Dear Members and Friends of Immanuel,
“Stewardship is receiving and sharing God’s bounteous gifts and managing them for the best promotion of God’s purposes in the world.” (Milo Kauffman)
For the past few weeks we’ve been reflecting together on the theme of Stewardship. We began by considering that stewardship is much more than “fund-raising”. Stewardship is a way of life. Since God is the Creator of all, and every good thing we receive is a gift from God, then we are all stewards, whether we desire to be or not. The question is: Will we be faithful or unfaithful stewards?
Then we moved on to consider the stewardship of money. We worked through the threats and dangers attached to the love of money, and concluded that since Jesus taught that “we cannot serve both God and wealth” we must make one the master of the other. That, of course, is easier said than done, but necessary if we seek to be free from bondage to the golden calf of money.
Most recently, we’ve wrestled with the stewardship of resources in community life, and the innovative and unconventional solutions the early church put into place in order to maintain their focus on Christ’s mission.
All of this has been done against the backdrop of weekly testimonies that have drawn attention to the fact that when it comes to our church budget “Everything is Mission” because “Every Budget Line Blesses Lives.” Every dollar given in support of Immanuel goes toward enriching and encouraging people’s lives – oftentimes, in ways that go beyond any one person’s experience.
As we continue to wrestle with our call to be faithful stewards of our time, talents, and treasure, I invite you to prayerfully reflect on your pledge for the upcoming year. I’ve enclosed a Commitment Card that we will be receiving on Consecration Sunday – November 5, 2017. Our business meeting to approve a budget for the upcoming year will then follow on November 12, 2017, after the 2nd service (around 11:45 or so).
As always, thank you for your prayerful support of our church’s mission! Though the mission may at times seem impossible, the good news is that we are accompanied all along the way with the “God of the Impossible” who is perfectly generous and able to do more than we can ask or even imagine.
Your pastor,
Rev. Rich Vincent
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