When we talk about stewardship of our resources, we mostly think about our finances, our dollars. Stewardship drives in congregations are usually all about money. How much are you able to pledge? Can you increase your pledge this year?

However, our resources are so much more. I attended a Southwest Conference Boundaries Training a week ago on the topic of resources. Our facilitator asked us to name our resources — what resources do we have as Pastors.

It got me thinking, what resources do we have as communities of faith to support our ministry, our work for the Realm of God?

Obvious ones:

money — financial giving
time — volunteer time of the members of the congregation

That is usually as far as we go in contemplating our resources. But there are more…

Resources we have and don’t think of as resources:

Authority, Power and Privilege

We all have authority, power and privilege.  Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, they are there.  You can use your authority, power and privilege to create positive change and experiences or you can do harm with it.  Good stewardship invites us to be aware of how, when, where and why we use our authority, power and privilege; as well as using it to affect positive change and experiences.

Expertise

Everyone of us has expertise.  We are masters of something.  Stewardship invites us to own our expertise and to put it to use to affect positive change and transformation.

A colleague of mine told me once that I was a master weaver.  I disagreed.  She then explained to me why I was a master weaver.  She reminded me that being self-taught does not negate my weaving abilities.

I say to you, whether schooled through college, masters, PhD or self-taught and gifted by Spirit, own your expertise.  All of them.  Both those you learned through degrees and trainings, as well as those you taught yourself.  They are all resources!

Prayer

Prayer is a resource in a way we do not think about.  It can become rote.  Or we can enter into prayer with intention — intention to connect with the Sacred, to align ourselves with the Highest Good.  This intentional prayer, this deep connection with the Sacred, this becomes a resource as it reminds us of our connections, our support, our strength.  Prayer aids us in our discernment.  It empowers us.  Prayer transforms us.

Resources we ignore:

How we are known in the community:

My ordaining congregation was known as “that liberal Baptist church” in a white conservative suburb of Philadelphia. This label actually worked well for the congregation. It freed them to be fully themselves. It definitely lead progressives in the area to their door. However, many of us ignore how we are named, identified or thought of in our communities. When we don’t it can be a powerful resource for getting the word out about our ministries.

Trust.

It used to be that churches were places of trust. You walked in the door and expected to be welcomed. You could trust that no harm would come — whether that was actually true or not. Churches were trusted.

However, we live in a time when the Catholic Church is no longer trusted — too much child sexual abuse and misconduct by priest covered up by the institution. We live in a time when queer community has and continues to experience spiritual abuse in the name of Christianity — done by evangelical conservative, alt-right. Both of these experiences have shadowed the Trust that congregations and churches were outrightly given.

Having acknowledged the harm the church can do, there is still a deeply level of trust that the Church will not do harm. When someone walks in the door to visit a church, they are trusting that they will be welcomed, embraced, heard, not harmed.

Trust is a resource that we have and can build upon. What if St Paul’s was known as the progressive safe (trustworthy) community of faith in Rio Rancho? Would that not be a tremendous resource for us?

I have named a few resources to get you thinking.

Reflection:

What resources would you add to this list?
What resources are we ignoring?