Stewardship of God’s Love
During the 2021–22 program year, LCH continues on our journey of “year-round” stewardship under the theme “Stewards of God’s Love.” During 2020–2021 we spent several months on three main points: that God comes down, in the person of Jesus Christ, to be in loving relationship with us; that we look in to discover all of the resources/gifts that God has entrusted to our care; and that we look out to see the many ways God calls us to use our resources/gifts to love our neighbors near and far. During the current year, we will concentrate on the last two parts.
- December: Reintroducing our Theme—The Stewardship Team reviewed the three main points of the theme and shared thoughts from Linda Miller about how she tells the story of God’s love to our children in Godly Play, LCH’s Sunday School for children from five years old through fifth grade. Read the entire article….
- January: What Gift Can I Bring?—Willow Chang wrote about her problems with the song, The Little Drummer Boy, and how it led her to understand what we each have our own gifts to share—we just need to discover them. Identifying those gifts will be the focus for February. Read the entire article….
- February: What Gifts Can I Bring? What Gifts Do I Bring?—Phyllis Hörmann introduced a framework (coming out of research by the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries) that helps us understand, develop, and share our spiritual gifts. The framework has three stages: awareness, intentionality, and generosity. Awareness involves identify our gifts using a gifts inventory that she shared with the Adult Forum. Read the entire article….
- March: Growing in Awareness of My Gifts—Bill Potter discussed growing in awareness of gifts and shared a story about how he was led to discover talents he could use to the benefit of LCH. Read the entire article….
- April: Being Intentional with My Gifts—Phyllis Hörmann discussed ways we can be “intentional about growing/developing gifts which we have perhaps discovered on our own or by completing a gift inventory.” She then shared a story from Willow Chang about how her passion for growing things developed in skills in vegetable gardening. Read the entire article….
- May: Being Generous with Our Gifts—Bill Potter shared thoughts about people at LCH who are generous with their skills and talents in their professional lives and with others here at LCH. Read the entire article….
- June: Moving Out to Share Our Gifts—Willow Chang began our look at ways we here at LCH can use our gifts in service of our neighbors near and far, starting with a consideration of ways artistic talents bless us all. Read the entire article….
- July: Reaching out to Our Neighbors through the Gift Economy—Barbara Poole-Street introduced the contrasted the usual understanding of capitalism with the gift economy, introduced the concert of “buying nothing,” and invited us to participate in a free store at LCH. Read the entire article….
- August: Sharing God’s Love with Our Neighbors—Pam Buckley wrote about some of the opportunities LCH fosters to care for our neighbors. Read the entire article….
- September: Sharing God’s Love with National and Global Neighbors—Phyllis Hörmann discussed ways we share God’s love more broadly with our national and global neighbors and shared the story of Dr. Steve Miller’s work with with blindness programs in Nepal and Tibet. Read the entire article….
- October: Grateful Stewards of God’s Love—Willow Chang compiled expressions of gratitude from members of the congregation. Read the entire article….
- November: Being Generous with Our Gifts—The Stewardship Team invited everyone to think about ways they might express their gratitude for God’s blessing throughout this year and to submit their commitments for 2023 to be dedicated on November 20. Read the entire article…. Commitment Materials