As many of you know, in my retirement I’ve been preaching and teaching the past 12 years around the country for PATHWAY LUTHERAN MINISTRIES. This is a STEWARDSHIP and SPIRITUAL RENEWAL MINISTRY. Hence I do a lot of thinking about ‘BEING A STEWARD’… a caretaker.
It’s such a huge topic, that I’m convinced it will take a series of articles to cover it all. But for the time being, I’ll simply tell you of an experience I had more than 50 years ago that made a lasting impression.
I was a vicar (intern) at a church in Baltimore. (Seven years later I became pastor). One evening in a council meeting the discussion of financing a project was in full swing. Myron asked the classic question, “WHERE’S THE MONEY FOR THIS?”
Old Pastor Stiemke, seated at the other end of the board table responded: “That’s a good thought, but the wrong question. We all know where the money is. It’s HERE.”… and in a pregnant pause, he laid his wallet on the table… then he continued, “THE ONLY QUESTION LEFT IS HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET ME TO GIVE IT?”
“Rev.”, as we fondly called him was right. God has given His church all kinds of resources, INCLUDING MONEY. Those resources have been placed into OUR INDIVIDUAL HANDS. Our task is to encourage one another to USE THEM AS IF THEY BELONGED TO GOD… BECAUSE THEY DO… BUT HOW DO WE GO ABOUT THAT?
We’ll speak to that down the line, but somehow I think the answer is going to involve LOVE. For the time being, give serious thought to what Rev. Stiemke said so many years ago. We all know where the resource is. How do we encourage each other as people of God?