Stewardship

Heard in the wild

The longer version

What it means

A steward is a manager of someone else's property — the household administrator in Jesus' parables. Stewardship is the Christian idea that everything you have is God's, entrusted to you to use well: money, time, abilities, relationships, the planet. A "good steward" gives generously, works faithfully, and doesn't waste. The concept is broad and rich.

The everyday church usage is narrower: "stewardship" means giving, and a "stewardship campaign" or "stewardship Sunday" is the annual drive in which members are asked to pledge their giving for the coming year, usually in the fall, usually with a sermon series to match.

Why people say it

Christians believe they don't own anything outright — "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" — and that how they handle what they've been given is a test of faithfulness. The steward image also takes the sting out of giving: you're not losing your money, you're managing His. And churches need a way to talk about money that's about faith rather than fundraising; "stewardship" does that, mostly.

How to respond

If you're visiting during stewardship season, you'll hear about giving and may receive a pledge card; you can ignore it, and nobody expects a visitor to pledge. If a Christian talks about being a good steward of their time or money, they're describing a value, not asking for anything. If you want to give to a church, ask how; if you don't, don't. Pledging is for members who've decided to commit.

If you hear it in different churches

Universal in concept; the campaign is Protestant and especially mainline and Catholic — Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal churches run annual stewardship drives, and Catholic parishes have "stewardship" programs and diocesan appeals. Evangelical and Baptist churches preach tithing more than pledging and may not use the word as much. "Creation care" stewardship is emphasized across mainline, Catholic, and increasingly evangelical churches.

Where does “Stewardship” come from?

Joseph managing Potiphar's house and Jesus' parables of the shrewd manager (Luke 16) and the talents (Matthew 25) are the pictures; Paul says "it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2). Genesis 2:15's charge to "work and take care of" the garden grounds environmental stewardship. The organized "stewardship movement" in American Protestantism dates to the early 1900s, when denominations replaced pew rents with pledged giving and needed a theology for it; "stewardship Sunday" and the pledge card were standard by the 1920s. Creation care as an evangelical concern dates to the 1970s–2000s.

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