
Six Ways to Use our Online Stewardship Course
Wouldn’t it be exciting to see the impact of a church that faithfully manages ALL of its gifts and resources? This was the hope of Karla Winham, former Stewardship Pilot Project coordinator, who helped create the “Biblical Stewardship: Living as Stewards of God’s Goodness” online course. This free online course was launched on the CRCNA Learning Portal in March 2023 in partnership with Christian Stewardship Services and the CRC in Canada.
As followers of Jesus, we believe that everything we have comes from God. We often say they are “gifts” from God, but even that idea can lead us astray a little. When someone gives us a gift, it’s not theirs any more – it is ours to use as we please. But stewardship isn’t like that. God didn’t GIVE us the earth so that we may do what WE please with it. Rather, He made us stewards of all His creation; a steward is a manager, caretaker, or custodian – not an owner.
Brett Elder, editor of the NIV Stewardship Study Bible, explains it this way: “At no time do we ever read of God relinquishing ownership of anything that He set in motion. The cash in our wallets, the children in our families, our creative capacities, the breath we breathe, and the gospel message itself—tangible and intangible, all belong to God.”
But why, you may be asking, does God need us to take care of His stuff? It’s certainly not because He can’t do it Himself! Elder continues: “Stewardship is the path God uses to make us into the people He wants us to be. Our obedience and intentional stewardship of ‘every square inch in the whole domain of our human existence’ provides us with an opportunity to vividly reflect His image.” More practically, it helps us answer the question: “How can my whole life show that Jesus is my Lord?”
“God wants His creation (including each one of us) to flourish, and He wants us to be part of that so that everyone can see who He is through the way we live,” Karla reiterated. “At its heart, stewardship is discipleship. I hope that everyone who takes the Biblical Stewardship course can learn to approach their talents, time, treasures, and all of creation (‘trees’) with this mindset.”
What to Expect from the Biblical Stewardship Course
The online course offers a variety of learning tools and activities to reach a broad range of ages and to offer creative ways to help participants put what they are learning into action! There are videos, quizzes, readings, links, and group activities.
On top of this, the course offers:
- An asset-based approach. Over the past decade, Diaconal Ministries Canada has leaned heavily into helping deacons and churches focus on God’s abundance rather than our own perception of scarcity. In each toolkit of the Biblical Stewardship course, participants start by recognizing what they have. Activities will help individuals and teams discover their “assets” when it comes to their talents, time, and physical resources; to look around at what God has put under their care and influence. Whatever you have can be used to bring glory to God and to help His creation flourish.
- Practical suggestions, but not a prescription. The answers about “how” to manage your Time, Talent, Trees, and Treasures will be different for every person and every congregation. The course is full of links and suggestions to get participants and teams thinking, but there is no prescription or ‘one way’ about how to use what God has given you. This is why it’s recommended the course be done with a group (or even just one friend) so that participants can discuss and discover what good stewardship means in their context.
- Flexibility. Because of the depth and breadth of this topic, this course is fairly robust and will take some time to work through. And since time can be one of our limited resources, this course can be taken at different paces and in different ways.
Here are six (6) ways to use this online course*!
- Use it at your church’s youth group/young adult ministry
- Helping your youth and young adults see stewardship and how it is closely tied to our walk with Jesus is a vital part of faith formation. Go through one “T” each month; or choose one “T” to be your theme for the entire ministry year. You could compliment this theme with other church activities and ministries; eg. during your Sunday worship services, service/outreach events, etc.
- Use it at your school
- Calling all teachers! This online course could be integrated into your Bible class curriculum. Let someone else do the teaching and see how your students can immediately put their learnings into action around your school and broader community!
- Do it with your family, friends, or roommates
- One family decided to do it as part of their after-dinner devotion time. They chose to divide the course up into 20-30 minute sections, working slowly through the 60 lessons.
- Do it as a diaconate/team of deacons
- Like the family above, deacons may feel the restraints of time during their monthly meetings. There is no need to rush; even if your team is only able to look at one of the four “T’s” of stewardship per year, that’s a win! Taking your time to really dive deeper into the different ways God calls us to steward everything He’s made will pay off in the long run as you lead and equip your congregations.
- Run it as a small group for your church
- There are so many ways you could invite your church to participate in this online course. As many churches have moved away from second services on Sundays, why not start a weekly or monthly gathering on Sunday afternoons or evenings? Play the videos to the large group and then have participants split into small groups for the discussion and activities. Include sharing time with the larger group and maybe even some sort of food and refreshments. Again, take your time to work through the course. Even learning about one “T” of stewardship per year will bless your community and allow more time to put learnings into action!
- Do all of the above!
Still Not Convinced?
Here is a sneak peek at one video you’ll see in this online course. You can also check out some of our other Stewardship Resources on our website.
How could this course help YOU and YOUR CHURCH?
*The first portion of the final module speaks into how to form a Stewardship Team at your church and includes suggestions on what things that team should do. This may not apply to your situation but don’t skip the entire section! It also contains extra help for when leading this course with a group. Just use what will work in your context!