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Stewardship Thoughts for February "Stewardship Targets" In the book Church Unique, Will Mancini tells the story of Matt Emmons: Matt Emmons was one trigger pull away from winning his second gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. In the lead position of the fifty-meter, three-position rifle competition, Emmons was so far ahead that his last bullet needed only to hit the target-anywhere.
With unwavering calm and unbelievable precision, he fired his bullet and watched it pierce yet another bull's eye. But a few seconds passed, and no score lights appeared on the board. When three red-jacketed officials approached, Emmons was sure that the scoreboard was just broken. But it wasn't. He was in shock when the officials informed him that he had hit the wrong target. While standing in lane two, he had fired at the target in lane three. That day, the officials awarded him a zero, and Emmons didn't even place in the competition. (Page 151) Aiming at the wrong target is not something that is limited to rifle competition. It can happen in almost any area of life. How many people have made it their life's purpose to get money, power, or happiness, only to discover that they were aiming at the wrong target? Aiming at the wrong target can also happen in churches. One of the reasons that stewardship is such a challenge for churches is that they have aimed at the wrong targets. For the next year, these stewardship thoughts will focus on both the wrong and the right targets when it comes to Christian stewardship. Aiming at the wrong (and right) targets in Christian stewardship includes: 1. Focusing almost exclusively on what the steward does. (The right target is focusing first on the identity of the steward.) 2. Focusing only on technical solutions to stewardship issues. (The right target is focusing on technical and adaptive solutions.) 3. Seeing stewardship as only an institutional issue. (The right target is seeing stewardship as primarily a spiritual issue.) 4. Seeing stewardship as primarily a money issue. (The right target is seeing stewardship as a whole-life issue.) 5. Focusing exclusively on passive righteousness. (The right target is focusing on both passive and active righteousness.) 6. Focusing primarily on giving "to" a budget. (The right target is helping members give "from" what God has done for them in Christ.) 7. Focusing primarily on what we don't have; focusing on scarcity. (The right target is focusing on what God has given us: abundance.) 8. Focusing on living the Christian life solely out of gratitude. (The right target is focusing on both gratitude and responsibility.) 9. Focusing on sharing what we own with God and others. (The right target is sharing what God has entrusted to us with others so that God's purposes are advanced. We are not owners of what God has entrusted to us.) 10. Focusing solely on the individual steward. (The right target is focusing on both the individual steward and the corporate steward.) 11. Seeing Christian stewardship as a transaction. (The right target is seeing Christian stewardship as transformation.) More on each of these targets in future issues of The Encourager. Resources Check out the stewardship resources at. www.lcms.org (click on the "resources" tab and then on the "stewardship" tab) |
