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By Rev. Judith VanOsdol, Director for Evangelical Mission
All that we are and all that we have comes from and belongs to God. This is the biblical notion of stewardship. Stewardship recognizes this reality and acknowledges responsibility for how we respond.
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Do we believe this? If so, how does our behavior and giving reflect stewardship practices, joy and hopefulness? Gratitude to God for our many gifts, for life itself, and responding in joy with our time, talents, treasure, bodies, possessions... do our actions reflect an "attitude of gratitude" for all that we have been given by God?
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There is a direct connection between stewardship and spirituality: generous giving and generous living as a spiritual discipline helps us to grow in Christ. "Duty and delight" are both motivating factors for giving - doing what we ought to do as responsible church members, and making cheerful giving a habit of the heart out of love for God.
Dr. Mark Allan Powell
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Do we practice what we preach and teach? Do our spiritual practices including congregational giving reflect an attitude of gratitude and a generosity of spirit? Stewardship is not fund raising. If everything belongs to God-including our lives, churches, God's mission in the world, then giving to God's mission beyond our four walls recognizes that the Church of Christ Jesus goes far beyond even our own imaginations. Giving beyond our immediate needs takes a leap of faith to believe that God's mission is active well beyond our context and vision; through our generous response, God can reach out so that "all nations" might be blessed.
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Take a leap of Faith! The Synod Challenge places the deep need of the wider church before the congregations, that we might respond with a generosity of spirit-with an attitude of gratitude, for all God has done, is doing and WILL do among us, and beyond our immediate vision as well.
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Can your congregation commit to a larger percentage of mission support for 2013 in order to respond to the call to God's mission the wider church and the world? Please fill in and return 2013 mission support form mailed to your congregation. God's blessings of peace and joy in this mission we share in Christ Jesus.
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