The S Word # 14

THE THEOLOGY OF MONEY # 14
By Douglas Hambidge

A major problem with our stewardship appeal is that it is too often inward-
looking. It is bound up with the idea of surviving another year, meeting budgets
and paying bills. It seems to have little to do and not much to do with expressing
what God is worth in our live and not much to do with identifying ourselves with
the clearly stated agenda of God that you can find in both Hebrew and Christian
scriptures.
If the people of the Church ever grasp what giving is all about, there will be
no need for special appeals, drives and campaigns. Once the meaning of money---
the theology of money---is grasped and set in the context of God’s agenda, then
the very world will be turned upside down. The hungry will be fed; the captives
and the oppressed will be liberated; the blind will see and the poor will hear Good
News.
This is the context and the goal of stewardship. That is what God has placed
in our hands. We are not merely called to take part in stewardship programmes.
We are called to be stewards of God’s future: not just collectors of money, not
fund-raisers, but stewards entrusted with God’s agenda with which to share the
future for God and for the Kingdom.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

What preserves the image that money is unmentionable?
If that is not the image now, how did it change?
Name some of the positive messages we send about financial matters.
If we don’t maintain the institution, what will happen to the message?

Continued Next week STEWARDSHIP MOTIVATION #15