We should view giving as an honor and privilege, not as a duty or obligation, says Katie Shockley.
By Katie Shockley Special Contributor
Stewardship encompasses many ways that we manage what God has given us. Sometimes churches need to narrow the focus to speak about financial support of a local congregation.
A year ago, a fellow church member asked me to share a testimony of what stewardship meant to me and my husband. Since it coincided with our church’s budget campaign, we focused on financial support for the church.
I presented three ideas to the congregation that day about financial giving: as an honor and privilege, an act of worship and an opportunity to help others use their spiritual gifts.
First, view giving as an honor and privilege, not as a duty or obligation. People join local congregations for various reasons. My husband and I joined a church large enough to support multiple adult Bible studies and offer more than one adult Sunday school class.
We consider ourselves fortunate to support our church in its ministries because we found a church that supports us. We support our church in what God needs our church to do. We write our monthly check out of joy, no longer out of obligation.
How can your giving move from being something you “have to do” to being something you “get to do”?
Find joy in watching your earned income do more than pay your credit-card bills; it can help bring God’s love to the world. Find joy in financially supporting your church. See the honor and privilege in supporting the ministries that drew you to that local congregation.
Act of worship
Secondly, view giving as an act of worship, an act of praise. Giving proclaims “Thank you, God, for all the blessings you have given me. Thank you, Lord, for letting me be a part of this place.”
Offering our tithes and gifts to God belongs in our worship services. The act of offering allows the congregation to see their financial support of the church as a part of praising God. The act of tithing allows the congregation to connect their giving to worship.
Some church administrators fear collecting pledge cards during a worship service. I believe that pledging is an expression of trust in God, an act of praise. So I believe the proper place to collect pledges is in a worship service. Communal pledging symbolizes the need of every member’s financial support to further God’s work in the world.
My husband and I do not skip “Stewardship Sunday,” nor do we skip pledging to our church.
Finally, view giving as an opportunity to support others as they use their spiritual gifts. Church leaders talk frequently about identifying and exercising each member’s spiritual gifts. My spiritual gifts include teaching adults and administration. My talents do not lie with children’s or youth ministry. My financial support of the church allows other members to operate the children’s and youth ministries.
Paul teaches in I Corinthians 12 that just as the human body has many parts, each with different functions, so the body of Christ, the church, has many members, each with a different spiritual gift.
God does not allocate spiritual gifts randomly. God gives spiritual gifts by God’s design to work together “for the common good” of the church (I Corinthians 12:8, NRSV).
God does not give us spiritual gifts for the sake of having spiritual gifts. See the common good your giving brings to the body of Christ as others use their spiritual gifts to further God’s ministry in the world.
Be up-front
Attitudes on giving range from “that’s between me and God” to “let me know how much you need.” The challenge comes in inviting individual church members to see their financial giving in a new light.
Do not hide discussions about money and the church behind closed doors. Jesus certainly never shied away from talking about money and its proper use.
Members need to know the financial status of their churches. They need to know that the church depends upon their financial giving. All need to be invited to examine their attitudes on giving.
I invite you to explore giving as an honor and privilege, an act of worship and praise, and an opportunity to support others in their use of their God-given and God-designed gifts.
Ms. Shockley, a member of First UMC in Rockwall, Texas, is working on a master of church ministries degree at Perkins School of Theology.
© 2008 DESIGN PICS
Ms. Shockley, a member of First UMC in Rockwall, Texas, is working on a master of church ministries degree at Perkins School of Theology. 
