Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

10 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
care, liturgical practice and Church history, they have generally
failed to take seriously the issue of stewardship. Few, if any,
institutions in the theological academy have adequate academic or
practical training and education in the areas of money, financial
management, volunteer administration, and the finer principles of
congregational stewardship development.
When we fail to educate our teachers and leaders in these areas,
we should not be surprised that the faithful are equally ill formed and
informed. Indeed, if stewardship education is inadequate for the
clergy, it is all but non-existent for the laity. Much of what has been
embraced by the Church emulates what has been seen as “successful”
in secular terms, most often expressed in terms of the number of
dollars raised. Most lay people who undertake leadership roles in the
Church’s stewardship ministry—through no fault of their own—
generally received what little training they have from secular
fundraising firms, and non-profit education seminars. Few if any of
these programs are concerned with community, fewer with education
and personal development, and fewer yet with theology. If we truly
value stewardship we must rediscover our own understanding of
stewardship, begin to teach it, teach it often, and teach it well.
With the exception of the International Catholic Stewardship
Council, The Episcopal Network for Stewardship, and the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States, few faith communions
provide much professional and spiritual development for their
stewardship teachers and leaders at the national and international
levels. Indeed, participation in these organizations, and their
professional development and education programs, varies widely
from diocese to diocese. While it is true that Methodists and some
other communities in the United States have “regional” bodies to
assist in the area of stewardship, most of the Church too often relies
upon an over-worked, under-experienced, and under-funded
diocesan/presbytery staff to meet the needs of their juridical region,
and the parishes that belong to it. (This may very well be a