This whole Consecration Sunday campaign has got me to thinking. (see previous post) The topic of stewardship has moved from a back burner in my mind to a front burner. As a result, I have already begun making plans for more emphasis on stewardship in 2008.
During January, I will be forming a small group that will meet for 30 days during the season of Lent to read and discuss the book Holy Smoke–Whatever Happened to Tithing. This book examines tithing from a Wesleyan perspective. Once the 30 day study is complete, the participants will be asked to continue on for another 10 weeks of study. The goal is to help persons become aware of giving and the role that it plays in their lives.
Ideally, lives will be changed by this study and it will be offered again in the fall for a new group of persons to take. If lives and attitudes continue to be changed, the goal will be to offer this course twice a year to new groups of people. Within a few years, all of the congregation will have been given an opportunity to participate in this small group learning activity.
I will be picking 8-12 persons to be in the first small group. If you want to be one of those persons, then please contact me sometime by mid-January 2008. We also ask that the church be in prayer for this first small group and that the group might become a blessing for the church as it meets and learns.
