Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

106 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
engaged in something that matters. And here is the key to
stewardship renewal.
Our best course of action is to identify some emergent issue or
problem (it could be absolutely anything), and to invite people who
have related interest or expertise to deal with it. What we are asking
for, therefore, is a commitment of time, and of talent. We are asking
for a wise assessment of the resources already at the disposal of the
community, and the use it has made of them to date. Should this
group of people then determine that money would be a productive
solution to the stated problem, we can be assured of their exemplary
commitment to that solution. As we have seen, statistics show that
those who give freely of their time and talent to the Church are also
the most generous financial givers. This makes sense, for Jesus’
proclamation that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also” (Mt 6:21), is also true in the inverse: “where your heart is, so
also will be your treasure.” The point is this, that when we draw
people into the management, or stewardship, of the Church’s life,
they quite naturally become better and more conscientious stewards.
Consider the following scenario, and the fourfold problemsolving
mechanism outlined in the following chart, where something
as unanticipated as a comment from a visitor to the church becomes
the starting point for a stewardship renewal program.