Why Use the Word “Stewardship”?

Editor’s note: Monthly articles from LCMS Stewardship Ministry are hosted here on The Lutheran Witness site. Visit the “Ministry Features” page each month for additional stewardship content.

Recently I assisted with a Philippians Conference, a stewardship workshop based on St. Paul’s words in Philippians 1.

As usual, the participants, upon hearing that the topic of the retreat would be stewardship, approached the retreat with the typical hesitance that often accompanies one of our events. When asked what they expected the weekend to be about, one participant quipped, “Time, talents, treasure and such.”

But as is almost always the case, the participants were pleasantly surprised. Stewardship was the talk of the town for several hours. But none of it was a traditional teaching of stewardship.

Rather than connecting stewardship to budgets and balance sheets, a new group of Philippians Conference attendees were reminded that they were created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26–28) to reflect the will of the Creator within the created order.

The first steward, Adam, with the breath of life freshly in his nostrils, was tasked with working and keeping the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15). This is the very heart of stewardship.

But this status didn’t remain long. Failing to defend the garden from the alien word of the ancient serpent, the dominoes of failed stewardship fell.

Naked and ashamed, hiding from God and beginning to die, the stewards were feeling the burden we all feel. They were starting to live as stewards, a pre-fall vocation, in a fallen world. If not for the promised Messiah coming in the person and work of Jesus, this downward spiral of death would continue unchecked.

But the baptized have been restored to their task of stewardship. Reconciled to Christ, the steward is committed to stewardship of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18–19).

This Gospel is the treasure which God’s people are called to steward for the sake of our neighbor. God’s mercies flow down to us in grace (Eph. 2:8–9) and are lived out in love for neighbor (Eph. 2:10). Stewardship is really nothing more than stewardship of the Gospel!

On this note, a pastor at the conference asked a good question: “Why even use the word stewardship at all?” The contention was that what was being described was really nothing more than preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments. The church has been doing that for two millennia. Perhaps we should just ditch stewardship all together.

It was a new question for me. I didn’t answer it on the spot as well as I should. But “upon further review,” after watching the replay of that moment in my mind, I thought of some reasons why we should keep teaching stewardship.

1. This is God’s design.

The creation account is what sets the stage for what it means to be a steward. There is an order in creation that includes the role of the steward. The steward’s creation for the purpose of reflecting the Creator continues for those redeemed by the Second and Greater Steward, Jesus.

Everything Jesus accomplished in His ministry was the pattern of what our stewardship was meant to be.

In Holy Baptism, our vocation of stewardship is committed to us. Christ, the image of the invisible God, is poured on and over us in the baptismal waters; we bear that image going forward. Who we are in the Gospel is a renewed version of what was intended to be in the first place. Our redemption places us back within the vocation for which we were originally created.

However, this point is lost if we don’t teach stewardship.

2. Stewards are not owners.

Also included in the teaching of stewardship is the relational dynamic that exists between Creator and steward.

At no point in the creation account was title and ownership of anything in creation deeded over to the steward. Stewards cannot be owners. They are entrusted with that which belongs to another.

The classic image of the steward in the Old Testament is Joseph. First Potiphar, then the jailer, and eventually Pharoah entrusted everything they had to Joseph. Joseph didn’t become head of the house, the jail or Egypt. He was still accountable to the ones who were the ultimate owners.

Such is the case for our stewardship of the Gospel. The church freely and richly administers this treasure. But it is not ours. We are still accountable to the One who made it possible.

For this reason, our stewardship also includes making sure that the Word that bears the Gospel treasure is both true and bold. Teaching the owner-steward dynamic keeps the accountability of our stewardship of the Gospel in clear view. While we bear the Gospel and its benefits, it still ultimately belongs to the One who made and redeemed it.

3. Stewardship is liberating.

For too long, stewardship has been taught as an obligation.

This could be connected to our inbred opinion of the Law. Deep down, human beings like to be told what to do. Percentages, steps and charts feed this need. But this opens the process to manipulation and burden. Who looks forward to paying their bills? We do it for fear of default — we don’t see it as enjoyable.

But stewardship of the Gospel is different. In Jesus, the debt has been paid. For me. For you. As stewards, we are free to share freedom. There isn’t any compulsion or manipulation in this process. As baptized stewards, we are just managing and giving away freedom!

Stewardship needs to be taught, shared and embraced. It is the partnership in the Gospel entrusted to us for the sake of our neighbor. It is all that and more!

LCMS Stewardship ministry features may be reprinted with acknowledgment given to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.