Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

156 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
Christian community. The outlay of resources necessary to make
our facilities capable of supporting ministry, and the people who
seek and offer it, will be enormous. The future vitality of the Church
depends on the will and ability to address these needs now, in a
thoughtful and measured fashion. We are fortunate, in that the very
community who will be most affected by either our failure or our
determination to act, is also that portion of the population in the best
position to set aside resources for doing so. This is an ideal time,
and an ideal community, for beginning to teach planned giving, and
inviting people to create legacies of faith.
In so doing, we not only enhance our own understanding of
passionate and vocational stewardship. In handing on what we have
received to those who follow us, we may also hope to set an
example, that they, too, will adopt stewardship as a way of life
which is life-long, and even longer-than-life. Should the Church be
able to restore the value of legacies of faith as practiced and
recorded in the primitive Church (Acts 4:33–35), we will have at
our disposal a growing segment of the population’s time, talent, and
treasure, thereby enabling us to move from “subsistence to
significance” for an increasing share of society. This is not only
good stewardship—it is God’s will for humanity.
Amen, so be it. Amen, let it be so!