Stewardship Confessions from Church Council

At its regular meeting on August 17, Council had one of its most powerful conversations in my six years of service. What was the subject? Stewardship!

We talk a lot about stewardship on Council. In its broad sense, that may be the best word to describe our job as LPLC’s “board of directors” — that is, to be stewards of the great resources God has entrusted to our congregation. But mostly our conversations have focused on stewardship in its narrower, common use — the yearly ask for money from members to support Lake Park’s mission and priorities. We fret about the deficit budget that we submitted to the congregation at our Annual Meeting last January. We worry that instead of closing the budgeted  deficit with increased giving, our member giving has been below budget this year. We wonder whether, given the financial limitations many of our members are facing, we will be able to continue to support the growth staffing model our congregation embraced a year-and-a-half ago at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

But for all this, we had not taken a step back and asked ourselves, as individuals and as representatives of this church: what is the place and meaning of giving at LPLC?

We began that conversation in earnest on August 17. What emerged from our conversation was a collection of individual narratives, individual confessions of the place of giving in our lives. What we hold in common is a recognition that giving of our time and financial resources is important to our spiritual lives and to the well being of our church community. But we have such varied views on why and how we give! Here are some of the thoughts shared:

• We give in response to the Old Testament direction to give of our “first fruits” and according to the New Testament direction to give cheerfully.

• We give out of gratitude to God and the place this church has in our lives.

• We give because we hear Jesus’ promise that where we place our treasure, our hearts will follow — that we can strengthen our love of God by giving.

• We give because we know the costs of operating Lake Park and we need to share them.

• We give because Lake Park makes good use of our money.

• We commit a percentage of our income and give according to that commitment because we are rewarded by honoring our commitments.

• We commit our time to the work of our church, and give financially when we can and are moved to do so.

What we weave together from these strands may be the beginning of a Lake Park confession of stewardship. But it will only be the beginning — the conversation that Council had on August 17 is really only the first step in a conversation with you, the members of Lake Park.

In the weeks and months to come, please look for opportunities to make your confession of stewardship and to add to our congregation’s understanding of this important ministry.

God’s peace,
Andy Vedder