Control Issues

Did you read the comment on yesterday's post? Thanks to bob for leaving it (No, I don't think it's Rob/Bob; it's bob.). He says that while he believes that someone should have stood up to protect the youth and their participation as communion servers, he does wonder if a pastor would stand up to an older person in the church who was probably a bigger doner.

I've said the same thing myself -- not about this issue, but about other issues. Thinking about this today, and expanding it out somewhat, I've put together a list of stewardship thoughts. JtM, in addition to being a teacher at our church, a guest blogger and a great friend, is also a stewardship guru, and I've learned a few things from him. We'll give him credit for the good thoughts on this list, and I'll take the blame for the mistakes:

• Don't assume that just because you THINK someone is a big church doner that he or she is. Someone who doesn't give of time and talents may not be giving the gift of funding, either. Unless we KNOW (and I hope none of us do know) who is giving what, then assumptions can be incorrect.
• Don't reduce stewardship to just money. When we do that, we reduce people to just their money. I've thought about this, and I think that we do a disservice to each other when we reduce stewardship to money. We think of people as only what they will donate, and we ignore our own responsiblity in nurturing everyone in faith -- especially that person we think of only for his/her money.
• Donation amounts cannot (although, yes, bob is right -- sometimes they do) be the controlling factor in our churches. God must lead what we do, or we might as well close the doors.

I'm reading the book "When The Game is Over, It all Goes Back in the Box" by John Ortberg. One of the things he advises is that we need to resign as Master of the Board. We think we are in control -- of our lives, of what happens around us. We control small things, but we can't change the length of our lives, the decisions our children make, the health of our family -- we can't even control whether it is going to rain or not. When we use things like money to try to manipulate people, we are pretending that we are in control when it is all an illusion. As a church, and as church leaders, we need to remember who is really in control.

Of course, I say that, but I've never been faced with the situation. I hope I would heed my own advice.