004 — Faithful Stewardship

Focus, Flexibility, and the Work Before Us

Scripture

The Shared Word Translation 1 Corinthians 4:1–2

Translation TSW · Study & Discuss Fluent · Read & Reflect

Servants of Christ

¹Let a person regard us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful.

Facilitator note: The bold questions are the primary conversation prompts. The additional questions are optional. Let the group’s discussion determine where you spend your time rather than trying to complete every prompt.

Begin with the Text

Before interpreting the passage, sit with it for a moment.

What words or ideas stand out to you?

Paul does not say that stewards must be successful, innovative, cautious, productive, or growing. What does he say is required? What might faithfulness mean for a council?

Stewardship Begins with Faithfulness

A steward is someone who has been entrusted with something that does not finally belong to them. That changes the posture of a governing body. We are not owners deciding what we prefer to do with what is ours. We are servants discerning how best to use what God has placed in our care: money, property, relationships, influence, leadership, institutional strength, time, and opportunity.

The central question is therefore not simply, How much should we save? or What should we spend? It is:

Given what God has entrusted to us in this season, what would faithful stewardship require of us?

Mission Comes First

The Book of Order begins before budgets, councils, property, or administration. Foundations Chapter 1 begins with The Mission of the Church:

“The mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church.” — F-1.01

Government Chapter 3 then makes the relationship between mission and organization explicit:

“Mission determines the forms and structures needed for the church to do its work.” — G-3.0106

Discover

What comes first in these two statements? What is supposed to follow mission rather than determine it?

If we took these statements seriously, what might they change about the way we discuss budgets, structures, programs, or assets?

The order matters. God is already at work. The Church is called to participate in that mission. Structures, programs, budgets, and assets exist to serve that calling.

The same section of Government connects mission directly to funding: financial resources are to strengthen the Church’s witness to the mission of God (G-3.0106). The purpose of financial resources is therefore not simply to preserve financial resources. Their purpose is faithful witness.

Saving is not inherently faithful. Spending is not inherently faithful. Risk is not inherently faithful. Restraint is not inherently faithful. Each must be evaluated by the deeper question of faithfulness.

What Work Is Ours?

Focus does not require a presbytery to invent a mission from scratch. The Book of Order gives a presbytery a particular vocation.

G-3.0301 describes the presbytery’s responsibility to assist and support the witness of its congregations. G-3.0303 says that a presbytery has particular responsibility to:

“coordinate, guide, encourage, support, and resource the work of its congregations”

and authorizes the presbytery to:

“develop strategy for the mission of the church in its district.”

Discover

What do these words suggest about the particular work of a presbytery?

What might they suggest should receive our attention and resources? What good work might not actually be ours to own?

A genuine need is not automatically ours to meet. A good idea is not automatically our work. Faithful stewardship requires focus: knowing what has particularly been entrusted to us in this season.

Courage and Prudence Belong Together

The Foundations describe the Church as “a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life” (F-1.0301). Institutional preservation is therefore not the Church’s highest end.

At the same time, Government Chapter 3 expects councils to act prudently. Administrative review asks whether actions have been “prudent and equitable” and “faithful to the mission of the whole church” (G-3.0108).

Discover

What tension do you hear between these two passages? Why might the Church need both?

There will be moments when faithfulness requires action: strengthening congregations, developing leaders, responding to suffering, experimenting with new ministry, or investing in an opportunity that may not remain open forever.

There will also be moments when faithfulness requires restraint: strengthening financial health, addressing structural weaknesses, refusing to create unsustainable obligations, or leaving capacity available for needs we cannot yet see.

Neither courage nor restraint is the goal. Faithfulness is the goal.

Stewardship in a Changing Church

The Foundations call the Church to openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to reform and fresh direction (F-1.0401), and to recognize both the “possibilities and perils” of its institutional forms (F-1.0404).

Our structures are tools, not sacred ends. So are budgets, funds, programs, committees, staffing patterns, and habits. Some need investment because they make mission possible. Some may need redesign because they consume capacity without advancing mission. Some resources may need to be used now. Others may need to remain available because the ministry God places before us five years from now may not look like the ministry we can imagine today.

Flexibility is therefore not necessarily indecision. It can be a theological posture: humility about what we do not yet know and openness to where Christ may lead next.

Four Lenses for Faithful Stewardship

Before discussing particular amounts or proposals, consider four dimensions that faithful stewardship must hold together.

1. Focus

What work has God particularly entrusted to this presbytery in this season?

If helpful, consider:

• What belongs particularly to a presbytery?
• Where can our presbytery make congregations and leaders more capable of faithful witness?
• What might we need to strengthen, simplify, redesign, or stop?

Faithful stewardship does not require us to do everything that could be good. It requires us to know what work is ours.

2. Present Work

Where is faithfulness asking us to act now rather than merely preserve capacity for later?

If helpful, consider:

• What ministry is already before us that deserves stronger support?
• Where could an investment now build lasting ministry capacity?
• Are there opportunities that may not remain open indefinitely?

Timing is part of stewardship. Sometimes faithfulness means waiting. Sometimes faithfulness means acting while an opportunity is before us.

3. Long-Term Health

What capacity must we protect or build so that future ministry remains possible?

If helpful, consider:

• What structural weaknesses should be repaired rather than continually subsidized?
• Where could one-time resources strengthen sustainability or reduce recurring costs?
• What obligations would unnecessarily constrain future councils?

Long-term health is not the mission. It is capacity for mission.

4. Flexibility

What should we deliberately leave undecided because we do not yet know what faithfulness will require?

If helpful, consider:

• What future opportunities can we reasonably anticipate but not yet define?
• Where would committing resources too quickly constrain future mission?
• What capacity should remain available for emerging needs or experimentation?

Flexibility should not become paralysis. But neither should urgency lock tomorrow’s church into today’s assumptions.

Bringing the Four Together

These four dimensions correct one another.

Focus without flexibility can become rigidity. Flexibility without focus can become drift. Long-term health without present action can become preservation for its own sake. Present action without concern for long-term health can consume the capacity future ministry will require.

Where Are We Most at Risk?

Which of these four comes most naturally to us as a council? Which are we most likely to neglect?

The Book of Order gives us a sequence beneath all four:

God is already at work. The Church is called to participate in God’s mission. The presbytery has a particular role within that mission. Mission determines the forms and structures needed for the work. Funding and administration exist to strengthen that witness.

We therefore do not begin with scarcity or abundance. We do not begin with the amount of money available. We begin with faithfulness.

Final Discernment

Given what God has entrusted to this presbytery in this season, what would faithful stewardship require of us now?

What principles should govern the financial decisions we make from here?

Do not begin by assigning dollar amounts. Name the principles first. What should remain true as this presbytery balances focus, present action, long-term health, and flexibility?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Head of the Church, everything we have and everything we are belongs to you. Give us wisdom to recognize the work you have entrusted to us, courage to act when faithfulness requires action, restraint when wisdom requires patience, and humility about the future we cannot see. Keep us from confusing preservation with faithfulness or activity with mission. Teach us to use what has been placed in our care so that your Church may bear faithful witness in this generation and in generations yet to come. Amen.

Book of Order references are from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Book of Order 2025–2027: F-1.01; F-1.0301; F-1.0401; F-1.0404; G-3.0106; G-3.0108; G-3.0301; G-3.0303.