Stewardship
STEWARDSHIP: TIME, TALENT AND TREASURE
The classic definition of Stewardship is: “receiving God’s gifts gratefully, cherishing and tending them in a responsible and accountable manner (talent), sharing them in justice and love with others (time), and returning them with increase to the Lord (treasure).” It is a complete lifestyle of accountability and responsibility acknowledging God as the Creator and Owner of all. Stewards, as disciples of Jesus Christ, see themselves as caretakers of all God’s gifts. Gratitude for these gifts is expressed in prayer, worship, action and offering by eagerly sharing these gifts out of love for God and for one another. In talking about stewardship the phrase “time, talent and treasure” is frequently used.
Beginning on page 10 of our Missional Narrative Budget, you will find a number of volunteer ministries in our parish, for which assistance in the form of time is always very important. Helping in a ministry such as sidespeople, lay readers, servers, working in our grounds, Sunday School Teacher, etc. are just a few of the ways listed in which your time becomes a valuable part of your stewardship. Please look over these pages, in particular, to see if there is a place where you might be able to offer your time to assist the parish.
Not all of us is given the same gifts, as St. Paul reminds us (1 Cor 12). What is important is that God has given each of us gifts (talents) which we use not only in our daily lives but may be used for the benefit of our church community; talents such as administrator, carpenter, plumber, accountant, teacher, doctor, nurse, chef, artist, musician, mechanic… the list is endless! Do any of you have any of those talents or others? Are you willing, in thanksgiving to God, to share these talents for the benefit of the parish?
For stewardship to be complete it requires additional emphasis on our gifts of time and talent. Generally speaking, no stewardship initiative gets off the ground by highlighting one element over the other let alone speaking about treasure before the other two. Treasure is a vital element of our stewardship: it is how we maintain our building and pay for our clerical and musical leadership; treasure is often the easiest way we demonstrate our thankfulness, however, it is important that we begin to think of Stewardship as a means of involving the use of all the gifts the community has to offer in thanksgiving for all the gifts we have received from God.
(adapted from “Stewardship Development”, Diocese of Toronto)