Stewardship of the Gospel

I occasionally hear from Sunday School leaders and other Christian educators that they are looking for reproducible or "download it yourself and print it from your home computer" resources as a matter of good stewardship. Attendance varies so greatly from session to session, that they cannot accurately estimate the amount of pre-printed student material to purchase.

Here is what I wrote recently to a VBS director:
         'Let me step up on my soap box for a moment. I want you to be a good steward with your church’s financial resources. But even more, I want you to be a good steward with the Church’s Gospel message. Consider what you give up when you sacrifice “the official LCMS program” for sake of dollars: CPH is the only publisher who guarantees that your VBS will teach God’s Word clearly and fully from a Lutheran perspective without the false teachings of moralism (you can be good by your own power), synergism (you help God by cooperating in your salvation), or decision theology (you find and choose God). CPH is the only publisher who submits their material for an independent doctrinal review by LCMS theologians. I assume sharing the Gospel is the reason your church goes to all the work of preparing a VBS in the first place.'

Jesus, in Matthew 25:14-30, commends those stewards who put their master's treasure to work and condemns the one who guards the master's money and gains nothing with it. Since we know that Jesus is not teaching a course on financial management, we must consider: Is it good stewardship to save money and sacrifice theology?

But what about that "wasted" student material? You can:

• negotiate a better return policy with your supplier or publisher
• send the unused material by mail to the student who otherwise would have used it (with a sincere invitation to use the material in person next week)
• offer it to a local mission congregation
• in larger congregations where more than one class uses the same student leaflets, store the leaflets in a common area rather than in the classroom and distribute them at the end of opening, or simply make sure teachers know to ask and share; don't let leaflets sit unused in one classroom, while also classroom runs short

Exercise good stewardship of the Gospel, not just good financial stewardship. God promises to bless you as you teach His children His Word!