|
|
|
Let's take the word stewardship first. What is stewardship? For most people in the church, it simply means money. But what else does it mean?
Webster's Dictionary says that stewardship is "the individual's responsibility to manage his or her life and property with proper regard to the rights of others."
In other words, stewardship is having charge and using or preserving wisely all with which God has entrusted us. Psalm 24 proclaims "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it...." God is the Owner and Creator of all that we can see and cannot see. And yet, God gives us the responsibility while we are here on earth to care for this creation. This is what stewardship is all about.
But we also talk about wholistic stewardship. What is that? Wholistic stewardship is making stewardship a three-dimensional, all-encompassing idea. When we think of stewardship wholistically, we think of our being stewards of the environment, our relationships, the gospel, money, our possessions, our time and many other aspects of our lives. We think of stewardship as encompassing our lives as a whole, not simply parts of it.
In his book Revolutionizing Christian Stewardship for the 21st century: Lessons from Copernicus, Dan R. Dick speaks of stewardship being our identity as Christians--as our being rather than doing. What would our lives be like if we thought of ourselves as stewards? (ie: I am a steward; I am a Tennessean; I am a Cumberland Presbyterian; etc.)
Stewardship is a rich word with a deep meaning of who we are to be as a Christian. Wholistic stewardship takes that meaning and expands it to encompass all of life. As we live our lives in ministry to God, may we continue to develop our ideas and travel along on our spiritual journey toward a more wholistic stewardship.
Page updated on March 18, 2002