Practical Programming

Today’s blog includes Don Durham’s ideas about how we can effectively educate people about stewardship. Don is president of the CBF Foundation.

“This conversation only matters because we believe we have an all important mission as followers of Jesus—to live passionately and faithfully in the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of a church budget or the kingdom of personal indulgence. I actually got a phone call from a pastor once who said, ‘We just finished our strategic plan for our ministry as a church. Our members are sure they’ve identified the direction God wants us to go as a church, but they’ve asked me for help with their personal finances because they realize that they can’t give as much as they want to, or need to according to their plan, if they keep living as they currently are.’ That’s a church that is coming to understand the connection between personal stewardship and giving out of love in the missional church.

In responding to the idea of special studies focused on stewardship, Don said:

“I think special studies on stewardship do help. Stewardship will rarely be more important to the members of a church than it appears to be in the programming of a church. The catch is that it has to be practical. Even in this interview I’ve talked about stewardship in fairly broad, global terms. In churches, members want help with practical monetary aspects of stewardship: family budgeting, when/how to use credit responsibly, investing responsibly in responsible companies. Or they want practical help with the larger aspects of holistic stewardship: teaching children, discovering and nurturing spiritual gifts and finding a specific, tangible place to invest their time and energy in hands-on ministry. This is not about giving. However, generous giving of all kinds is a natural act for missional followers of Jesus living passionately and faithfully in the Kingdom of God.”

One Tenth to Jesus?

In today’s blog, Don Durham, president of the CBF Foundation, identifies some common misconceptions about stewardship. A pervasive one, he says, is “the idea that stewardship is about how much we give away, rather than how we live and work, and what we do with the resources that we keep for ourselves. Or, that giving away a prescribed amount of money (10%) somehow makes it OK to do whatever we want with the rest of our resources.”

“In any given year Americans consume roughly half of the world’s energy (25-30% of all natural resources combined) and create roughly half of the world’s solid waste, yet we only represent about 5% of the world’s population. We consume at a rate roughly five times greater than our numerical significance on the planet. Much of this consumption is productive and results in good things; however much of it is just for comfort or convenience. For those of us who believe Jesus when he says that all of the law and prophets comes down to loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, or that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we have some hard questions to ask about how we might hope a neighbor with plenty would act if we had little. Our love of neighbor will urge us to live in ways that create and encourage access to resources for those who have limited access.

“Giving away $100 doesn’t make it OK to sustain a selfish lifestyle with the other $900. We don’t merely strain at gnats (giving) and swallow camels (personal spending). In comparison to the rest of the world, where over 3 billion people live on less than $2 per day according to the World Bank; most of us belly up to an all-you-can-eat camel buffet daily.

“Focusing the stewardship conversation on how much, or little, we give away helps us avoid a thoughtful evaluation of our levels of consumption in some big ticket areas like housing, transportation, energy, food, clothing and entertainment.

“I love one of Tony Campolo’s related comments. He says, in essence, that if we are going to insist on tithing as the primary measure of stewardship, we must re-write the hymnbook—sing along to the tune of “All to Jesus I Surrender”:

“One tenth to Jesus, I surrender. One tenth to him I freely give. I surrender one tenth. I surrender one tenth…”

Tomorrow Don will offer suggestions for effectively educating people about stewardship.

Doing the Hard Work

More of my interview with Don Durham, president of the CBF Foundation. Here Don responds to this question: What level of understanding about stewardship do you find in the average church?

“Nearly all of the churches and individuals I encounter are trying to do the best they can when it comes to stewardship, but most of them have only been asked to apply “stewardship” to giving. One of the most frequent requests I get is for recommendations of “stewardship materials” for churches. What most people mean by ‘stewardship materials’ is actually budget promotion.

“Budget promotion is important, but it is the trailing end of stewardship. By the time the budget gets promoted, the really hard work of stewardship has already been done both by individuals and families within the church and by the church as a whole.

“It happened when the individuals and families decided how much money to tie up in a house or an additional vehicle. Or, when the church budget was put together and decisions were made about how to allocate the resources of the church for ministry: How much should we keep spending on building upkeep, utilities and maintenance if numbers are dropping and less and less of our building is being used for the church’s ministry? What if numbers are up and we truly need additional space to conduct ministry or equip our members to minister? What creature comforts do we really need, and what is excessive? Should we build additional space of our own, or rent it nearby as needed? Should we buy or lease vehicles? Do we pay our custodial workers a living wage?”

In tomorrow’s post, Don will address some common misconceptions about stewardship.

The Last Taboo

Is anything taboo in the American church today?

Only one thing, according to Don Durham.

It’s money.

“We are no longer shocked by violence, sex, drugs or rock-n-roll,” he says. “But when we get to church, we still tend to collude with one another in silence about money. One thing we can do to educate people about stewardship is to break that silence. We have to talk about the complex, embarrassing and difficult challenges we face as relatively wealthy Christians surrounded by very poor neighbors.”

Don is president of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation, where he helps people provide permanent financial support for moderate Baptist causes related to CBF and also provides endowment investment and administrative services for CBF churches and ministry partners.

In this and several successive blogs, I’ll post portions of my interview with Don. When I asked him how he defines “stewardship,” here’s what he said:

“For now, it goes something like this: Stewardship is the faithful management and careful use of all the resources within our control as we participate in the kingdom and mission of God. Notice I didn’t say anything about giving, or investing, or percentages. Basically, I believe that we are responsible to God for how we use or manage all that comes within our sphere of control as individuals, families and churches. The more complex the definition of stewardship, the less it encompasses. For me the definition keeps getting simpler. As it does, it encompasses more and more of life—all of life."

In tomorrow's blog, Don talks about the levels of understanding about stewardship among church members.

Walking Discipleship

Ed Hogan is pastor of Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston. Earlier this month, he committed to walk 1,000 miles in 100 days. The physical benefits are secondary. His goal is to walk with God.

“Imagine what a better place the world would be if everyone got up and walked with God this morning,” he wrote. “What a better life I would have if I got up and walked with God every morning. I would be a different person.”

He’s making himself accountable to the whole world through his blog, The Lenten Walk. Each day, he records not only how many miles he walks that day but also his thoughts and reflections. It’s worth a visit.

As Ed noted, “Discipleship is not achieved in a morning or in a mile. It takes time... and energy... and work... and patience.”

It’s a deliberate walk, not a race or a sprint. One step at a time.

Worth a Read

Great column today on EthicsDaily.com from Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple Emanuel in Birmingham, Alabama. He demonstrates an understanding of Jesus and the way he lived that, unfortunately, some Christians do not seem to have, especially this year.

While he acknowledges up front that he doesn’t “celebrate” Christmas, he shows an amazing appreciation for this Christian holy day. He even admits that he likes Christmas—the lights, the food, “the return of hope and promise that permeates our society.”

Too bad many Christians have caused people like Rabbi Miller to feel like the “Grinch” who stole Christmas. He really doesn’t want to be perceived that way.

“The non-Christians I know are rooting for Christmas,” he says. “Deck your halls, by all means. Put up your lights and your mistletoe, enjoy your hats and stuff your stockings, be generous to the people you love and to the poor among us. Open your hearts to the joy and the hope that your belief brings you, and let some of that joy and hope permeate your lives all year long. What a blessing you will be as good Christians to all of us. Only don’t make me your Grinch.”

Miller even admits to joining the concern many Christians have that there’s not enough Jesus in Christmas. But he also adds, “I am also concerned that there is not enough Jesus in Christianity. I am concerned this year that non-Christians are made to be society’s enemies. I can’t believe that Jesus would endorse this view. I am concerned that some Christians see their numerical majority as the right to bully the rest of us. I can’t believe that Jesus would endorse this view.”

He understands Jesus as “kind” and “open” and “generous in spirit. At least that’s the way I have experienced him through the eyes of many Christians who have shared their faith with me.”

Those Christians, he says, “don’t need a megaphone to make their faith known.”

And his best line for all the “media bullies” who continue to rant and rave about “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” from store clerks: “Let them call to task those who buy for themselves and take for themselves, but who do not share enough from their bounty with those in need. Let them emulate Jesus’ generosity of spirit, which, curiously, they seem to lack this year.”

City Lights

Along with soft drinks and clothes, the huge screens in New York City’s Times Square flash appeals from various churches to 1.5 million daily pedestrians.

Commercials with slogans like “Everybody matters” and “Where to go when you don’t know where to go” hope to draw those looking for a spiritual home.

Among groups utilizing the bright lights 60 feet above the crowds are the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, which spent $1.89 million of the church’s annual $500 million budget on these holiday Astrovision and cable TV ads.

Rev. Larry Hollon, head of the UMC’s communications agency, believes the expensive ads are worth it because “they offer an alternative way to see the world and your place in it, and that’s a valuable form of ministry.”