Good Enough for God

How we all fit into the big picture of ministry. Example from St Mary, Hawkshaw.


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27 February 2009

What does it mean to honour God? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind,” says Jesus; but what does that mean in practice? If we want to honour God in worship, then to be true worship it should be reflected in all of our lives. (As James reminds us – faith without deeds is dead!)

Stewardship and worship go hand in hand. Stewardship is about looking after each of the gifts God has given us. So in theory we should have no need for a Diocesan Stewardship Officer, as every Christian would be minded to give all that they were able in time, skills and finances to build up God’s kingdom here and further afield. But, as in other areas of Christian discipline, sometimes we don’t quite get it right.

Looking at stewardship is perhaps something like mowing the grass. You wish someone else would do it for you, but the longer you wait, the harder it gets to do… so last year in Holcombe and Hawkshaw, we decided to seek the advice of Peter McEvitt, the Diocesan Stewardship Officer, and so ‘Good enough for God’ was launched.

We were clear from the start that we didn’t want it to be just about finances, nor was it to be about what we could get. Rather we wanted to remember again that we are each called to be part of the Body of Christ. So we made up Jigsaws of our church communities and sent the pieces out around the parish; slowly the pieces returned as each individual, family or couple responded to the invitation to ‘put yourself in the picture’. There are still a few gaps in the puzzle, but most have come back.

Some people were best able to respond financially (giving increased by ~25%); others were able to offer their time or skills to the life of the church (an impressive 140 different acts of service were offered). We are very glad for each of these people and hope that each will know that they are a valued part of our church. We pray for the gaps, wondering perhaps how we can give and serve them to help them to be all that God has called them to be.

Click here for Stewardship Resources.


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