Can Stewardship Be More Inviting?
By the Rev. William O. Avery In my position as Professor of Stewardship, I speak to many groups of clergy and laity about the meaning of stewardship. I often begin my presentations by posing some questions. A question I invariably ask is, “What is the first thing the average parishioner thinks when she/he hears the word stewardship? In every instance the resounding answer is “Money!” It does not matter if the audience is a group of clergy or a Sunday School class in a congregation. The answer is always, “Money.” Indelibly marked in the minds of all churchgoers is the link between stewardship and money. Moreover, I contend that, because of American societys ambiguous attitude toward money, this immediate identification leads to a hostile, or at least very conflicted, attitude toward stewardship. Americans deepest obsession is with money. Money (or its manifestation as power, prestige, or security) seems to be the ultimate value against which many people measure everything else. People w
