Rev. Stacy Emerson, ABCUSA Stewardship Facilitator, reflects on stewardship below. We invite you to tell us more about how your congregation talks about stewardship—what are your challenges and what do you celebrate? Fill out our short survey here.
In our churches, we tend to have very particular kinds of conversations around stewardship. Often, it’s only mentioned one season of the year—budget season. And then we tend to focus on what we don’t have. We don’t have enough money. We don’t have enough volunteers. We don’t have enough members. And our stewardship campaign becomes a desperate cry for help. How can we begin to re-frame this conversation? How can we turn the tide from desperation to celebration? Stewardship is about belief—believing in God’s abundant provision, believing in God’s call for us to care for each other and the earth, believing God is generous and has created us so in his image. Stewardship is about behavior and practice—how we respond to God’s blessing, how we answer God’s call, and how we can share in generosity as God has shared with us. Re-framing the conversation starts with shifting the focus from us—our wants, our needs, our lacking—to God—the source of life, abundance, and love. May the Spirit of our abundant God be with you as nurture generosity in your life, your family, your congregation, and community!
Grace and peace to you,
Rev. Stacy Emerson
ABCUSA Stewardship Facilitator