In my last blog entry (Partner in Ministry – Part 1) I posed the following question:How would you answer the question: “Is your church the best place for me to give my money?”
To adequately answer that question here at Messiah, we need to really examine the mission, vision, and values of Messiah Lutheran Church here in Yorba Linda, California.
Our God-given mission:
Messiah’s God-given mission is “to know Christ and to make Christ known” (Matthew 28:19-20). As a Lutheran congregation, we center on worship and praise of God and our Lord, Jesus Christ; care for those within and outside our congregation; growing in our discipleship – learning and equipping ourselves with God’s word; and reaching out in witness and mission to our community and the world.
Our Spirit-led vision:
Messiah's God-given vision is to "joyfully grow to know, love and serve" by equipping every partner in ministry to understand their lives as journeys of vocation, to connect them to God and one another in worship and prayer, and send them into the community and the world as agents of renewal. How we live our lives is just as important as carrying out our mission.
Our Values:
Messiah's God-given core value is that we are a community of believers who know that salvation is ours as a gift of God’s grace. We are motivated to relate to one another and the world by our biblical understanding of prayer, dignity, integrity, compassion, hospitality, and joy.
As a congregation we invite each other, as Partners in Ministry, to build on Four Pillars of Faith:
- Everyone Invites and Welcomes
- Everyone Serves Inside and Outside Messiah
- Everyone Gives of Time, Talent, and Treasure
- Everyone Grows and Studies
In a sense, after understanding our mission, vision, and values, I suppose that if you are only looking to give money to a worthy cause, you might find that Messiah Lutheran Church might not be a good fit for you. Oh, we have plenty of worthy causes and ministries, alright. To be honest, we probably won’t turn down many gifts, but we are really all about helping people realize their God-given potential as partners in ministry with us.
At Messiah, we have over 75 ministries! Many of them (but not all) are on the Messiah site at:
http://messiahyl.com/
Just check out the ministries tab or the calendar, but prepare to be overwhelmed by the number of ministries that will present themselves to you.
For those who don’t read blogs, surf the web, or explore our Messiah site, we have booklets in every pew of our sanctuary. PLEASE… stop by on Sunday, or drop by the church office in the Life Center and pick up a copy. If you are not already a committed partner in ministry, I’m certain that there are probably several ministries we are involved in that will touch your heart, motivate you to become a partner, and maybe (if the Spirit moves you) open your pocketbook.
Two ministries that are not in the booklet are Cypress Street and Food Pantry.
Cypress Street is a depressed area of very high-density low-income apartments. Every week, high school students from Messiah lead Bible study there. This year, 150 Messiah partners fed over 1100 people at a Thanksgiving dinner at Cypress Street.
Food Pantry is a ministry of about 20 Messiah partners that help to feed over 200 families every week.
Mark Phillipi, our congregational president, startled me when he stated that our goal in this year’s pledge drive was to get 75% of our members to pledge to become active partners in ministry with us. I asked him, “Why not shoot for 100%? Don’t we want everybody to pledge?”
Mark smiled patiently at me, and really opened my eyes with his answer: “We’re not trying to browbeat, or ‘guilt’ anyone to pledge. Not everyone is in a position to be an active partner in ministry. Many people come because they are hurting and need to our understanding, our compassion, our help, and our love. If we get 75% of our members to pledge to be partners in ministry with us, we’ll be doing great. I trust the Holy Spirit to provide more through the giving commitments of active partners, than through 100% participation in a normal giving drive.”
Our stewardship people really hit the nail on the head when they answered the question of: “Is your church the best place for me to give my money?”
What can I do with the life God has given me?So… the bottom line is: any gift or pledge to Messiah is funding a tremendous number of ministries that provide individuals and families of all ages a variety of opportunities to praise God, to learn and mature as Christian disciples, and to go out into the community and the world as witnesses to God’s everlasting love and grace.
“How much is enough?” That question was once posed to Nelson Rockefeller. His response, with a smile, was “Just a little bit more.” The response seems a bit humorous, but for the most of us it rings true. It is easy to let our desire for “a little bit more” to become our motivation for life.
It can and often does eat away at compassionate hearts, and the concerns of others slip out of our mind and become at best afterthoughts. In Jesus’ own words, we hear that we are “to seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness.” This is not a mere challenge to simplify or downsize our life. God is calling us into a new and deeper
understanding of our life’s purpose. In Christ, we discover an entirely new way to see life.
At Messiah, the question we wrestle with is, “What can I do with this life that God has given to me?” We are challenged, encouraged and strengthened as we realize all that we have and all that we are is a gift from God. Our minds, our skills, our time, our money, our beauty, our relationships, our creativity; all of these are gifts.
Stewardship ministry at Messiah is simply discovering the ways we can put all these gifts into service. It is to help each other choose life… not just a lifestyle.
2 Corinthians 8:7 “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”
Your brother in Christ,
Dave
“We’re not trying to browbeat, or ‘guilt’ anyone to pledge. Not everyone is in a position to be an active partner in ministry. Many people come because they are hurting and need to our understanding, our compassion, our help, and our love. If we get 75% of our members to pledge to be partners in ministry with us, we’ll be doing great. I trust the Holy Spirit to provide more through the giving commitments of active partners, than through 100% participation in a normal giving drive.”
ReplyDeleteWhat a great, God-centered attitude!!! When you're browbeating people, you aren't encouraging them; rather discouraging them. I have been in churches which wielded a 'holy sledgehammer' of guilt so badly that it only made people angry. It takes away the joy of giving. It makes as Diehl said, what he did with joy became merely a drudge when the sledgehammer of guilt was used. And some people *can't* give, or not much. In my current church there is no account taken (other than for tax purposes) of who gives what in order to see how much love they will be shown. I have been in a church that basically misspent the money and then kept asking for more. Their attendance is way way way down. My daughter for a short while attended a church that wanted to build a larger building/campus, and told all the students they should 'tithe' 20%. She left. She didn't have much extra as it was.
I know one family in my current church who got upset with the stewardship/building approach (made a hash of Sunday School to prove their hard-sell was right) and they completely stopped giving to the church. They give to missions, they give to certain other Christian service organizations, and if they find out about any in need they are the first to round up help (food, clothes, presents, encouragement).
But the great thing about being a Partner in ministry; not only is one being useful for God's kingdom, but there is great love and joy to be gained just by working alongside others.
"It is to help each other choose life… not just a lifestyle."
I love that line. All of life, every day, we have opportunities; to help and encourage each other, as well as to tell about what Jesus has don for us. This past couple of years, and continuing, I have been greatly strengthened by people encouraging me - to just keep going when it was hard and lonely; to use my gifts more and differently than I had before; to become more ME as I become more HIS. I know He has greatly blessed me through his people, and now is enabling me to teach, to sing, to do new things which I never would have considered before. Let each other find and use gifts, newly discovered, not just always what has been done by that person.