Browsing Lutheran Laity Movement Archives
Our ministry visible and invisible
By Ronald Keener
The visible church is the church best known week by week. For some the visible church may be only the Sunday morning worship. For another, it may be church school because we have children, and morning worship. Another person may be involved in WELCA or a small group, and that is the church that is best known and visible to them. Then there is the invisible church, the many other programs that are available, but may not directly touch our own lives.
Let’s Stop Responding to the Past
By The Rev. Hank Langknecht
Is anyone motivated to “respond to past blessings?” Of course. But I will bet that although our brains acknowledge that yes, our everything came as God’s gift; and yes, an offering response is seemly; our hearts are not brimming with joy and thanksgiving at the prospect.
Avoiding the connection between faith and money
By the Rev. Dr. William O. Avery
The whole subject of stewardship is limited to the needs of the giver, not the needs of the receiver. The truth is that it really is better to give than to receive — better for the giver’s own spiritual development. This is biblical. This is the gospel of good giving. Pastors should not become a pleader of needs – endorse the proclaimed financial goals of the church, but do not plead!
Biblically based practices turn dollars into sense
By The Rev. Casey Zesch
An irony: that we work hard to get dollars and then have to be saved from them! Lest our dollars – and the possessions they buy -should possess us, why not turn dollars into sense? A sense, that is, of personal, congregational, and churchwide mission.
Proclaiming Stewardship: A Guide for Sermons and Temple Talks
Susan K. Hedahl, professor of homiletics, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, offers tips for sermons and temple talks. “Ask what the stewardship profile of your congregation is — Before public proclamation, it is necessary to ask: Where have we been? As a congregation, what gifts do we already employ for ourselves and others? Where do we hope to be in the months, the years ahead? Which resources do we need to consider, expand, develop?
