John Wesley’s Simple Rules for Money

James A. Harnish, Abingdon Press, 2009 Written for the “Live Simply” (2016) issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation published with permission In Simple Rules for Money, James Harnish offers Methodist founder John Wesley’s guidelines for financial living, still strikingly appropriate for us today. “Wesley’s rules are not about fund-raising for the church,”…

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What’s in a Box

Inspiration can come in some surprising forms. An article in the January-February 2016 issue of Smithsonian left a lump in my throat. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen archaeological finds in seminary, so I was pleased to see pictures of Galilean treasures unearthed in recent years. One item is particularly intriguing: a quartzite…

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A Generous Eye

Jesus’ parable about the eye as the lamp of the body (Mt. 6:22-24) contrasts a healthy eye with an unhealthy one. The healthy eye illuminates the whole person, he says, whereas (as one commentator puts it) the unhealthy eye creates double vision, making the entire person “full of darkness.” Double vision – that’s a powerful…

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A New Look at Hebrews

What are rituals, anyway? My Quaker husband uses that term for symbolic outward actions in worship. I prefer the United Methodist description of sacraments: “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” This is true when we prepare ourselves for worship, anyway: for Holy Communion or baptism, or really any time we…

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Cosmic Pentecost

Today is Pentecost, when we celebrate the living presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. For years, I used to describe Acts 2 as when God sent the Holy Spirit among us. But God is the Holy Spirit as clearly as God is the Creator and the Redeemer. And the Holy Spirit has been…

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Coming Alongside

In the bad old days, cowboys used to “break” horses by using pain to force them into accepting a rider and multiple restraints. Some people still do that to horses. But domination does not produce trust, and horses that have been taught through pain will see the rider as a predator and will always want…

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Wesley’s Four Corners

What a gift it is to be part of a denomination that does not require assent to a single doctrinal statement! I love how John Wesley’s quadrilateral (Scripture, tradition, reason and experience) can work together as each person thinks through his or her personal theology. I talk about it like four tent pegs holding down…

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Epiphany

The worship season of “Epiphany” emphasizes the ways God’s being and presence are “manifest” or revealed in our lives. We think particularly of Jesus Christ himself as showing us Who God is. But there are countless other expressions of God, as well, including the Scriptures, all of creation, and evidence of the Holy Spirit’s actions…

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Free of Charge

If you love digging into serious theology, this book is for you! It is Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, by Miroslav Volf (2005: Zondervan). Miroslav Volf is not lightweight: Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. At the…

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Extravagant Generosity – Fun and Faithful Scriptures

Extravagant Generosity Based upon: our extravagantly generous God, the Giver of every good gift, the Source of life and love! (Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, pp. 108-9) A Congregation that Practices Extravagant Generosity: 1. Thrives with the joy of abundance instead of the fear of scarcity 2. Encourages members to grow in the grace of giving…

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Saying God’s Name

Words can shape our reality by forming the way we think about ourselves, the world, and even God. I have known and said that all my life, insisting on gender-inclusive words for people and for God. But this week that truth took a step deeper into my soul. Ever since my first Old Testament course…

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Full Disclosure on the Bible and Financial Giving

Herb Miller, nationally known author of the “Consecration Sunday” annual stewardship program and syndicated columnist, now has gone back to the source, giving us a much-needed resource: Full Disclosure: Everything the Bible Says About Financial Giving (Discipleship Resources, 2003). This book is not meant primarily for the academic student, but rather for someone who wants…

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Blessings to Share

“And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work!” (2 Cor. 9:8) “The One Who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest…

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Covenant Prayer by John Wesley

I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt; rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing; put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee. Let me be full; let me be empty.…

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Stewardship Ministry

SERVING THE NEEDS OF LEADERS IN FOUNDATIONAL CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: STEWARDSHIP MINISTRY What would it look like to lead a congregation of joyful, generous gospel stewards? Stewardship is what we do with what God has entrusted to us. Vibrant Christian stewardship includes what we do on God’s behalf in our relationships; use of time, skills, abilities,…

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