Stewardship

What Stewardship Really Is ...

- Dan Potvin, Director of Stewardship - Diocese of Winnipeg

What is stewardship? If you answered, "Stewardship is about money!" you are only partly right. Similarly, if you think that stewardship is not about money, then you are still only partly right.

For decades out understanding of stewardship has been too often limited to increasing the Sunday collection or recruiting volunteers. Such a narrow perspective is truly unfortunate, because stewardship in its deepest sense, is much more than sharing your time, talent and treasure with the church. Yes, the time, talent and treasure model does encourage people to take a close look at stewardship in their lives. However, before parish leaders can expect people to respond to the stewardship invitation, something else must first take place. People must first change the way they think about who they are, and who they belong to.

The traditional parish approach to stewardship of time, talent and treasure, sometimes lacks a firm foundation in faith formation. Without abandoning the approach of the three T's altogether, I would urge parish leaders to invest equal time and energy in forming steward disciples. Formation requires a shift from doing stewardship to being a steward and it requires a long term commitment. In the long run, a faith formation approach will build communities that don't just do stewardship but live it.

So what is stewardship really? I offer you a snapshot of the Christian Steward. There are ten characteristics or virtues that identify the Christian Steward: prayer, humility, trust, patience, responsibility, gratitude, generosity, simplicity, mercy and perseverance.

• Prayer - If we are to grow in holiness and in our relationship with God, prayer is absolutely essential. We must choose to spend time in prayer daily!
• Humility - Total dependence on God is the hallmark of humility. A Christian steward is filled with humility, not pride.
• Trust - The Christian Steward seeks to trust God more and to trust themselves much less.
• Patience - "Love is patient" 1 Cor. 13:14. The Christian Steward is patient with God, with others, and with themselves.
• Responsibility - "Well done good and faithful servant" Matthew 25:19. To be responsible is to first understand that we are not our own masters, or owners of all that we possess. We belong to God, and all that we have been given is to be used responsibly and accountably.
• Gratitude - "A grateful ear silences a complaining voice" - Bishop Eugene Gerber. Being a steward means living each day in gratitude, not envy. It is hard to always be in want when you have a grateful heart. The secret to happiness is not found in having more but wanting less.
• Generosity - For the steward, true generosity is born out of gratitude. For the Christian steward, the need to give is greater than the need of the recipient to receive.
• Simplicity - "Live simply so that others may simply live" - Blessed Mother Teresa. Adopting a simpler lifestyle enables the steward to live generously.
• Mercy - One of the greatest measures of mercy is the ability to forgive. Christian stewards are willing to forgive others and themselves.
• Perseverance - The stewardship way of life is both joyful and rewarding, while at the same time being challenging and sometimes difficult. "Mature disciples make a conscious, firm decision, carried out in action, to be followers of Jesus Christ no matter the cost to themselves" - Stewardship: A Disciple's Response, 1992 USCCB.