Stewardship
It is that time on the church calendar we call Stewardship – a time to celebrate caring and community. Do we? In many parishes we emphasize the monetary and forget to celebrate our community, the reason for the monetary. We discuss projects but overlook the purpose for the projects.
Perhaps we sometimes forget the power of God when we start allocating funds. Some people will argue that with limited resources we have to perform triage in our communities. They say that there are not enough funds to support everything. They feel it is simply not their responsibility to think outside of their neighborhood. This negates the teachings of Christ that all are our neighbors. Working with programs of the National Church increases our abilities in serving our fellow humankind.
Inreach is often defined as local or parish-wide. Never have we had a better example of close our world is than these current Covid times. Moreover, effect inreach programs offer a holistic, complete parishioner experience as spiritual, inspirational or transcendent. This keeps people attending and supporting the parish because it gives them a sense of community and purpose.
When we add outreach programs we create a greater experience and connection. Not “either/or,” but “both/and” that results in the parishioner and global church/community benefitting from such spiritual enrichment.
Looking at the nexus between outreach and inreach, we discover that successful outreach means bringing newcomers and those on the periphery of belief to the gates of the community. Successful inreach nurtures and roots involvement in the institutional community, providing individuals with meaningful, transforming, life-affirming experiences and helping institutions grow with them over time. Institutions which make inreach a part of their culture deliver on the promises of outreach because their constituents become the best ambassadors for their institutions.
Successful outreach also delivers the mandate we were given by Christ and fulfills the mission of the Church. And what is the mission of the Church? It is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ…. The Church pursues it’s mission… by promoting justice, peace, and love…. through the ministry of all its members.” (Catechism, Book of Common Prayer)
Instead of having the outreach and inreach compete, we need allow them to benefit from one another. The Roman Catholic priest and author Lorenzo Donovan defines “thank you” as “my love to your love.”
Stewardship is a season of showing gratitude and an opportunity to officially embrace our diversity. We come to our parishes with all that we are – children of God, each unique in talents and time. Our tithe is not only monetary but in the love we share, celebrating the complete goodness of our lives.
Stewardship is our way of saying thank you, of living the act of giving our love to one another through the church. Thanks be to God!