When you plant a seed it will naturally grow and multiply to countless others. God just takes over and nurtures what the seed needs to grow. It’s His way and it works. How can we grow faithful stewards in the church? Follow God’s way and begin to plant your life and become the first faithful steward, then let God take over and multiply you!

Jay and his wife Carrie are semi-retired and live on a ranch outside the city with their two dogs — Boomer and Gus. They’ve got a warm and easy-going way about them. No rush…a simple enjoyment of life.

Yet they are making a big impact in helping others within their congregation as faithful stewards.

This impact starts with how they’ve lived out their own stewardship journey. They’ve owned large businesses, made lots of money, enjoyed the fruit of success, and served faithfully.

Yet they decided five years ago to make a change.

What has changed within?

Jay and Carrie made some purposeful decisions.

They started paying off debt, giving regularly, selling their possessions, and making intentional choices to live more simply in order to give more generously.

Faithful stewardship is often more caught than taught. And we catch it best up close and personal.

Some friends in their church started noticing the difference in Jay and Carrie’s lives. This led to hours of conversations at the ranch about lifestyle choices, raising wise kids, paying off debt, voluntary service, and other related issues.

And these conversations made a big impact on their friends, Kent and Kirsten. Kent is a doctor who felt the pressure of a demanding job and an expanding lifestyle. The couple decided to sell their homes and downsize to a simple, more manageable existence. Jay and Carrie walked alongside them during times of uncertainty, fear, and the questioning of their choices that ran countercultural to what others expected.

Faithful stewardship multiplies in the community. Bearing fruits is inevitable when you plant seeds!

While it is very easy to “what if?” ourselves out of God-guided adventures, we praise Him for His patience! He is gracious to send someone to cheer us along this awkward stage until we’re ready to express “what’s next, Lord” in total surrender.

Both Jay and Kent were actively serving in their church. And they began to dream about how the church might look differently as well. So, the two men humbly challenged “the status quo” by having conversations with key leaders within the church about the way the church practiced faithful stewardship.

Moving stewardship up the pole

The culture of a church reflects the lives of the leaders. So often when you see a church struggling in its corporate stewardship it is a symptom of leaders struggling in their personal stewardship journey. The two are often related.

So, when Jay and Kent started talking about stewardship with church leaders, these conversations started relevant steps that grew stewardship purposefully to an even larger group.

And this larger group seasoned together.

What’s next, Lord?

And what if faithful stewardship became more about spiritual formation than anything else? God massively desires people to love people, to serve their neighbours, loving others more than themselves. More than the values of financial stewardship, He desires us to become life stewards!

Are we ready for the next big thing?  It’s God’s big thing!

Jay and Carrie created a ripple effect. Exponential growth from a seed rooted in faith.

This article was first published by ChristianSuper.

To read more articles about stewardship, click here.

Author Bio: Patrick has been working with church leaders for over a decade. In 2003, he developed the church strategy at Generous Giving — helping churches spread the transformational message of generosity. He also created the Generous Church Toolkit from the best-selling book by Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, and worked with Leadership Network to form Generous Church Leadership Communities. From 2007-2010, Patrick oversaw the church strategy for The National Christian Foundation. Over the past 5 years, Patrick and the GenerousChurch team have taken over 70 churches through the Generosity Pathway, equipping their leaders to cultivate givers who are generous in every area of life. Currently, Patrick directs the vision of GenerousChurch and lives in Olathe, Kansas, with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.

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