Stewardship

Christian Stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God and God’s family, the church, in managing life and all of life’s resources for God’s purposes. (LCMS definition)

 

"Stewardship Under the Cross"
Planning Outline

LCMS Stewardship has produced a handy planning guide which provides at a glance help to organize and plan a Stewardship emphasis in a congregation. Click here for a PDF copy.


"A Dollar for Missions" (DFM)

At its 2022 convention, the Central Illinois District encouraged its congregations to invite their members to contribute one dollar per member per week for missions, starting at the beginning of 2023. This kind of over-and-above giving is called “A Dollar for Missions” (DFM).

Please note that DFM is no substitute for basic Stewardship education and mission giving. If your congregation needs to address these, it would be well-advised to consult the Synod’s “Stewardship Under the Cross Planning Outline” and perhaps consult with Stewardship Executive Ken Schurb. 

Additional details on DFM are available here.

 

New Stewardship Resources

These two new resources, "Discover the Joy in Sharing God's Blessings" and "Life at its Best" come from Stewardship Advisors and Ron Chewning.

Ron is a member of Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Birmingham, MI, and he serves on the LCMS Michigan District Stewardship Committee and as a trustee for the Lutheran High School Association of Detroit.  For the past 20 years, he has authored many Christian resources which have been used by thousands of churches.  

Ron has already been generous as he has priced this year's resources for your use. To make them still more accessible, CID will also defray part of your cost to order. CID churches will end up receiving nearly a 60% discount! The discounted price for both programs is only $80.00 plus shipping.  (In order to give you this reduced price, CID will be paying $10.00 toward each purchase.)

For details, including descriptions of the resources and ordering information, click here.

 

Presentations from Spring 2019 CID Pastors' Conference

Dr. Wayne Knolhoff's Stewardship presentations from the 2019 Spring CID Pastors' Conference are here.

 

LCMS National Stewardship Resources

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's Office of National Mission offers a number of Stewardship resources at its website. You will find all manner of items, from writings for immediate use in church newsletters and bulletins to entire books for pastors and laypeople. Check these resources out: https://www.lcms.org/how-we-serve/national/stewardship-ministry

 

Stewardship Sermon

A sermon by CID Stewardship Executive Ken Schurb on Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” can be found here. (The sermon begins about 13 and a half minutes into this service recording.) Put this sermon to use: viewing by individuals, by church councils, boards of elders, stewardship committees, or Bible classes. If your congregation desires, Dr. Schurb will come to your church and preach this sermon, or another on Stewardship. Contact him at the District office.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lti9VA7w_L0

 

CID Stewardship Resources

  • "Following God's Financial Counsel"

    2018 Program for CID Churches

    A Three-week Sermon and Bible Study Series on Faith and Finances. How we handle money is important to God. Use this wonderful resource to help your members Follow God’s Financial Counsel.

    Click on the following link to download the program files in a compressed .zip file. Please note the file size is large and may take several minutes to complete download.

    Program Files (153MB)

    No password/user name needed. For free use for congregations of the CID LCMS. All others contact Stewardship Advisors, 248-644-6150, stewardshipadv@aol.com for purchase of permission.

  • "Disciples Living As Grace-Filled Stewards"

    2017 Program for CID Churches

    Making stewardship an intentional part of discipleship. A complete program for a Four-week Stewardship Emphasis.

    Click on the following links to download the program files and banner/logo files in compressed .zip files. Please note file sizes are large and may take several minutes to complete download.

    Program Files (174MB)

    Banners and Logo Files (232MB)

    No password/user name needed. For free use for congregations of the CID LCMS. All others contact Stewardship Advisors, 248-644-6150, stewardshipadv@aol.com for purchase of permission.

  • "Stewards Transformed by Grace, Faith, and Love"

    The three-week stewardship program, "Stewards Transformed by Grace, Faith, and Love" by Ron and Phyllis Chewning, is available free to CID congregations. The program includes Bible studies, devotional material, sermons, newsletter/bulletin blurbs, articles, and more.

    Click on the following links to download the program binder in a printable .pdf format, and the supporting files in compressed .zip files. Please note file sizes are large and may take several minutes to complete download.

    Program Binder (47MB)

    Word Documents (20MB)

    Images and Logos (41MB)

    Audio Files (19MB)

    Powerpoint Files (39MB)

    No password/user name needed. For free use for congregations of the CID LCMS. All others contact Stewardship Advisors, 248-644-6150, stewardshipadv@aol.com for purchase of permission.

  • "With a Grateful Heart"

    "With a Grateful Heart" is a video based stewardship program which was produced by synod's department of stewardship in 1997. The real life approach of the video, filled with humor and human insight, provides a winsome approach to the subject of Christian stewardship. It covers multiple aspects of whole-life stewardship as demonstrated in the drama of a family and a congregation who seek to live out their lives under God's grace with grateful hearts.

    Included with this program are two possible ready to use approaches that have been implemented with great success by one of our congregations. Both programs include organizational notes, sample letters, scripts, and pledge cards.

    The first involves a series of cottage meetings at which the video is viewed and discussed, along with challenge letters to be sent to the entire congregation. Click on the links to download the coordinating files:

    Grateful Heart Stewardship

    Pledge Card and Chart For Proportionate Giving (or)

    Pledge Card #2

    With a Grateful Heart Discussion Guide

     

    The second involves a 4-5 week program in which small segments of the video are viewed in connection with weekly worship. Click on the links to download the coordinating files:

    Grateful Heart Remix

    Pledge Card and Chart For Proportionate Giving (or)

    Pledge Card #2

    With a Grateful Heart Discussion Guide

     

    Video files are below and are to be used with both approaches listed above. Please note these are large files and may take awhile to download.

    Video 1 (119MB)

    Video 2 (304MB)

    Video 3 (185MB)

    Video 4 (128MB)

    Video 5 (77MB)

    Video 6 (74MB)

    Video 7 (166MB)

    Video 8 (109MB)

    Video 9 (36MB)

     

    Please feel free to use and adapt this material to suit your congregation's individual needs. We have Copyright Permission from LCMS to use these.