What’s Going On (by Pastor Chris) November 2018


What’s Going On (by Pastor Chris)
In this article this month, I would like to answer a question that I have never been asked. The question is “why is it that I (Pastor Chris) never preach/teach stewardship in service?” Now many of you reading this will say there is good reason why I haven’t been asked that, because no one cares and even more people don’t like stewardship sermons. This is because many of us associate stewardship with just giving and specifically with giving money. For those of us who have grown up in the church we almost instinctively hear the word “campaign” after the word stewardship. Meaning the church in the past has leveled stewardship and more recently gratitude with raising funds for building projects, mission trips, and even just encouraging yearly giving with pledge cards. But the truth is that stewardship is so much more than this. You see I do care about giving. In fact I encourage everyone (including non-believers) to have a plan for giving to a church. Because you may not need a church today but you may need one someday. Stewardship is the remembrance that truly everything we have is a gift from God. This is a humbling (and quite uncomfortable) process that reminds us that the way celebrate a God who has given us new life in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ is to take care of all that God has given us. We need to take care of our bodies, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and our world. And we take care of these things by celebrating God with our gifts. We celebrate with our monetary gifts, yes, but also with our gifts of our time, talent, prayers, and presence. This is why rather than preach stewardship that is generally associated with just money and possessions, I teach about discipleship. This means I teach about how to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
The goal of discipleship is follow Jesus Christ. Jesus had plenty to say about our finances. In fact sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus talk about money and possessions and one out of every ten verses (288 in all) are concerned with the same topic. But again there is so much more as we seek to follow Christ on this journey of faith. So instead at Trinity, I preach our vision. Trinity church lives out its mission to make disciples as we Connect, Grow, and Serve. We connect to God in Jesus Christ. This is primarily done in worship. We grow in our faith in Christ. This is done in small groups and spiritual disciplines that help us to deepen our relationship with God in Jesus Christ. And finally we serve in our world for Jesus Christ.
So, there you have it, I answered a question no one ever asked me, but it is to remind all of us (myself included) that we need to take time to be grateful for all that God has given us. We need to do it more than just during this month that has a federal holiday to give thanks but every day of our lives. And our response to all the things we have is our gratitude that we show our God as we live lives as followers of Jesus Christ. In essence this is what discipleship and

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