has received this personal invitation from the Lord. If we choose to follow Him, stewardship is not an option. We must respond in faith. How do we sell what we have and give it to the poor? Some are called to radical vows of poverty. All are called to acknowledge God as the true owner of everything we possess. We give away everything by accepting our role as stewards. When we begin the stewardship journey (which is nothing more or less than the Way of the Cross), we commit ourselves to lives of responsible service and generous sharing.
