1) Stewardship= begins with being truly PRESENT with people, like Mary & John at the cross. Tend to your own spiritual life. Stewardship =KIND, EFFECtIVE, minus NICE.
2) Compassion for their situation- we are are living with John The Baptist in the Wilderness. Continuum CLamos/chaos/order/control...we try to impose ORDER but the better course is to seek CHAORD, a "conflation of order and chaos." Order enough to feel safe; chaotic enough to be fun.
3) Compassion or their fear. JESUS LOOKED STRAIGHT AT THE YOUNG RICH RULER AND WARMED UP TO HIM. Understand their fear of scarcity, of being judged, of being hustled. It is an honor to ask a person to become a giver, a lover, a creator. "Detoxify their limiting beliefs". Be a "curator of their hope". Practice a spirituality = "a relentless attachment to truth." Debunk NOSTALGIA= Untruth about the past; FANTASY= untruth about the present and future.
Charles LaFond ASSUMES your congregation is earning people's trust and generosity. 'Go willingly into the wilderness." He also agrees that INVOLVEMENT precedes GIVING. This contrasts to other stewardship experts who have told me GIVING can be a way for some people to BECOME INVOLVED.
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