Christian Leadership Alliance
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Creating Effective Steward Leaders
Encouraging generosity to fulfill the Great Commission.| Outcomes, Dec/Jan 2008
God has charged Christians to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Since this goal is radically different from the objectives of the surrounding culture, leaders in the next generation will need to look at new paradigms of thinking and acting from a biblical worldview.
One continuing challenge leaders will face is providing resources for ministry. It is clear that secular marketing practices used in the last 50-plus years to raise money for ministry are not producing generosity, nor are they particularly pleasing to God. Most current practices focus on what givers receive in exchange for what they give; the practices encourage self-centered, self-focused giving. To create a revolution in generosity, a paradigm shift is needed away from the transactional methods, and toward the transformation of hearts that will lead to fulfilling the Great Commission.
A voice from the past may provide helpful insight. Horace Bushnell writes, "One more revival; only one more is needed; the revival of Christian stewardship; the consecration of the money power of the church unto God; and when that revival comes the kingdom of God will come in a day. You can no more prevent it than you can hold back the tides of the ocean" ("Home Problems of Foreign Missions," The Baptist Missionary Magazine, 1902).
Is it possible that the main impediment to fulfilling the Great Commission is a lack of generosity? Part of our task as Christian leaders is to help fellow believers understand the relationship between their possessions and their spiritual maturity, and to encourage them to conform to the image of Christ and be generous, as Christ is generous.
In his 2005 book, Revolution of Character, Dallas Willard argues, "This aching world is waiting for the people explicitly identified with Christ to be, through and through, the people he intends them to be." And that includes the area of possessions. George Barna's research confirms that when it comes to handling money, Christians are looking more and more like the rest of the culture (Revolution, 2005). In a generation searching for authenticity, we cannot afford to leave large areas of life untouched by our Christian beliefs.
Money and possession issues are mentioned repeatedly in Scripture, and how we treat our finances directly impacts spiritual vitality. In Luke 12:21 Jesus relates the parable of the unwise steward. The steward stores and hoards until he has more possessions than space in his barn. Just before the final beam is laid on a new barn, this man is called away from earth and condemned for not being rich toward God. Jesus tells this parable to emphasize that the use of our possessions has an impact on our spiritual formation. The next generation of Christian leaders as a whole will need God's people to be faithful with their finances to carry out the Great Commission.
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