Stewardship Ministry

Square One Resources

It can be a struggle to know where to begin when it comes to congregational stewardship. Here are four ways to get started.

• Stewardship Under the Cross — Stewardship Under the Cross: Stewardship for the Confessional Lutheran Parishby the Rev. Heath Curtis includes a book and a planning guide. The book tells the story of a real LCMS congregation and how they went from financial chaos to faithful, Lutheran, biblical stewardship. The planning guide will help your congregation lay out the steps it takes to do the same in your congregation. Reading this book together is a great place for a pastor and board of elders to begin.

• Stewardship from A to Z — The A to Z collection of resources includes a lot of content. If your congregation needs to start at square one, check out the Bible study section for ideas on how to introduce biblical stewardship. If your congregation already has a yearly stewardship focus, you’ll find resources to help bring new and fresh ideas to each year’s program.

• Stewardship Basics — An in-depth, 8-week Bible study to introduce stewardship to a congregation.

• Philippians Workshop — Resources like those above are great. But there’s never been a shortage of great resources, and it’s still hard for congregations to get off of square one. Here’s what we have found to work best: face-to-face workshops for pastors and lay leaders. We conduct several of these each year all around the Synod. If your congregation would consider hosting a workshop for your local circuit congregations, check out the “Philippians Workshop” flier and email us at stewardship@lcms.org.

Bulletin, Newsletter and Pew Resources

These resources all serve to keep faithful, biblical stewardship in front of the congregation on a weekly and monthly basis.

• Bulletin, Newsletter Information — Stewardship bulletin blurbs and newsletter articles are available for congregations to feature in church publications. Content is based on the one-year and three-year lectionary.

• Online Giving Pew Cards — The physical act of collecting the gifts and bringing them to the altar has been a part of Christian worship since the time of the apostles. Now, parishioners who give offerings electronically may participate in the Divine Service by placing a card in the offering plate in lieu of an envelope. LCMS congregations may print online giving pew cards for members.

• Manage Time Wisely — The Lord gives each of us 1,440 minutes per day. How are we using that time? A half-sheet handout, which is suitable to include in worship bulletins, encourages congregational members to spend 1 percent of their time each day in Bible reading and prayer plus 1 percent of their waking hours each week in worship.

Digging Deeper: Devotions, Studies, Financial Peace University

These resources will help your congregation delve more deeply into stewardship topics.

• Devotion: Simple Gifts — “Simple Gifts” is a 22-part series of devotions on stewardship. Topics include “Stewards of the gift of peace“ and “Gifts for the generations to come.”

• Financial Peace University^® — “Preview and Review of Financial Peace^® University,” written by Rev. Jonathan Conner, has helpful suggestions for Lutheran pastors and lay leaders who want to use FPU in their congregations.

• Form 6:21 — Financial transparency is beneficial for church operations. Form 6:21 was created to provide a simple and clear way for a congregation to communicate its mission, activities, and financial operations to its members.

• The Chief Steward — The Chief Steward: A Manual on Pastoral Leadership was written by the Rev. J.E. Herrmann. The Rev. Nathan Meador, assistant coordinator of the LCMS Stewardship Ministry, says the resource has timeless advice despite being written in 1950.

• Biblical Stewardship Principles — The LCMS recommends using these Bible Stewardship Principles in guiding education and appeal efforts in Synod congregations, entities, agencies and auxiliaries. The principles feature a leader’s guide and are available in four different languages plus three age-appropriate versions.

• Tell the Story of the People’s Giving — When people see and hear what their giving is doing in the Kingdom, it gives them encouragement and instills confidence in the church’s faithful administration. All of this helps cultivate cheerful givers.