“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
The House of Light
My ancient ancestors, the Christian Celts who wandered the hills of Ireland and Scotland, saw July as the last month of summer. August would start the harvest, and so in these blazing July days they’d take their last moments to enjoy the gifts of creation.
These ancestors believed everyone had two homes: the House of the Hearth and the House of Light. In the colder part of the year, they gathered around the hearth as a family, which became their warm center. In the warmer part, especially in July days, they’d spend their time outside in what they called the House of Light — creation — gathering under the bright star high in the sky.
In these summer months, when so many in our communities are enjoying the House of Light, it’s a great opportunity to share the ways they’re experiencing God’s love and grace, wherever they are. If your youth embarked on a mission trip or participated in a camp, highlight the way they’ve been changed, — and are changing others — through the Christ-filled experiences they had. If someone had a spiritual encounter on vacation, invite them to write it up or share it somehow so others can be made aware of how a member of your congregation felt and passed on the Spirit. Share the story on social media, in church communications and even during the offering time in the liturgy. Then thank the community for making these life-changing things happen through their gifts, spiritual formation and support.
Find opportunities to connect these stories and experiences back to the good communal stewardship that your community fosters, remembering that stewardship is not just about finances but about sharing our presence with one another and growing as disciples together. In these summer months we may all be taking vacations but encounters with God’s grace because of the wonderful stewardship of your community’s faith formation, gifts and support doesn’t take a break.
Year-round stewardship isn’t about asking for gifts in every season, but it is about reminding the community of the life-changing things their gifts and presence make possible. Shed light on the communal activities that are happening in the House of Light this summer, by God!
Pax,
Tim Brown
Director of Congregational Stewardship
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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
Upcoming Stewardship Webinar: “Stewardship When Economics Are Uncertain”
The economy has been a bit unpredictable as we continue to slowly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. While unemployment remains low, interest rates have jumped considerably, and with a few very public bank failures in 2023, people are being more cautious with their resources. How can we talk about stewardship and money in a way that is honest and honors uncertain economic times?
On Aug. 21 the ELCA, in partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, will host a webinar to equip leaders to talk openly, honestly and inspirationally about stewardship and generosity even in uncertain times. It will be hosted by the Rev. Meredith McNabb and the Rev. Tim Brown.
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Mark your calendar:
Stewardship When Economics Are Uncertain
Monday, Aug. 21
6-7 p.m. Central time
Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 835 7971 8246 Password: 000320
One tap mobile: +13017158592,,83579718246# US (Washington DC)
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Stewardship Conference: “Stewardship Kaleidoscope–Minneapolis”!
In partnership with the Presbyterian Foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the ELCA Stewardship and Generosity team is proud to present a three-day conference dedicated to digging deeply into stewardship and generosity. Workshops and plenaries will highlight diverse and authoritative voices from across the PCUSA, ELCA and partner church bodies.
“Stewardship Kaleidoscope” offers real tools for real ministry and is perfect for both rostered ministers and lay leaders. The mission of the conference is to ignite generosity, give practical tools for cultivating congregational generosity, expand leadership capacity for stewardship leaders and cultivate adaptive approaches for funding Christ’s mission throughout the world. Limited partial scholarships are available! Contact the Rev. Tim Brown at Tim.Brown@elca.org if interested.
For information and registration, go to Annual Conference - “Stewardship Kaleidoscope.”
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Mark your calendar:
Sept. 25-27
Minneapolis, Minnesota
$325 individual rate
$125 virtual rate
$169 for first call and seminarians
Group discounts available for those from the same congregation
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Cultivating Generous Congregations Fall Cohorts
How do we, as communities of faith, change our thinking on stewardship and generosity to meet the challenges of the moment? In partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, the ELCA is offering congregations the opportunity to reexamine their stewardship thinking and imagine ways to act on their findings in their communities. The six-week webinar “Cultivating Generous Congregations” will offer virtual cohort sessions where congregational leaders can discuss, dissect and collaborate on how generosity might work in their contexts. The webinar costs $550 per congregation, plus workbooks ($40 each).
For a deeper look at what the webinar entails, watch this brief Cultivating Generous Congregations video.
Please contact the Rev. Larry Strenge (Larry.Strenge@elca.org) and the Rev. Tim Brown (Tim.Brown@elca.org) if you’re interested in participating! They will work with your synod to get you registered for the fall cohort.
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Mark your calendar:
Cultivating Generous Congregations
Fall 2023
5-6:30 p.m. Central time
Late September–October
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| STEWARDSHIP RESOURCES |
Are you looking for stewardship resources to fuel your ministries and your imagination? Here are a few places to find guidance and support:
“Stewardship in a Box” A new resource from our friends at ChurchAnew.org (remember “Lent in a Box”?), “Stewardship in a Box” is an affordable, customizable guide to an annual campaign that takes congregations and their leaders through conversations about faith and finances on Sunday mornings and throughout the week of any given stewardship push. Some of the early resources, particularly for sermons (for lectionary and non-lectionary readings!), are quite promising. ChurchAnew has partnered with Luther Seminary’s Stewardship Leaders Program in this endeavor, so thought, intention and trusted methods have gone into this material. It’s very exciting to partner with them on this and on future offerings!
Congregational Stewardship Has a Vimeo Page! If you ever miss a webinar (though we encourage you to show up for these in person if you can!) or a presentation, we are doing our best to capture them all on our ELCA Congregational Stewardship Vimeo page. Perfect for stewardship teams wanting to do some continuing education or for councils curious about what’s happening in the realm of stewardship, this page will be updated quarterly with our webinar offerings and perhaps with other special tidbits and stewardship ideas. Check it out!
The Center for Action and Contemplation’s Financial Philosophy. This short and wise video of the Rev. Richard Rohr and Michael Poffenberger discussing the financial philosophy of the legendary Center for Action and Contemplation is short, concise and impactful. They talk about operating out of a “clear definition of enough” and holding an “alternative set of values” that inform their financial stewardship. It is challenging and thought-provoking! Viewing this as a congregation council or with your finance and stewardship teams could certainly inform how you organize your communal relationship with money. Take eight minutes out of your day, out of your council or finance meeting, and begin to analyze your community’s financial philosophy with fresh eyes.
Have a great stewardship resource? Send tips on articles, books, movies and other media to tim.brown@elca.org. The best gifts are those that are shared! |
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| STEWARDSHIP IN THE TEXT |
Finding organic ways to speak about stewardship can be difficult, especially in relation to the lectionary texts. Not every sermon should be a “stewardship sermon,” but on any given Sunday stewardship themes arise from the biblical witness and can be highlighted! Remember that stewardship is about how we live our life, not just about how we use our finances. Stewardship is a life trajectory.
Below are just a few readings for the Green Season (Time after Pentecost) that might inspire thoughts on stewardship:
1 Kings 3:5-12 | July 30
King Solomon, in his wisdom, requests wisdom when invited by God to ask for a blessing. So often, wisdom is the key ingredient that is missing in the realm of stewardship. Most of us have enough, even more than enough, but we struggle with how to use it wisely. How does wisdom play into how you and your community steward gifts in your context?
Matthew 14:22-33 | Aug. 13
How do you steward your prayer life? In this Gospel reading Jesus goes off to pray by himself — and even sends the disciples away on a boat so he can get some peace. When preaching on this snippet of the Gospels, so many preachers focus on the latter half of the offering, where Peter is sinking and Jesus saves him. But what about the first half, where Jesus goes off by himself to rejuvenate? Perhaps Peter needed some rejuvenation in his life and was missing it, creating a sinking reality into which he had trouble escaping. Prayer both rejuvenates and challenges us, and stewarding our prayer life is part of being a disciple of the one who walks on water.
Romans 12:9-21 | Sept. 3
How do you show someone honor? How do you praise someone? While stewardship calls us to discern and dole things out carefully, overwhelming generosity is also an aspect of stewardship, and it is exactly this that the apostle Paul invites us to consider today. “Outdo,” he says, “one another in showing honor” (v. 10). This, along with love and affection, should be thrown about with abandon in Paul’s ideal community. On this Sunday invite the community to honor someone with a note, a gift in their name or a simple comment after service. Thanking and honoring people is part of stewardship, after all. How can your community be one of genuine love and admiration, finding ways to live into it?
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