Entries Tagged 'Stewardship' ↓

Joleen and I have been married 16.5 years. Looking back, we can list at least three financial practices that have proven valuable.

1. Honor God with tithes and offerings.
Tithing wasn’t a new practice for either of us when we married, but we did develop a new system for the way we’d do it. Even though we were seminary students at the time and money was tight (money was still tight after graduation!), we set a percentage (10%, at the time) for the tithe (which means “tenth”). Within a year or so, we set another percentage for offerings, that is, special offerings beyond our basic giving (2%, if I remember correctly). Our plan was to increase these amounts over the course of our lives, which we have done, slowly.

Everyone has to develop their own system. Currently, we calculate our tithes/offerings on pre-tax income, monetary gifts (including gift cards), credit card cashback, interest, and the fair rental value of the parsonage in which we live. The bottom line is, determine what it means for you to honor God with your finances. And do it.

This, by far, has been our best stewardship practice!

2. Tracking Expenses
During the first couple years of our marriage, I kept a hand-written copy of our monthly expenses by category. The idea was to know where our money was going, in case we need to make adjustments. Now, I keep monthly and yearly spreadsheet files on my computer by category. The spreadsheet also automatically calculates our tithe and offering amounts.

Interestingly, because we’ve tracked expenses, we know that our grocery expenses (which were very low when it was just the two of us) increased 32% in 2008 from 2007 (Ethan joined us in February 2008) and another 24% in 2009 (Sarah joined us in October 2009). In 2010, our first full year with two kids, we’re on track for a 14% increase from 2009. Stated another way, our grocery expenses in 2010 may be 87% higher than they were in 2007 (our last year without children).

Yikes. That explains a lot!

3. Budgeting Expenses
Most financial advisors would probably tell you to start here. But for us, our budget really flowed out of our expense tracking. That is, after a couple years, we pretty much knew how we spent money, so we developed a budget based on what we were already doing.

One area where the budget helps us is clothing expenses. Joleen and I have separate budgeted amounts for clothes. This helps because we know how much we can spend and don’t have to have a financial conversation every time one of us (usually Joleen) wants to buy something.

A funny thing happened a few years ago at a Macy’s department store. Joleen handed a pair of pants to the cashier who she thought she’d try to get a reaction out of me by telling us total was $90. The cashier was surprised when I didn’t react. I told Joleen later that it doesn’t matter to me how much she spends. The faster she spends her budgeted amount, the less time I have to spend in the store!

Another area where we budget is our “offerings” amount (a small percentage of our income beyond our tithe+). Our offering total is equally divided between us and we each support ministries/special offerings of our own choosing (we occasionally support some things together, as well).

Budgeting is a good idea. You’ve probably heard (or perhaps know by experience) that finances are one of the leading causes of conflict in marriages. Budgeting expenses helps minimize conflict by dealing with it ahead of time!

4. Guard against impulsiveness.
This practice is a last-second addition to the list. As I thought about our spending habits, it struck me that we generally do not make impulsive purchases, especially major purchases. In fact, just the opposite, we sometimes take too long (if that’s possible) to make decisions about larger purchases (days, weeks, months, if not years, in some cases).

Do your research. Shop around. Sleep on it. Sleep on it again. Make the best God-honoring decision you can (which may mean not buying the item at all).

These are some of our best practices. What are yours?

Here’s my latest finance letter for West Side …

Summer is upon us! Some days we can feel it in the warm sunshine and some days we wonder as we experience the cool rain and blustery winds. One day I was in eastern PA and we traveled from balmy eighty degree temperatures to an icy mix as we approached Clearfield! Nevertheless, summer is coming … just ask any student how many days of school remain!

Summer is a time of renewal and rest; a time of connecting with family and friends. It is a time of vacation, family reunions, class reunions, and travel, for weekends at the cabin and more. Rev. Melvin Amerson says that it is “M.M.I.A. Season,” which is an acronym for Members Missing In Action. The season can begin with Mothers’ Day and continue through Labor Day, including the additional holidays of Memorial Day, Fathers’ Day and 4th of July, as well as vacation time.

While we may need some vacation time; God never goes on vacation and the work of the Lord never stops. The ministry of West Side UMC continues throughout the summer. Summer is the grand time for weddings. It is the time for one of our main children’s discipleship and outreach events: Vacation Bible School. We expand our worship services to include a Sunday 8:30 am service. And our leaders are busy planning for the Fall.

We need your continued financial support throughout the summer. Let us be mindful of God’s continued presence in our lives throughout the summer. Even when we are away from West Side, God goes with us. Even when we are away from West Side, God continues to minister to and through West Side. Let’s support God’s Church while we are on vacation!

Have a blessed summer!

Jesus, consistent with the Old Testament,  speaks unabashedly and repeatedly about wealth, greed and generosity. In Mark 12.41-44, Jesus relates a story comparing the giving of the rich to that of poor widow who gives two very small copper coins. Jesus comments …

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything–all she had to live on.

There are many things that can distract us from faithful living, and money is one of them. We can become distracted by working too long and too hard, by comparing what we have with what  others have or by desiring earthly recognition for our giving, desiring our reward on earth and by giving with the wrong motivations.

What motivated the generosity of the poor widow that Jesus observed?

It was NOT the religious system; the religious system was corrupt. Prior to this passage, Jesus says, “Watch out for the teachers of the law … They devour widows’ houses …” We cannot base our generosity on the Church, the denomination, or the pastor. Our giving is to God.

The widow did NOT give out of her abundance, but out of her poverty. She gave everything she had to live on. She sacrificially gave all that she had as Jesus in two days would give his life on a cross for us.

The widow did NOT give in a showy manner, as the rich “threw” their money in such a way as to make some noise. The widow “put” her money in. No one needed to know but God. And God did see, just as Jesus saw. No offering goes unnoticed by God.

Her offering was small in value, but big on proportion. Some point to tithing as an Old Testament teaching, not present in the New Testament. Here Jesus lifts up proportional giving as: “all she had to live on.”

The widow was faithful and spiritually mature. She was thankful to God for his provision; she knew it was God who provided and cared for her. Implicit in this passage, she is a joyful giver–her attitude is right.

Questions for Reflection

1. From whom have you learned your patterns of giving?
2. Are you continuing to learn? Every aspect of our lives is touched, including our giving, when we grow in Christ.
3. What proportion of your income do you give? Have you ever figured out the percent of your income that you give? If not, why? Why are you resistant?
4. In what way does this story speak to you, inspire, touch you? To whom do you relate: the rich, the poor widow, the disciples gathered around Jesus to hear him teach?
5. Finally, who do you love? In whom do you trust? Have you found your purpose in sharing Christ with others?

As we’ve written about before recently, we’re enjoying involving our kids (mainly Ethan, at this point) in our mission giving. We usually do some extra giving at the end of the year and one of our favorite year-end projects is Heifer.

Heifer’s mission is …

To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

Using Heifer’s online catalog, you can give the gift of various animals, from a flock of chicks or ducks ($20), to a goat ($120), or even a heifer ($500). You can also give a share of an animal if you choose to give less than the full amount.

Today, I connected my laptop to the TV and Ethan (wearing his backpack, at the time) helped us choose some gifts.

In the monthly West Side UMC Stewardship newsletter, we have been looking at the twelve qualities of the Christian steward as presented by Rev. Phillis M. Bowers in the booklet, Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation: Stewardship. The next quality, which is appropriate in the midst of Advent/Christmas and as we begin the new year, is generosity.

A Christian steward is generous. Christian stewards give whatever is needed and whenever it is needed (Proverbs 11.24-29; Mark 10.17-22; Luke 12.13-21; 2 Corinthians 8.1-15; 2 Corinthians 9.6-15; Galatians 5.22-23; 1 Timothy 6.17-19).

They voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints (2 Corinthians 8.3-4). In this passage the Apostle Paul is speaking of the Macedonian Churches. He states that they are poor, but yet they desperately wanted to give to the ministry of the Lord. What a beautiful picture of generosity!

What enabled them to give in such a way? Paul goes on to say, “they gave themselves first to the Lord.” The only way we can have generous hearts is if we first give our hearts to the Lord. The only way we can see God’s will, and to have a desire to be a part of God’s work in this world is to give ourselves to the Lord.

And so as we present our gifts to God, we give him our hearts. As we first give him our hearts, he enables us to give generous gifts. He stirs up in us a desire to desperately want to share in the ministry and work of the church through our financial gifts.

It is my prayer that as we enter this new year, we will once again commit our whole lives to Christ!

In the days and weeks leading up to our first trip to Korea — and to becoming parents — we wrote about the kind of culture we wanted to create in our home and family life. Part of that included Shaping a Servant Culture.

To help our children become servants and givers, we want to let them share in opportunities of blessing others. And one of the ways we like to do that is Operation Christmas Child, an annual outreach of Samaritan’s Purse. Last year was Ethan’s first year to participate in Operation Christmas Child. This year, Sarah got to watch. Next year, she’ll be ready to jump in, as well.

A nice new development this year is the ability to track where your shoe boxes go. By making an online donation (to cover the $7/box shipping cost) through EZ Give, you get a label with a bar code, which is used to track the destination of your shoe boxes. The traditional method is to include your donation with your shoe box.

Well, we would be interested in hearing how you have involved — or are involving — your children in mission and/or giving in the comments below.

I have noticed a number of commercials from Fidelity Investments lately. They’re the commercials with the green line on the ground that offers guidance and direction. Last week, one especially caught my attention.

In the commercial, the financial advisor encourages the client that the plan they worked out for his retirement “makes sense” and that he should “just stay on track.” Shortly after leaving the Fidelity office, the client stops to look at some expensive cars. Back down the street, the financial advisor from Fidelity calls out, “Stay on the line!” The client smiles, gets back on the line, and moves along.

The commercial caught my attention because that’s not the message we’re accustomed to hearing in commercials. Granted, it was a commercial from an investment firm, not an advertiser for a product they’re trying to convince us we need.

But the message is a good one — have a goal, a purpose, stay on track, and don’t get distracted along the way.

You can see the commercial on YouTube.

In Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation: Stewardship, Phyllis M. Bowers has outlined twelve qualities of the Christian steward. Rev. Bowers is the Executive Director of The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation of Central Pennsylvania. It is an honor for her work to be published in a denominational guide. Over the next year, we will take a look at each of the twelve qualities she has detailed. The first of these characteristics is compassion. She states:

A Christian steward is compassionate. Christian stewards are caretakers and caregivers. They concern themselves with the distribution of gifts and resources so that all might benefit (Genesis 2.4-9; Matthew 14.13-21; Matthew 25.31-46; 1 Corinthians 12.12-28; James 2.14-17).

While a caretaker is one who has been given the responsibility of caring for something or someone, a caregiver always refers to the care of someone. Stewards recognize that their finances and possessions belong to God and are only entrusted to their care. They are given to the steward to be used in ways faithful to God. The creation passage in Genesis 2 expresses this in telling how God created the earth, placing humankind in the midst of it to care for it (Genesis 2.15).

God calls his stewards to be compassionate, distributing their resources to care for others in their time of need. Jesus did this as he fed the five thousand (Matthew 14). Jesus says when we do this for a stranger, we do this for him.

To be caretaker and caregiver is to recognize that all we have is gift, a gift entrusted to us to use for the glory of God.

We pray, “God, thank you for your good gifts, for your provision. May we be faithful in sharing those gifts to care for one another and to care for the stranger in our midst.”

(This post is taken from my monthly finance letter at West Side UMC.)

I recently came across a new author and speaker, Margaret Feinberg. I am currently reading one of her books, The Organic God. When I first discovered her, an audio file on her website caught my attention, entitled “Outrageously Generous.”

Fienberg states that in Malachi 2.11, God says he loves the temple. In John 3.16, the Scriptures say God loves people. However, there is only one place in the Scriptures that say precisely what God loves: 2 Corinthians 9.11 …

“God loves a cheerful giver.”

Feinberg says, “I want to love what God loves and I want to be what God loves.”

Why does God love a cheerful giver?

When we give cheerfully, we reflect our outrageously generous God. We join him in the act of generosity. Not just as someone who collects, but by becoming someone who distributes to others.

Feinberg continues:

When I was young I helped at home with chores and sometimes helping out Mom at her office. I had no job outside the home, so I was dependent on my parents for spending money. When the weekend approached and I wanted money to do something fun, I had to go to Dad and say, “I need ‘x’ amount of dollars.” And Dad would always respond, “How much do you need?” Feinberg would reply with the exact amount needed. If it was for a movie, “I need $7.50.” Feinberg never considered needing some extra for a snack during the movie or to do something following the movie. If she had extra left over from the week before, she may say she only needed $5. Her dad always responded by giving her more. If she asked for $5 she got $10. If she asked for $10 she got $20. Whether he could afford it or not, he always gave more.

In this, Feinberg received a generous demonstration of God’s love and his generosity. We serve a God who doesn’t just give what we ask, he gives us so much more.

Feinberg confesses that despite such generosity, there are times that she is tempted to hold back. Rather than living openhandedly, she says, “I tend to hold on.” And to this end Feinberg refers to the story of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt in Exodus 16.

When we can’t put it into words, we can’t even express those things we desire, we cry out to God, and he gives them to us in abundance. Indeed, our God is outrageously generous!

I am currently leading a Bible study based on a book by Adam Hamilton called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity.

With the book, Hamilton includes a prayer for contentment on a plastic key tag that can easily be kept in places as a visual reminder of what we are studying, learning, and applying to our lives. The prayer reads:

Lord, help me to be grateful for what I have, to remember that I don’t need most of what I want, and that joy is found in simplicity and generosity.

In chapter one, Hamilton observes that the American Dream has become the American Nightmare, as Americans strive to accumulate material things and do so by going deeper and deeper in debt. Jesus was tempted in this manner in Matthew 4.8-10 when Satan tempted him with the pursuit of wealth and power rather than the way of sacrificial love.

Satan is described as a thief who “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10.10).

Hamilton writes:

If he can get you in debt, he can make you a slave. If he can convince you to spend all you have, you’ll never offer your tithes to God, never help the poor as you could have, and never use what you do have to accomplish God’s purposes. If he can tempt you to become a slave to creditors, you will not know simplicity, generosity, or joy. He will have neutralized your effectiveness for the Kingdom and choked the gospel out of your life (22).

In the second part of John 10.10, Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Too often we equate the abundance of wealth and possessions as abundant life and a sign of God’s blessing.

Adam Hamilton challenges us to discover true abundant life and joy through simplicity and generosity. Hamilton’s balanced approach does not suggest that we never buy things for ourselves, but promises to grow our understanding of Christian stewardship and God’s will for our lives and living.