Stewardship Development

Outreach is something not only congregations and denominations do. It is an important part of individual and family stewardship. Outreach is the second part of the Shema that Jesus followed as a good Jew -- love God first, and love others as you love yourself. With those priorities, every other decision falls into place.

We who follow Jesus as our guide also embrace both parts of the equation about loving God and loving others as ourselves. Reaching out to others is part of how we define ourselves as Christians.

The wonderful thing is that we have the full range of human freedom of choice to decide how we will do that! That is where stewardship questions arise.

• Where will we invest the money, time, and material resources with which we have been blessed?
• How much money? How much time? How much of our material resources?

Again, Jesus' own life and ministries give us strong clues to the first question. What kinds of "outreach" did Jesus do? You will remember stories about

• healing
• teaching
• feeding the hungry
• talking with convicts
• counselling people with problems
• helping behind the scenes at a party
• valuing and including marginalized people
• caring for people grieving the loss of loved ones
• showing compassion for people with mental illness

You can probably think of other examples, too!

Answers to the questions of "how much" will come into focus if your family unit has a clear sense of mutual core values. Have you talked about what is important to you both individually and as a family? If not, begin a conversation at dinner today. Ask:

• lIf we had a trillion dollars to make the world a better place, what would we do first? (Notice the criteria of making the world a better place; this is not a discussion about what we would do for us alone!)
• What would we do second?
• What else would we do?
• Why?

Keep in mind that having the trillion dollars might free up your time, as well as give you money choices:

• If we did not have to work for an income, how would we invest our time to make the world a better place?
• What else might we do?
• Why?

Then explore:

• Is there a sense of family consensus on what we would do?
• If not, would we each be willing to support the concerns of other family members?
• We don't have a trillion dollars and we each may still have to spend 40 or so hours a week at work. Does that mean we can't do anything about the areas of outreach we have identified as tugging on our hearts?
• What DO we have to give? What can we do with the time and money we have right now?
• Who else might we invite to join us in this adventure?
• Let's make some plans to do it!

Begin the discussion during the leisure of summer holidays so you can begin your family outreach in the fall, when you have an opportunity to start fresh routines. Consider finishing your first project or donation by Thanksgiving, offering it as part of your gratitude for all we have been given by God. Who knows? Being part of something larger than oneself is a joyful experience. Perhaps this will be so much fun you will develop a bond that transforms old routines into a new way of being family together.

Remember, too, that The United Church of Canada has many local, national, and global outreach opportunities through the Mission and Service Fund. Read about them in the M&S Special Edition of Mandate magazine. We are not alone! Together with others we can do so much more.

Barbara Fullerton, Stewardship Development