Stewardship is Worship; Capital Campaign is finance—Pastors make the distinction clear. When I am engaged with a church for a Capital Campaign, I always indicate the issue is money. I try not to use stewardship in the discussion of a capital campaign; like it or not congregations associate stewardship with money, and too often stewardship is used to disguise the truth of a capital campaign. No matter how pastors spin the title or address the topic, it sounds of money.
The reason most congregations wince when they hear, “next months sermon series is on stewardship” from the pastor, is because they know it’s code for, “next months sermon series is on how you can give more to the church.”—like it or not that’s what they hear. So why do pastors still use the term “stewardship” to preface finance? A simple answer, the difference between stewardship and finance has not been established.
When I speak to a church concerning a capital campaign I talk about money and when I address the same church about stewardship I talk about worship. Within a few months the church no longer associates stewardship with money. The congregation begins to associates the term stewardship with worship. When the congregation associates term stewardship with worship, the whole dynamic of the topic changes.
The dynamic of stewardship changes because the topic is no longer associated directly with tithe and offerings. Yes, a small part (a very small part) of stewardship does deal with finance. However, finance is not the focus—as has been the case for so many years. Stewardship as, “tithes and offerings are down” or “we need to fund a new ministry” is ingrained in the psyche of congregations. Pastors, make a clear distinction between Stewardship and Capital Campaign—Stewardship is Worship; Capital Campaign is finance. Your congregations will thank you for it.
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