Why I’m Giving Up on Time/Talent/Treasure

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time talent treasure

Stewardship in the Episcopal Church is really pretty messed up. One of our favorite things we say about Stewardship is that it isn’t only about money. It is about giving in many ways, especially giving of our time, our talent, and our treasure. It’s a catchy phrase. There’s alliteration, which is always fun. And the sentiment is good. It’s just…

Nobody believes it.

Nobody thinks that when they think stewardship. No one running the stewardship campaign is thinking that way. We’re all thinking about money.

In an attempt to broaden our focus, we instead muddy it. The phrase sounds less like “giving of myself” and more “giving according to a checklist”.

It doesn’t engender new thinking, either. How many can look at it and say

Time? One hour on Sunday…check.

Talent? I used to teach Sunday school…check.

Treasure? You think I’ve got any? Seriously? I gave $10 each week last year…check.

At the same time, we have a small group inspired by all this talk of giving of themselves, that they seem to shout “Here I am, LORD! Pick me!” and we aren’t all that interested in picking them. Since we’re only interested in their money, we don’t know what to make of their talents and are likely to waste their time.

Perhaps we ought to get rid of the stewardship notion all together and call it fundraising. That’s how we see it, anyway.

Or perhaps we make plain that this actually isn’t only about money, by giving as much concern and anxiety about a lack of participation as we do for a lack of participating checks. We can hound people to take on a coffee hour, join the choir, or try to prove how much they truly care for the church by doing the jobs none of us is willing to do.

Or maybe we actually look at our situation holistically and confidently. That we have enough people (hopefully), but we’d love to see an abundance. We have enough money (hopefully), but we’d love to see an abundance. No sky is falling, but no ground is being raised up to GOD either. We keep on keeping on. Which is OK, too.

What I’d really love to see is passion for what could be. Not what was or even what is. But what could be. Maybe that’s next year’s stewardship campaign. I’ll print up the pledge cards. Maybe you can recruit the three people to give testimonies about how passionate they are. Make sure its all in monotone.