At the Worship Service this past Sunday, Laura McCreery read the fourth and final “Overview” from the Synod’s 2023 Stewardship materials (Oct 8: Imagine a World Set Free. Please see the Synod “Overview” below. Gospel text is Matthew 21:33-46). Wanda Barber and Pastor Pokora each reinforced God’s message from this text through the Children’s Message and the Adult Message, respectively.
The last of the four Adult Stewardship Forums preceded the Worship Service this past Sunday. Discussion: “… is it really our church, our families, our ministries, or are we (merely) stewards of God’s church?” Does your involvement in this congregation feel like ownership in, or of, this congregation? Do you think you make sacrifices for your faith? How have we bought into the lie that we, the tenants of leased land, are in fact the owners? To what extent is the success of God’s mission up to us?
Thanks to Julie, Scott, Wanda, and Laura for reading the Overviews and to Pastor and Wanda for their supporting Messages. And thanks to all who participated in the Stewardship Forums. Hopefully you found this Stewardship Material thought-provoking and useful for discerning how God is calling you as a Steward of His kingdom at All Saints and in our community in 2024.
Those of you on our membership or giving lists will be receiving a letter from Pastor Pokora, a September 30th Statement of your giving, a 2024 Estimate of Giving card and a pre-addressed and stamped return envelope for your completed 2024 Estimate of Giving. Please ensure your 2024 Estimate of Giving is returned to the church before October 29, 2023.
If you didn’t receive a stewardship mailing and would like one, contact the church office (office@allsaintsdavenport.org) or pick one up on Sunday (there are a few extras on the table where you pick up the bulletin).
Questions? Contact Roger Oliver
October 8: Imagine a World Set Free
Text: Matthew 21: 33-46
Overview
God always finds a way. In the face of a vast expanse of sea, God parts the waters. In the den of lions their mouths are shut. In the exile wilderness God’s people make a new home. In the suffering and death of crucifixion God resurrects life. In the face of tenants who refuse to do what was accomplished, the land owner finds new tenants. In the face of a religious institution that has forgotten its purpose, God will find a new church. Put in such stark terms, the reciprocity of trust between God and disciple seems so clear and simple. God, having saved the world from sin and all evil, has entrusted the saved to behave accordingly: by proclaiming forgiveness, inviting others to the kingdom work, imagining new ways of reaching even more people, and stewarding the work of the harvest.
You, a disciple, and we, the church, are stewards of the harvest, reaping that for which we did not sow. All too often though, we forget whose the harvest is, and how it is that we came to be the harvesters.
Our egos quickly take over and we start to believe that the harvest was due to our own hard efforts, and as such, isn’t it our harvest to do with what we wish? It is an easy, slippery slope and all of a sudden not only do we believe it’s our harvest, but that we have the right to the harvest.
What does this mean in congregational life? Let’s take a look at how we talk about being church together. Parishioners often talk about ‘my church’, or pastors refer to congregants as, ‘my people.’ We talk about our desire to grow our congregations, to get more young families, to succeed at our ministries. Harmless, right? Except, is it really our church, our families, our ministries, or are we stewards of God’s church? And that is only the beginning. There are so many ways we have bought into the lie that we, the tenants of leased land, are in fact the owners. This results in, over time, the belief that the harvest of God’s church, the fruits of the kingdom, are completely up to us, and that we are somehow solely responsible for God’s mission to the exclusion of all others.
Imagine the freedom that comes with the acknowledgement that none of it is ours, nor is it up to us for God’s mission to succeed. What a gift! Perhaps when we remember that we are but stewards we can learn to hold gently the mission to which God has called us. Trusting in God to continually provide conditions for us to reap the fruits of the harvest, and God trusting us to continually follow and use what we have been given then becomes the focus of our efforts. In this way, and with imagination our only limit, we can see the ways God has prepared places for us to work, the people God has gifted for the work, and the truth that we are but stewards.
Excerpt from: Southeastern Iowa Synod 2023 Fall Stewardship Resources written by Pastor Erika Uthe