Browsing by Rob Blezard
Wills Program Toolbox
Do you know that 60 percent of Americans die without leaving a will? Creating and promoting a Wills Emphasis Program in the local congregation opens an important avenue for members and friends to leave a lasting legacy of their faith. Free 12-page guide from the Presbyterian Foundation.
Carpe Tithing: Invigorate Your Life of Faith
The tithe as a spiritual discipline is vastly underappreciated by modern Christians. I believe that if we boldly reintroduce the challenge to tithe, personally embrace the conviction of its worth, and then do it, we will provide abundant resources for God’s work in the world as well as invigorate our experience of life in Christ.
Eco-Reformation
“Eco-Reformation†is the term embraced by Lutheran theologians who foreground the crisis facing God’s creation and suggest that 2017’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation be a time when Christians across the globe take up the cause of saving God’s creation from destruction by climate change, pollution and unsustainable consumption of resources. This entire issue of Currents explores the issue of Eco-Reformation and calls God’s people to action, (Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Four Gospels, One Way to Live
Here’s a free online course on biblical stewardship that you can really sink your teeth into. “Four Gospels” pays attention to the stewardship-of-life underpinnings of the four Gospels as it provides a scholarly overview. From Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.
Free e-book: ‘How much is enough?’
Some of the brightest minds of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have collaborated for this collection of essays exploring “How Much is Enough: A Deeper Look at Stewardship in an Age of Abundance.” Each author looks at one aspect of what it means to be a well-formed stewardship leader — the basic competencies needed.
Monthly Stewardship Resources
Here’s a way to provide your congregation with a regular reminders about generosity and abundance: Stewardship Sentences that are perfect for Sunday worship bulletins or a website, or monthly newsletter articles ready to cut and paste. A great idea, great resources from the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. (Photo © trotzolga – Fotolia.com)
Free Ebook: A Theology for Christian Stewardship
When the concept of stewardship is developed in its total New Testament context it implies even more than trusteeship and responsibility. It contains the idea of partnership. The relation between master and servant gives way to the relation between friends.(Download a free PDF of this classic stewardship treatise from LCMS’ FaithAflame website.)
On Sacrificial Giving
The motive of our giving is not to meet the church’s needs, but to meet our own personal need to respond to God’s overwhelming generosity to us by becoming givers ourselves.The Bible uses a word, often misunderstood, to help us see this more clearly. The word is sacrifice. Good reading from the Episcopal Diocese of […]
The Wi$dom Path: Money, Spirit & Life
Financial literacy courses are great, but in addition to knowing how to manage their money more wisely, God’s people need ways to talk about money and the way it intersects with our spiritual and ethical values. This comprehensive course covers such topics as personal and cultural money stories, economic justice, classism, and the impact of our financial decision making on our ability to live lives of meaning and purpose. Free for downloading.
Should A Pastor Know Who Gives What?
It’s an issue for intense debate across congregations: Shoud a pastor know how much members give? Although other measures of commitment and vitality are readily apparent — attendance, participation in church events and educational offerings — giving is not. Shoud it be? Nathan Early of Horizons Stewardship explores. (Photo © Michael Nivelet – Fotolia.com)
