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Lexham Press - Nathan Meador

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45 pages

English

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Stewardship isn't just managing resources-it's soul care.Stewardship of time, talents, and treasure isn't just about sustaining the material of the church. It's about guiding those resources in service of the church's primary mission: proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Stewarding the lambs of Christ that make up your congregation encompasses all aspects of their lives-material and spiritual.Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis present a practical theology of stewardship focused on ministry in service of the gospel. Guiding pastors away from the pitfalls of idolatry around money, they instead call stewards to embrace their identity in Christ and encourage their congregations to do the same. This fresh approach to stewardship reorients both individuals and congregations toward their true purpose as stewards who have been baptized into Christ.Stewardship will help pastors to teach and preach stewardship as a call to repentance and new life.

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Philosophie et théologie

Christianity

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Publié par	Lexham Press
Date de parution	04 août 2021
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781683594963
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

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LEXHAM MINISTRY GUIDES
Stewardship
For the Care of Souls
NATHAN MEADOR
& HEATH R. CURTIS
General Editor
Harold L. Senkbeil
Stewardship: For the Care of Souls
Lexham Ministry Guides
Copyright 2021 Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
LexhamPress.com
All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com .
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV ® Bible ( The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® ), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Print ISBN 9781683594956
Digital ISBN 9781683594963
Library of Congress Control Number 2021930780
Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Andrew Sheffield, Abigail Salinger, Danielle Thevenaz
Cover Design: Joshua Hunt
For the saints of
St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin,
Trinity Lutheran Church in Worden, Illinois, and
Zion Lutheran Church in Carpenter, Illinois.
Contents
S ERIES P REFACE
P RAYER FOR THE M INISTRY OF S TEWARDSHIP
C HAPTER 1
The Story of Stewardship
Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis
C HAPTER 2
The Pastoral Care of Stewardship
Nathan Meador
C HAPTER 3
The Teaching and Preaching of Stewardship
Heath R. Curtis
C HAPTER 4
The Culture of Stewardship
Nathan Meador
C HAPTER 5
The Good News of Stewardship
Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
R ESOURCES
W ORKS C ITED
A CTS 20:28
Pay careful attention to yourselves and
to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to care
for the church of God,
which he obtained
with his own
blood.
Series Preface
W hat’s old is new again.
The church in ages past has focused her mission through every changing era on one unchanging, Spirit-given task: the care of souls in Jesus’ name. Christian clergy in every generation have devoted themselves to bringing Christ’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to people by first bringing them to faith and then keeping them in the faith all life long.
These people—these blood-bought souls—are cared for just as a doctor cares for bodies. The first step is carefully observing the symptoms of distress, then diagnosing the ailment behind these symptoms. Only after careful observation and informed diagnosis can a physician of souls proceed—treating not the symptoms, but the underlying disease.
Attention and intention are essential for quality pastoral care. Pastors first attentively listen with Christ’s ears and then intentionally speak with Christ’s mouth. Soul care is a ministry of the Word; it is rooted in the conviction that God’s word is efficacious—it does what it says (Isa 55:10–11).
This careful, care-filled pastoral work is more art than science. It’s the practical wisdom of theology, rooted in focused study of God’s word and informed by the example of generations past. It’s an aptitude more than a skillset, developed through years of ministry experience and ongoing conversation with colleagues.
The challenges of our turbulent era are driving conscientious evangelists and pastors to return to the soul care tradition to find effective tools for contemporary ministry. (I describe this in depth in my book The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart .) It’s this collegial conversation that each author in this series engages—speaking from their own knowledge and experience. We want to learn from each other’s insights to enrich the soul care tradition. How can we best address contemporary challenges with the timeless treasures of the word of God?
I n the Lexham Ministry Guides you will meet new colleagues to enlarge and enrich your unique ministry to better serve the Savior’s sheep and lambs with confidence. These men and women are in touch with people in different subcultures and settings, where they are daily engaged in learning the practical wisdom of the care of souls in real-life ministry settings just like yours. They will share their own personal insights and approaches to one of the myriad aspects of contemporary ministry.
Though their methods vary, they flow from one common conviction: all pastoral work is rooted in a pastoral habitus, or disposition. What every pastor does day after day is an expression of who the pastor is as a servant of Christ and a steward of God’s mysteries (1 Cor 4:1).
Although the authors may come from theological traditions different than yours, you will find a wealth of strategies and tactics for practical ministry you can apply, informed by your own confession of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).
O ur Lord doesn’t call us to success, as if the results were up to us: “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). No, our Lord asks us to be faithful laborers in the service of souls he has purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
Nor does our Lord expect us to have all the answers: “I will give you a mouth and wisdom” (Luke 21:15). Jesus, the eternal Word of the Father, is the Answer who gives us words when we need them to give to our neighbors when they need them. After all, Jesus sees deeper into our hearts than we do; he knows what we need. He is the Wisdom of God in every generation (1 Cor 1:24).
But wisdom takes time. The Lord our God creates, redeems, and sanctifies merely by his words. He could give us success and answers now, but he usually doesn’t. We learn over time through challenges and frustrations—even Jesus grew over time (Luke 2:52). The Lexham Ministry Guides offer practical wisdom for the church.
Since all things are sanctified by God’s word and prayer (1 Tim 4:5), each volume in this series begins with prayer rooted in the word. We have Christ’s command and promis: “Ask, and it shall be given to you” (Luke 11:9).
M y prayer is that you grow in humble appreciation of the rare honor and responsibility that Christ Jesus bestowed on you in the power and presence of his Spirit: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
Father in heaven, as in every generation you send forth laborers to do your work and equip them by your word, so we pray that in this our time you will continue to send forth your Spirit by that word. Equip your servants with everything good that they may do your will, working in them that which is well pleasing in your sight. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Harold L. Senkbeil, General Editor
September 14, 2020
Holy Cross Day
Prayer for the Ministry of Stewardship
S ince the earliest days of the church, Christians have used Holy Scripture to shape and inform their life of prayer. The structured prayer below invites pastors and laity to pray for the ministry of stewardship in the congregation. It can be used by either individuals or groups—in which case a designated leader begins, and the others speak the words in bold font.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth will declare
your praise.
Ps 51:15
The earth is the L ORD ’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Ps 24:1
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
Ps 139:14
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:10
That God would bless his creatures to know the
joy of bearing his image;
That he would equip his stewards to be his
hands and his feet for the benefit of the
neighbor;
That he would lead his stewards as they bear the
gospel and as they use the gifts of creation for
the sake of others;
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
That God would renew his stewards in the
church to care for the world and those in it
as he has cared for it in Jesus;
That he would enable his stewards to offer their
bodies as living sacrifices transformed by his
word;
That he would sanctify his stewards to carry out
the priestly vocation for which they have
been created and redeemed;
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Matt 6:9–13
Almighty God and Father, we are fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. Forgive us for our failed stewardship of that image in the world. Yet in mercy you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to wear our flesh, bear our sins, and fulfill our stewardship. Clothed and called by him, lead us by your grace to bear the image of Christ to suffering souls in this broken world. Lead us to show your love to the unlovable, your faithfulness to the fallen, and your mercy to those who so desperately need your love, faithfulness, and mercy in their bodies and lives. Use our stewardship of the gospel to be an instrument in the hands of the Spirit so that others may see Jesus, the one who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord Almighty direct our days and our deeds in his peace.
Amen.
C HAPTER 1
The Story of Stewardship
Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis
T his is yet another book about stewardship; however, this is not just another book on stewardship. Most books on stewardship focus on money management, the offering plate, and perhaps creation care. More rarely, works focus on the theology of stewardship. This stewardship