Committing to stewardship of time, talent, and treasure is an important part of living a Christian life, and real Christian living asks a lot of us and is not easy. Making a commitment to stewardship is a serious challenge with the current emphasis on materialism, the “me” generation, taking care of ourselves before others, and focusing on wants instead of meeting needs.
It is important to invest in our relationship with God and recommit ourselves to the life of a good steward by making a faith promise of our time, talent and treasure for the coming year. In order to do that, we must enter in to our decision to give intentionally, plan to make good on the decision we make, and budget our time, talent and treasure so our gifts are proportionate to what we have been given.
As you decide on your personal giving decisions, keep this in mind:
Intentional
If we give “just because,” that is not intentional. That does not show understanding of our call to stewardship. As a steward, we make a deliberate decision is made to live out the Christian life in a certain way. That way is to thank God for all His blessings by returning to Him a portion of our time, talent and treasure.
Planned
As with any life event, we must make plans and adjustments to ensure important things take place. This is true in our sacrificial giving as well. We must plan ahead and make stewardship of time, talent and treasure part of our lifestyle and budget.
Proportionate
In biblical tithing, 10% of one’s income is given back in gratitude. This breaks down to 5% for your parish, 4% for community charities, and 1% for the larger church (our diocese). But a tithe applies only to financial gifts. In stewardship, an intentional decision is made to give a certain percentage of one’s time, talents and one’s income. This expands the tithe to what it should be – proportionate giving of ALL gifts.
Click here to download a personal accountability exercise to help you discern your sacrificial giving.
Please click here to contact the Office of Stewardship & Development for more information on making stewardship a way of life at your parish.