Financial Stewardship Campaign for 2023 is now live.  Below are notes from the pastor and from the finance chair, with a form you may use to submit your estimate of financial giving and talents giving in 2023 at the bottom. 

CLICK HERE to ACCESS the “Estimate of Financial and Talents Giving 2023” FORM.

Your estimate of giving will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

A Note about Financial Stewardship from Rev. Frank Rahm

 Our financial support of the church allows us to pay our bills, yes, but so much more.  Money allows the church to create and sustain ministries that change lives in the name of Jesus Christ.  How are we able to offer Vacation Bible School for free?  Your gifts.  How are we able to teach children and youth about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit without charging an admissions fee?  Your gifts.  How do we support missions both in our own community and around the world?  Your gifts.  But it’s even more than that.

Financial stewardship is an important part of our spiritual life.  Writing a check to the church every month is intended to be an act of joy.  It should not have the same feeling as paying our household bills.  Paying the household bills is a necessary chore, and it feels like a chore.  How many times have we said, “Gotta pay the bills.  Gotta sit down, go through all the bills, set up autopay on some, write checks on others, gotta be sure to balance the funds.”

But before we pay our household bills,

1. we take time to pray thanks to God that we have resources to pay the bills;

then, before we pay the household bills and after we pray thanksgiving,

2. we give our gift back to God through the church.

From both the Old and New Testaments, there are forty references in our bible to giving God the first fruits of the harvest.  Proverbs 3:9-10 says it as well as any:  “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” The old saying is, “Write the church check first.” I would add two words to that:  “with joy.”

After all, God has given us this much:	And God asks this much in return:

 

Below, you will find a note from our Finance Committee, Larry Hostetter, chair, about our plans for our November drive for Financial Stewardship for 2023.  I am grateful to Larry for his leadership to our church, and for these words of wisdom that he offers here.

 

 

A Note from our Finance Committee, Larry Hostetter, chair

 

We have set aside the month of November for our stewardship campaign to allow each of us time to be in commune with God and listen to His desires for our lives. As we consider what He is calling us to do in all aspects of our lives, we need to reflect on our biblical stewardship. According to award winning author, Dr. Bill Peel, these are the four steps to biblical stewardship.

1. The principle of ownership.

The psalmist begins the 24^th psalm with,

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

In the beginning of Genesis, God creates everything and puts Adam and Eve in the Garden to work it and to take care of it. It is clear that we were created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given.

This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. God owns everything; we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf.

Therefore, stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything God has placed under our control, which is all encompassing. Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possessions to God’s service, recognizing that we do not have the right of control over our property or ourselves.

Echoing Deuteronomy 8:17, we might say: “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But Deuteronomy 8:18 counsels us to think otherwise:

Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. 

2. The principle of responsibility.

In explaining responsibility, Peel writes,

Although God gives us “all things richly to enjoy,” nothing is ours. Nothing really belongs to us. God owns everything; we’re responsible for how we treat it and what we do with it. While we complain about our rights here on earth, the Bible constantly asks, What about your responsibilities? Owners have rights; stewards have responsibilities.

We are called as God’s stewards to manage that which belongs to God. While God has graciously entrusted us with the care, development, and enjoyment of everything he owns as his stewards, we are responsible to manage his holdings well and according to his desires and purposes.

3. The principle of accountability.

A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us.

This is the maxim taught by the Parable of the Talents, (Matthew 25:14-30). God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the Creator managing his creation in accord with the principles he has established.

Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority.

We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.

4. The principle of reward.

In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul writes:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

The Bible shows us in the parables of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.

We all should long to hear the master say what he exclaims in Matthew 25:21:

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!

As you consider how you are being called to support your Church in 2023 through your financial gifts as well as sharing of your time and talents, we ask you to complete and return this commitment card by November 20^th. Financials pledges are only estimates of what you feel committed to support your Church and your circumstances may change that will allow you to give more or necessitate reducing your commitment, but they are an important tool for your staff and leadership team to use when planning programs for the next year.