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What Is Stewardship?

 

Stewardship is about making choices, as individuals and in community.  It is more than giving money to the church. Stewardship is about being faithful disciples, caring for and managing all that God has given us. Stewardship is not just one part of Christian discipleship; it involves every aspect of life in all the stages of life.

 

Stewardship is the grateful response to God’s grace and goodness.  It requires a consideration of how our choices affect us and others, of how we can be good caretakers of the created world, and of how we can best serve God as disciples of Christ.  So, what is Stewardship?  Stewardship is everything you do after you say yes to Jesus Christ!

 

 

THANKS! SKNAHT!

 

There are lots of ways to verbalize our thanks. In Italian, “Grazie.”  In Japanese, “Supashi-bo.” In Swahili, “Asante.” In any language it generally comes with a smile of gratitude.

 

Tustin Presbyterian Church is smiling and says “thanks” for your support of its ministry and mission. Each of you has shown your support in one way or another – time and talent or money. And you have done it generously. Many of you have continued to increase your annual financial commitment while, at the same time, supporting our million dollar capital campaign.

 

It is very obvious that generous givers must recognize the source of their abundance, God’s generosity. That’s why the title of this article looks like a two-way street. The giving cycle works that way. When we recognize God’s generosity to us it only follows to be generous to God’s children. Our generosity supports our home base at the church, the staff that educate, pastor, and keep us on track, and very importantly, mission programs here and abroad.

 

That is the Christian church, a collection of people thanking God for all our blessings and sharing a portion of that with others while reaching forward to share the Gospel.

 

“Tack vare” (Swedish), “Merci” (French), and “Gracias” (Spanish). No matter how you say it, we are grateful…to God for abundance, to others for support, and for people who allow us to help!

 

 

Something to "Stew" On

 

We live in a world where the gap between scarcity and abundance grows wider every day. Whether at the level of nations or neighborhoods, this widening gap is polarizing people, making each camp more and more suspicious and antagonistic toward the other. But the peculiar thing, at least from a biblical perspective, is that the rich - the ones with the abundance - rely on an ideology of scarcity, while the poor – the ones who are suffering from scarcity – rely on an ideology of abundance. How can that be? The issue involves whether there is enough to go around – enough food, water, shelter, space. An ideology of scarcity says no, there’s not enough, so hold onto what you have.  In fact, don’t just hold onto it, hoard it. Put aside more than you need, so that if you do need it, it will be there, even if others must do without. An affirmation of abundance says just the opposite: Appearances notwithstanding, there is enough to go around, so long as each of us takes only what we need. In fact, if we are willing to have but not hoard, there will even be more than enough left over. The Bible is about abundance.

 

From “Enough Is Enough” by Walter Brueggemann
Professor of Old Testament at
Columbia Theological Seminary

 

 

Stewardship Quote

 

"Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous;

teach me to serve you as you deserve;

to give and not to count the cost."

 

Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

Jesuit founder

 

 

2008 Per Capita

 

Every Little Bit Helps!

 

Each year each congregation pays the Presbytery a modest sum per member.  This "per capita" payment helps with the administrative costs of Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly.  For 2008, the amount per member is $22.14, a total of about $7,485 for TPC.  We ask that all active members contribute this amount at the beginning of the new year.  Those with offering envelopes will have a "per capita" envelope in the front of their boxes.  When you pay your per capita, you are making those funds available to the General Mission of TPC.  Thank you for your generosity.

 

 

 

 

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225 West Main Street, Tustin, CA 92780-4319  (714)544-7070  www.tustinpresbyterian.org