If you grew up around the Western Church, it’s easy to associate “stewardship” with finances. Nobody is confused when a local church or faith-based NGO introduces a “stewardship campaign” that it’s a capital raising initiative or a focus on embracing the Biblical call to Kingdom generosity. None of that is wrong, but it’s easy to have a shallow understanding of the idea of stewardship and how radical it is. Let’s broaden the aperture of our thinking and let the radioactive idea of our subordinate posture before the Living God rattle our cages just a bit.

What do you have? What is yours?

Financially it’s easy to go to net worth calculations, portfolio summaries and balance sheets. Perhaps you thought of your home, cars, a spouse and children or even grandchildren. Maybe a collection of stuff, a contact list, a network, or knowledge and intangible wealth?

This Christmas my girls (7 and 10) discussed what gifts to get friends and family. On Christmas morning they came out of “their” rooms to see what new stuff was “theirs.” During the day we navigated a few training opportunities around the ideals of sharing and respecting “what is yours” and what is not. Every parent appreciates the irony of helping 2 dependents grapple with respecting the stuff you gave them, how to spend the money you gave them and then how they treat the treasures you bestow upon them. You know the joy when a child, with great delight, awaits your response to the gift they bought you with your own money. Or, maybe you’ve opened the fridge to have someone shout, “Dad, you’re not going to eat ___, are you? That’s ours!”

When I’m most perplexed at my kids failure to recognize all of this “mine” business is a farse – that everything they have is only because I’ve allowed them to “have it” and there’s nothing in our house they can claim original ownership of that it hits me…that’s me. That’s us.

Stewardship means I’m a manager of stuff that actually belongs to and is sourced in a sovereign God. I’ve discussed previously the seductive idea that we do stuff for God to the idea His plans hinge upon our financial creativity. As I like to say, we serve a God who’s loaded! If I’m an assigned manager to a portfolio company within God’s Holding Company, and even my family, resources, and intangibles are entrusted to me for His good purposes – that’s a game-changer.

So what? It’s all His (story) and He cares about what we do with everything (time, talent, treasure, influence, etc).

Then Stewardship, rightly understood, changes what I do, how I do it, and why I do it. That investment decision? It’s God’s money. That hiring decision? That person is made in the image of God and how I treat people is getting into the actual currency of heaven.

One day we’ll all stand before Jesus for a performance review. Praise God it’s not an entrance exam! But there will be an accounting before something called the Bema Seat of Christ (I love this drama by Pete Briscoe on that moment). I like to say, there is a final exam but it’s an open book test!

How do I reinforce a stewardship mindset in life and business?

Here are some resources that help me lean into an identity-driven stewardship lifestyle:

Weekly Marble Move. Yup, I explain this Saturday night discipline HERE.

My wife and I attended a Journey of Generosity (no money asks!), and left with a set of 30 fantastic questions we’ve been working through – HERE.

I evaluate each dimension of the business I lead as if it were a ministry (#BaaM), a for-profit enterprise where the true Owner cares about each aspect of the operation not just the distribution of profits. I use exercises like THIS to facilitate this annual stewardship exercise.

Stewardship means the ownership group is fanatical in pursuit of “Mission True” best practices.

Every December I complete this annual reflection, and then monthly I’m in a peer group that challenges me on this snapshot.

I gather with leaders who treat stewardship and Kingdom investments rigorously (like this), or who passionately embrace opportunities to create caring cultures of people stewardship (like this).

A friend asked me this once. “If you had a write a proposal to the Heavenly Holding Company on why they should renew your contract as CEO of the current operating company you’re assigned to based upon your stewardship results of the previous year…what would that proposal sound like? Why would God “re-up” your contract?” What does good stewardship mean to you?

Reclaiming Stewardship

How do I reinforce a stewardship mindset in life and business?