Stewardship Ministry
The vision of the Stewarship Ministry is to educate us on the biblical principles of Stewardship. The team infuses these principles into each activity we experience at Imago Dei MCC.
Stewardship Reflection
Do you ever think about how your checkbook reflects your beliefs? What would someone
looking at our check registers and credit card receipts assume were our priorities?
In the law of Moses, the people of Israel were taught to bring their first fruits to God as a temple sacrifice, and these first fruits were to be the best—a lamb without blemish, the purest grains, the most luscious fruit. God was to be given the first and the best. That was the nature of the tithe—a tenth portion given to the community in God’s name—ten percent of gross income in today’s language. It was a given.
Our checkbooks, net worth statements and estate plans reflect our theology. The custom of American culture is to take care of your own needs first as well as the needs of your family. Leaving something to the church or to other charitable causes in our estate plans seems to be a new thought. Recent estimates indicate that ten to thirty trillion dollars of wealth will be transferred from one generation to the next in the coming two decades. How much of that will go to support the institutions that have nourished us—our churches, schools and communities? How much will be left to strengthen our common life or to care for God’s creation?
How do we decide what to give? Is it whatever is left over when we’ve satisfied our own desires? Isn’t this just the opposite of what our faith teaches us?
Scripture teaches us that all we have is a gift from God and that we live by the grace of God. This perspective helps to keep us humble when we come to make decisions about how we will use the income and assets we control. A theology of stewardship must bear in mind that all of creation is under the reign of God. Caring for God’s creation by using our treasure, our time and our talents for the good of the whole will move us closer to accountability. It will also draw us nearer to God and to all that God has created.
Excerpted from Graceful Living: Your Faith, Values, and Money in Changing Times by the Rev. Laura Dunham, Certified Financial Planner. Published by RCA Distribution
Resources
360 Degrees of Financial Literacy offers help for all financial stages of life.
America Saves is a nationwide campaign in which a broad coalition of nonprofit, corporate, and government groups helps individuals and families save and build wealth. Through information, advice, and encouragement, they assist those who wish to pay down debt, build an emergency fund, save for a home, save for an education, or save for retirement.
Benefits Check Up offered by the National Council on Aging includes more than 1,550 public and private benefits programs from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's foreclosure prevention site.
Estate Planning Record. One of the most valuable gifts you can leave to your heirs is a well-organized estate and accurate records of your important personal data. Click here for a form to provide an organized structure for you to record important personal data. Your heirs will thank you for completing this information.
Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times. Learning positive money management techniques can help you adapt to tough economic times.. eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America.
As a Christian and non-profit organization, Imago Dei MCC relies on the generosity of our members and visitors to sustain our ministries and carry our message to the World. Click here for more information on how you can contribute to the mission and ministries of Imago Dei Mcc.
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