It also points to a relationship that stewards have with the one who is doing the entrusting. A steward is the trustee of that which is owned by someone else.” This builds upon the idea of being entrusted to. A steward is a manager of someone else’s property. A steward is a person who takes care of that which belongs to another. Chick Lane and Grace Duddy explain that, “A steward, by definition, cannot be the owner.
I could offer my own answer, but two of my friends who are wiser than I when it comes to stewardship, do a nice job of answering this question. This idea leads to a second question then, what does it mean to be a steward? Rev. Our time, talents, our treasure, they are entrusted to us and meant to be stewarded by us in service. It’s grounded in a belief that all that we have and all that we are, are entrusted to us by God. If you want to take this a step further theologically, stewardship is not just about being in service to God. In the sense of ministry, this is in service to God. Stewardship in its fullest sense for me then is the practice, expression, belief, study, etc., of offering one’s own time, money, and talents in service of others. These gifts I would argue include vocations, passions, gifts, opportunities and talents of all kinds. It means this, but it also means time and natural gifts. The key though is that stewardship means more than just the voluntary contribution of money. You could broaden it out so that its not limited to church members and I believe that the definition would hold. In God’s Stewards: A Theological Study of the Principles and Practices of Stewardship, Brattgard explains that stewardship is expressed “by the willingness of church members to take active responsibility in the service of the church through a voluntary contribution of time, money, and natural gifts” (Brattgard, 2). One of the best definitions that I have found as a starting place comes from Helge Brattgard. I have written some occasionally on the blog about my perspectives about stewardship, but thought it might be good to do some intentional wrestling about stewardship. To do some wrestling though, I believe takes some definition or at least some expression of what assumptions might be being made.įirst of all, what does stewardship mean ? One of the areas of theology, ministry, neighbor love and leadership that I love is stewardship.
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