Misconceptions about Christian Stewardship
Ten of the more popular misconceptions about Stewardship.
- “We only embark on a Stewardship Campaign when the Treasurer says we are short of money”.
Comment. This is to carry out Stewardship for entirely the wrong reasons. It presupposes that all we have to do is to balance the books and all will be well. This is short sighted and bears no relationship at all to the Christian doctrine on Stewardship that is highlighted on the page headed what the Bible says about Christian Giving. - “I really can’t preach to my congregation about giving more as I know that they are giving up to the hilt already”.
Comment. Firstly how do you know that? And secondly if you are preaching a message which says GIVE MORE, that again is a wrong approach. There is a world of difference between asking the congregation to review their giving according to Christian principles, and asking them to give more. - “I spend a great deal of time mowing the churchyard, so I am giving my time to the church in place of money”.
Comment. We know that a great deal does get done in the church by volunteers, but to suggest that one can avoid the financial requirements of the gospel in this way, is frankly a “cop-out”. In other words, ‘Time and Talents’ cannot be offered as a substitute for a financial commitment. - “Money is a dirty subject, and should not be talked about in church”.
Comment. There is some confusion here, in that while Jesus certainly threw the money changers out of the temple, he did on the other hand have a lot to say about personal wealth and possessions, amounting to one in three of his parables and one in six of all his recorded sayings. While we may abominate the material world and all the money oriented schemes and people in it, the fact of the matter is that we cannot live without money, we spend an awful lot of our time planning our finances, and it is 100% right that we allow Jesus to rule our pockets as he does our hearts. - “I object to preaching about Stewardship because they all know that what we as a parish have to pay is directly related to my stipend.”
Comment. This comes to much the same thing as in (1) above, where the reason for giving is stated to be to pay the parish share and balance the books. If we can break the link between paying parish share and giving to promote God’s Mission, we should be able to have enough money to advance God’s Mission in many different ways. - “I don’t mind paying for the hole in the church roof, but I do object to paying for them at Ely.”
Comment. (1) If this is a member of the worshipping congregation speaking, he or she has not taken the theology of Stewardship on board at all. (2) The phrase ‘them at Ely’ reveals a lack of understanding of the Diocesan Budget, where over 80% of the costs relate directly to clergy stipends. (3) The speaker clearly values the church building, and is a valuable contributor to the Fabric Fund. Do you make a clear distinction in your parish between giving for Mission (the responsibility of the worshipping congregation) and fundraising for Fabric (the responsibility of the wider community)? - “In a supermarket a £5 note is worth nothing: in church it is an enormous amount”.
Comment. This reveals another of the most extraordinary attitudes of church congregations to money. Why are we so fixed in our attitude as to what is the right amount to give? Does generosity fly out of the window when we think what to put in the collection bag? And it reveals most cogently the need to equate one’s giving to the value of things outside the church, which on analysis may not be worth more than a postage stamp or a cup of tea. Is that all God is worth? - “I just leave the leaflets at the back of the church, and let everyone get on with it.”
Comment. Because nothing happens until the congregation are presented with the necessary information to review their giving prayerfully, and asked to complete some form of pledge card. If this does not happen everyone will avoid the subject. - “What are the advantages and disadvantages of thinking in terms of percentages of our income, as in e.g. tithing?”
Comment. The danger of thinking in terms of a percentage is that you think of God as a taxman. Rather you should think of giving our all (see last verse of “When I survey the wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts), and what we give should be reasonable token of our all. While tithing is a respectable Old Testament practice, and a very good guide to check your giving, the danger of saying that we should give a certain percentage (as the General Synod does from time to time), which is say 5%, one half of the congregation will say I cannot get anywhere near that target, it is impossible, the other half will say if you only want 5%, I will bring my giving down to that level. - “We don’t believe in Stewardship: if we can’t balance the books we have a good fundraising campaign.”
Comment. This completely ignores responsibility of the Christian disciple to give back to God. Fundraising may be OK for the Fabric Fund (where members of the community will willingly contribute), but it is very unlikely that members of the community will give for what is in effect the cost of the vicar. In any case the Christian should be giving back to God to fund the Kingdom of God, not to balance the books.
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