LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1995, Page 92

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3. Growth in Giving

- Our topic is “Growth in Giving.” A topic, interestingly
enough, assigned to a pastor of the ministerium with back-
ground, experience, and responsibility for gift planning
throughout the Synod. I promise you I will not conclude my
remarks as I pass out pledge cards! Nor will I distribute ad-
ditional offering envelopes!

That “Growth in Giving” topic was assigned by the Pres-
ident of Synod who has strongly and clearly stated a “yes,
yes” approach to giving. Yes to strong, ongoing, and grow-
ing support to and through the local church. Yes to direct
gifts for particular ministries. Dr. Barry’s “yes, yes” ap-
proach is an acknowledgement of a major change ‘in the
way Christians do their financial stewarding today. What
once came entirely to a local congregation and through that
congregation to a District and through that District to
Synod and through that Synod to all the world has now
changed. For example, today over 55% of the dollars used
by Synod’s Board for Mission Services come via direct
gifts—a startling change from a few years ago. ;

The “Growth in Giving” topic is also significant to
Synod’s 150th anniversary celebration. That celebration
will be built on a tripod: growth in the Word; growth in out-
reach; growth in giving. Three strong legs—not two weak
ones and one strong one—not two strong ones and one
weak one. ;

“Growth in Giving” speaks of the joyful response of
Christians to opportunities. Yet the 150th anniversary cel-
ebration will not be a mammoth financial campaign
masked by lip service to the inspired Word and mission op-
portunities. Nor will the opportunity for giving growth be
overshadowed by our commitment to growth in the Word
or outreach.

Three strong legs: the Word; outreach; giving. So, in in-
troduction to a most significant topic, let it be said that a
pastor who is a senior vice-president of the LCMS Founda-
tion, in a Synod whose President strongly states a “yes, yes”
approach to giving, as together we embrace the wisdom of a
tripod growth in the Word, outreach, and giving for the
150th anniversary celebration, speaks to you now.

Three Assumptions for This Essay

There are three assumptions behind this presentation.
The first is seen in that this is not an essay on stewardship.
To be sure we are stewards—managers, caretakers,
trustees, custodians—for the resources owned by another.
That owner is God. We stewards are called upon to man-
age life and all of life’s resources so that we fulfill God’s
purposes of loving one another and spreading the precious
Gospel. , .

Psalm 24 puts it this way: “The earth is the Lorp’s and
the fullness thereof.” Stewardship principles began at cre-
ation when God placed man in life with the divine impera-
tive “have dominion.”

The Old Testament concept of stewarding included the
tithe—the first and the best for God. But it also included
the manner in which the Israelites, helped their neighbors,

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cared for their cattle; and practiced crop rotation. Still
today Christian stewards know that God has plans for us,
“plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you
hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11)

In Christ we believe those divine plans were best laid,
best given, best seen. We believe that now, prompted by
grace, we manage all the Lord has given: time, talents, and
treasure.

Other essayists, other writers, and certainly better
scholars than I have gone down deep and stayed down long
on the subject of Christian stewardship. For our purposes
we assume that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, mo-
tivated by the Spirit of God, and prompted by grace to see
growth in giving. For the moment, we're more concerned in
the “doing” of giving than about the “why” of giving. Be-
cause we stand at the foot of the cross, knowing He died for
us and gave not only forgiveness of sins but life and every
blessing, we want to speak of the manner in which to give.
That’s my first assumption.

Our second assumption is that you agree with Dr.
Barry’s “yes, yes” approach to giving. I certainly do. It re-
flects the realities of today and today’s necessities as well.
It also acknowledges the manner in which we do financial
stewardship: some to the local congregation and some for
specific ministries beyond the congregation.

Mine is not an impassioned plea to return to giving only
through offering envelopes which go only to the local con-
gregation. We must always support that congregation of
which we are a part. Yet, the manner in which we Chris-
tians give today goes far beyond the local church. My sec-