“Stewardship” emphasis is about vocation and serving the people around you according to the roles God has given you in life.
An understanding of stewardship is broader than dealing only with money. Stewardship Is about using all that God has given to us according to the vocations that He has placed us in.
The wider view of looking at stewardship through vocation not only includes finances but also managing our time, gifts, skills and whatever else the Lord has given us.
When stewardship is the only aspect of vocation that is ever mentioned, and then it is only at budget planning time, the people understandably connect stewardship with money and never develop a mature attitude toward their vocations. Planning a year-round stewardship and vocation emphasis can help you mature as stewards of God’s varied grace in every area of life.
Put Vocation in First Place
The famous or infamous three T’s of stewardship pretty well knows: time, talent and treasure. If we wanted to, we could think of many other “T’s of stewardship” (tissue – the care of our bodies; trash – the care of God’s creation; team – our working together with others in all settings; tune – using our voices and musical abilities to bless others). It’s all in the Lutheran Doctrine of Vocation.
The word vocation means ‘calling’, God’s calling, God calls us through Baptism to be His Christians. Through marriage, God calls us to be husbands and wives. If the Lord blesses us with children, He calls us to be parents. Each of these callings, these vocations, calls us to service. God runs the world by using men and women as His instruments. God blesses children by giving them faithful parents to raise them. God blesses the whole world through the work of His Church – a work that all the baptized have a role in.
You can see how it relates to the financial aspect of stewardship. Each of our vocations has a claim on us – every part of us: our time, our money, our prayers, our concern and so on. A father who gave away his whole income to the church would not be a faithful father. His vocation as father means that he must use that income to raise his kids. Likewise, a Christian who gives but a pittance toward the Word and Sacrament ministry of the church is being unfaithful in his vocation as Christian. That vocation also has a claim on his generosity.
Stewardship Chairperson