My Fellow Parishioners,
Our Parish embraced the concept of Stewardship almost 15 years ago. Recently, we completed our Annual Stewardship renewal for 2017-2018 and we thank all who have and will respond. Perhaps this is a good time for all of us to review our understanding of what we have committed to share as part of our Stewardship journey.
What is Stewardship and what does it mean and ask of us?
First, let’s define what Stewardship is not. Stewardship is not a program. Programs are established for specific goals and time periods. When Stewardship is treated as a program it will not succeed.
Stewardship is a way of life. It is a conversion journey of receiving God’s love and returning that love back by sharing our Time, Talent and Treasure. Stewardship is a life-long journey that requires prayer, reflection and time to allow God to show us who we are, and the person that we can become. It is the journey of the individual, the family and the parish. Stewardship transforms lives because it teaches us to share our gifts from God with others and gives new life to our Faith. Life is God’s gift to us and how we live it is our return gift to Him.
Listed below are four thoughts we might all want to spend some time considering:
What do I have?
Where did it come from?
What do I do with it?
What do I owe to anyone else?
How do we as individuals, families and a Parish answer these questions as good and faithful Stewards?
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Director of Stewardship.
May God continue to bless our parish on our Stewardship journey.