Every Member Commitment Sunday: Stewardship Worksheet
September 4, 2017It has been said that “Worship is our response to what we value most... How do you know where and what you worship? Simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money and your allegiance. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne, and whatever
or whoever, is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship... The trail never lies. We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words”.
Christ Community Church has been blessed and is blessed with members whose very lives are on a trail that points directly to our Triune God. As a church, our hearts should desire a congregation full of such lives. However, sometimes it is easy to get off the trail and to get lost. At other times we simply have not been equipped for the trail and travel haphazardly along.
Christ Community Church’s Every Member Commitment Sunday is designated for the purpose of challenging each of us as church family members to pause and consider our hearts before the Lord when it comes to our time, talents, spiritual gifts and treasures. Our leadership is asking you to consider these important aspects of your life by walking through the questions below personally with the Lord. For some, this will be a time of encouragement; for others, perhaps a time of focus or refocus.
Questions (please consider other questions that the Lord may have you ask):
- What do I do—really do—with my time? Am I making wise use of the time that God has given me? Am I about the right things or have I gotten off course?
- What are my spiritual gifts and talents and am I using them for the Lord? How might I use them in our church or in my community?
- What am I giving in terms of my tithes and offerings to the Lord? Are those worthy of my Lord? Are they biblically in line? Am I willing to make a correction concerning this matter?
After you ask these hard questions and pray about them, work through the following points as a couple and even a family to discuss your course calculations together.
Whole Heart Serving & Giving Course Calculations:
- Pray as a couple about your commitment in serving & giving as an act of worship to the Lord.
- Discuss together and then set a plan for serving & giving for the next year or if better for you the next six months.
- If you have children or teens, discuss your commitment with them and why you are led to serve and give as you plan to. We believe this sets a good example and trains children/teens in godly living in the future.
- If your teen has a job or allowance, teach and encourage them in the area of giving and help them work through this process.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. All of us have been given wonderful gifts and treasures and time. We need to very often take inventory of these gifts from the Lord and consider what we are doing with our lives. Remember, Jesus is building a temple that makes that first temple of Solomon pale in it’s glory — He’s building a temple from a new humanity, hearts won by the Gospel of grace, bought by the blood of Jesus, and saved by sovereign mercy.
May the Lord give us the grace to catch a vision of the captivating and greater work that is taking place right now as Jesus builds His Temple, His Church. As we begin to catch this vision, may we resolve to give our whole hearts, our whole selves and affection, to the praise and glory of God.