Stewardship

What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?
 
Psalm 116:12
 
Everything we have, our lives, our time, our talents, and our possessions are God’s gifts to us, a sign of His love and grace. Stewardship is what we do with those gifts after we say we believe in the God who gives them. God asks us to return a portion of all He has given us – the hours of our days, the skills and talents that are ours, and all we own from our bank accounts to the contents of our closets – that we may share Jesus’ Love in worship and service.  Our generosity with what God has given us is a sign of our trust in God’s continued willingness to give generously to us. We may give now of God’s gifts to us, because we know He will continue to give us what we need in the future. Consequently, stewardship is not just a matter of putting something in the offering plate on occasion.  Stewardship is the whole of the the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 
 
One of our joys as a family of faith at St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church is to help one another find ways to share our time, talent, and treasure with our Lord and His people.  Below we provide lists of suggestions that might help you find ways to share of God’s gifts.
 
Time
It is hard to believe that there is a man or woman alive who is busier than Jesus was as He walked throughout the Galilee and Judea healing the sick and preaching forgiveness of sin and salvation.  Life is hectic for most of us, but even so, our Lord, who has given us all of the hours of our days, asks us to share those hours with Him and His people.  Like any other aspect of our life in Christ, faithful stewardship begins with prayer, weekly worship, and daily devotions, but it also includes any time we might give to organizations or people who need our help.  We are given 168 hours each week, if we subtract the 8 hours we sleep every day (hopefully!), we are left with 112 hours.  Let’s aim for giving between 5 and 10 percent of our waking hours to God.  Go to church on Sunday, pray and read your Bible most days of the week, and pound a few nails for Habitat for Humanity, and there you are. 
 
 Talent
“And He gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-12)
All of us are blessed with skills and talents that make us unique.  We are not always the best judges of what those skills and talents might be, and we are all too often “sure” that our talents are of little value to others.  But God has made you to build up the body of Christ, and calls you to use your gifts for the building up of the Church, your family, and the community.  Don’t hide your light under a bushel, but have courage and faith and share your gifts with us. 
 
Treasure
Your financial gifts support all the ministries of St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church, from worship to feeding our community’s poor.  A list of our ministries is provided here.  You are welcome to designate the ministries you wish to support.  You may mail your donation to St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church, 3444 Sticks Road, Glen Rock, PA 17361, place your offering in the plate when at worship, or use electronic giving.  We encourage you to use electronic giving when on vacation or away from the church for a period of time, as our expenses and people’s needs never go on vacation!  We have two ways you may give electronically.  PayPal allows you to use your own PayPal account to give or to use a credit card if you do not already have a PayPal account.  Or you may use your credit card with e-giving.