Congregational Stewardship
Generosity is grounded in a real sense of gratitude, says Rev. Scott McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Horizons Stewardship Company. He saw it firsthand on a mission service trip to Malawi, in the midst of a famine there. The villagers they had helped – themselves on the edge of starvation – danced and sang and…
Read MoreWritten for Voices and Silences, 2003 Grace, Giftedness, Giving and Growth – these four words, from Clif Christopher and Herb Mather’s book, Holy Smoke!, prompted me to reflect on these themes in my life. For me, they flow in a cycle, a deepening spiral, which begins and ends with God’s grace. From God’s side, it’s…
Read MoreWritten for the General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church, 2010 Stewardship is whatever we do with what God has entrusted to us by the way that we live. In response to God’s outpouring love and covenant faithfulness, we live out of God’s abundance instead of the illusion of scarcity thinking. We seek to…
Read MoreJune fifth is coming up soon – World Environment Day. And boy, do we have a lot of issues to address! But one essential dimension of our impact on the environment that calls out right now is what we choose to eat. “Clean eating” is a phrase that’s becoming popular in some circles these days.…
Read More“Our soul is our true self, the essence of who we are, seeking to grow more and more into the image of God,” says Growing Generous Souls,1 pondering Genesis 1:26-27. But what is the image of God? Beyond that book’s couple of paragraphs, here are a few further reflections. Some renowned Bible scholars confirm the…
Read MoreWhat Jesus said and did in the Gospels are signs of who he is. But how do we apply that to who we are in Christ? Where else can we turn to find additional guidance about who we are because of Christ’s work in our lives? Colossians 3:8-17 can help us see the shape of…
Read MoreWhat Jesus said and did in the Gospels are signs of who he is. But how do we apply that to who we are in Christ? Where else can we turn to find additional guidance about who we are because of Christ’s work in our lives? Colossians 3:8-17 can help us see the shape of…
Read MoreWritten for Giving magazine, Vol. 20 By the Ecumenical Stewardship Center Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving By Stephen Post and Jill Neimark “Giving is good medicine,” say Stephen Post and Jill Neimark, authors of Why Good Things Happen to…
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