Defining Stewardship – When a person explicitly recognizes and willingly accepts Jesus as his/her personal Savior, he usually will go through a ritual called baptism. The ritual, performed in the name of the triune God, buries the person in a watery grave, and washes off his sins by the blood of Jesus. Like the dead resurrected from a tomb, the person comes out of the baptismal pool as a new creation, leaving behind his sins in the past. In this way, a Christian honors Christ as the Lord of everything, whether it is related to home, workplace, school, church or society.
A Christian walks and works with Christ. The demonstration of his loyalty is not limited to tithing and Sabbath-keeping. For a Christian, despite his skin color, age, status, education, etc., a lifestyle of being partners with Christ and doing His work is the basis and definition of stewardship.
Story 1
Recently I visited a church and shared with the congregation the topic of personal evangelism. There were 187 people who came to the gathering. During the meeting, I was touched by some testimonies of successful evangelism. Sister A, who was a member of a Sunday-keeping church, attended some worship services and Bible studies at the Adventist church. Although illiterate, she was convinced that the Adventist Church is God’s remnant church and holds unique messages from the Bible for the world. She was so eager to share her joy that she picked up her phone and called Brother B, who soon came to the Adventist church with his wife to worship and study.
Not long after that, they were baptized. Brother B then invited another couple, Brother C and his wife, to church. The same inspiration captured Brother C and his wife during their Bible studies. Soon, they were baptized, too. In response to Brother C’s invitation, Sister D and her husband came to church. They, soon, also joined the remnant church. The series of miracles happened because Sister A, although having no education, was faithfully carrying out her duties as a steward of Christ. And I believe there will be more harvest to come.
Story 2
In 2002, Sister Chen and her family moved to another city. As soon as she settled down, she organized some migrant workers into a group for Bible studies and worship services. In the same year, five of the members were baptized. Sister Chen requested the Adventist church in her hometown to send somebody to help her.The next year, Brother Zhang who came to the same city for education joined her ministry. Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the congregation worked in unity. Very soon the house in which the congregation was meeting became too small.
Then, the Adventists began to rent another facility. In 2006, the local government granted them an official permit to worship as a church. Last year, the congregation raised 2.3 million Chinese Yuan to purchase the facility and made it a permanent church. After a decade of evangelism, the church now has 102 members. On every Sabbath, about 120 people worship together. Let’s remember this group of faithful Adventists in our prayers as they try to pay off the 1-million-yuan loan for the building.
Conclusion
The duties of a steward involve services to others. A steward of God is willing to share what he/she has received from God to bless others. As long as we try our best to be His steward, miracles will happen around us. The Bible teaches, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Another Christian author, David Swartz, writes, “When Christ died on the cross, God’s pockets were empty. He spent it all; He could give no more than all of Himself” – Embracing God.
CHUM Stewardship Department
by David Ng