Once More on Stewardship
The recently completed sermon series on Stewardship in an Age of Selfishness challenged all of us to think of stewardship as a world-view.
I did not spent a great amount of time in the series talking about giving. That was intentional. Research for the series revealed that so much of what is written and spoken these days about stewardship has to do with how much people should give, whether to give a percentage, what the percentage should be, and whether to give that percentage from the gross or the net income. Frankly, I was irritated by the focus because it misses totally the heart of worship that must lie behind all stewardship.
Yet, giving is an important part of the Christian life. When people are not "giving people", they are nothing more than self-centered consumers of resources. Such lives reveal ugly hearts.
So, I encourage all of you to read the attached article by Dr. Christian Smith, a believing sociologist who has studied the giving patterns of contemporary Christians. What he has found is disturbing. What he writes is worth a careful read!
John
