Betsy Schwarzentraub
Empowering Christians to become grateful, generous stewards of God’s grace
Worship and Christian Seasons
Worship is the heartbeat of the people whom God calls through Jesus Christ. It takes place whenever and wherever "two or three are gathered in [Christ's] name." This is true. But worship is also the fabric we are meant to weave in our daily personal lives, whether by the worship season or by the hour of each day or night.
What happens when a pandemic keeps people from coming together in person for months on end? Can they tap into the ancient pattern of worship focus given to us through the Christian seasons? Millions of Christians today have never heard of these seasons, much less about daily hours devoted to different times in Jesus' life. Betsy's newest book, Tossed In Time: Steering by the Christian Seasons, describes the seasons and offers personal questions for reflection and activities in the home to celebrate their importance.
An ordained minister in the California-Nevada Conference since the 1970s, Betsy has pastored multiple congregations. Since that time she has experienced the deep connection that can overlap between personal spiritual experience and communal worship, when people come together to return God's love and remember God's invitation to empower compassion and justice in the world.
Stewardship and Generosity
Rev. Dr. Betsy Schwarzentraub is an award-winning stewardship educator, and author of three books on stewardship: Growing Generous Souls: Developing Grace-Filled Stewards, as well as Afire With God: Becoming Spirited Stewards and the 2012-2016 United Methodist Guideline, Stewardship: Nurturing Generous Living.
Betsy has been a stewardship and generosity consultant, and has coordinated and resourced national Stewardship Gatherings for The United Methodist Church, for stewardship professionals across North America. She was the Conference Director of Stewardship for the California-Nevada United Methodist Foundation for ten years, then became their Stewardship Consultant. She also represented The United Methodist Church on the Board of Directors of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (for denominations in the U.S. and Canada) as well as on ESC's Resource Editorial Team.
Betsy has been active in the National Association of United Methodist Foundations, and has served as a nationwide consultant and speaker. Before retiring she also served as Director of Stewardship for the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.
About The Author...
Betsy Schwarzentraub is a minister, consultant, and writer in the field of worship and stewardship. With more than thirty-six years as a local church pastor and stewardship professional, she invites church leaders and inquiring individuals to embrace a generous way of being that reflects our true, God-given identity.
Rev. Dr. Betsy Schwarzentraub is the author of Tossed In Time: Steering by the Christian Seasons, Growing Generous Souls: Becoming Grace-Filled Stewards, Afire With God: Becoming Spirited Stewards, and the 2012-2016 United Methodist Guidelines book, Stewardship: Nurturing Generous Living. She has been a minister, writer and national consultant on worship, stewardship and generosity.
After years of serving congregations as a pastor, she came to a deep passion for stewardship and sought to teach it on a wider canvas. She has served as the Director of Stewardship for the General Board of Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church and worked directly with congregations as Director of Stewardship in California and Nevada for more than a decade.
From experiences through the pandemic and following months, she has returned to the importance of the Christian worship seasons and the Canonical Hours (Daily Office) to help us find our essential bearings in time once more.
Betsy received her Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological School in San Anselmo and her Masters of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. She and her husband are proud parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. They live just south of Sacramento.