Stewardship




Stewardship at St. Martin's The goal of St. Martin’s stewardship ministry is to help God’s people grow in our relationship with Jesus through the use of the time, talents and finances God has entrusted to us. The basic assumption of this goal is that whatever each of us may have is not ours. It all belongs to God in the first place, and we are charged throughout scripture to be good stewards of the gifts God has entrusted to our care – giving of the first fruits of our labor.The fundamental question of financial stewardship, then, is not “How much of my money will I give to the church?” The question for each of us should be, “How much of what God has entrusted to me will I share back through God’s church?” The gospel of Jesus revolved around generosity: one of every seven verses in the first three gospels spoke on money, about 1/3 of the parables are about money, and Jesus spoke on money about twice as much as prayer and faith combined.The gospels have several practical applications on the topic of generosity: If someone is in need, give to them. (see Matthew 5:42)Don’t give to others for selfish, earthly reward. (see Matthew 6:2-3)Giving leads to treasure in heaven and is part of following Jesus. (see Matthew 19:21)Giving back to those in need not only helps others, but it is as if we did it for the Lord. (see Matthew 25:34-36, 40)An encounter with Jesus should lead to extreme generosity. (see Luke 19:8) The great commandment given by Jesus was to love. To fulfill this, Christians worship and share, which includes both giving and serving. You can acknowledge the priority of God’s work in your life by making giving to God the first priority in the apportionment of your income.Giving to God from the top of your income makes giving easier and adds the satisfaction of knowing, as you spend the rest of your income, that you have given God the “first fruits” rather than the “leftovers.” Many Christians have discovered that as they move giving to God closer to the top of their priority scale, they grow in faith and joy, because joy in the Lord is often interconnected with giving. In keeping with the Seven Principles of Christian Stewardship and the concept of “first fruits,” at St. Martin’s we have officially adopted a teaching of 10-10-80 (which is also taught by many Christian financial planners). That is 10% for the church, 10% for your savings and live on the 80% that remains. That takes a lot of budgeting!!