Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Everyone has a stewardship story, and those stories need to be shared.

That’s the short summary of the Presbyterian Communicators Network luncheon here Friday during the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Big Tent.

Dave Crittenden, director of stewardship for the General Assembly Mission Council, said, “Perhaps the greatest asset we have in communication and stewardship is story telling.”

The stories can “inspire or inform,” he said. “They often are the beginning of transformation. At the very least they point people in the right direction. Stories bring us together. They speak to our heart as well as our head.”

But sharing stewardship stories isn’t that common around the church. Crittenden pointed out that most congregations hear about stewardship every year, but only once a year.

“Communication is the answer to one of the big challenges in financial discipleship, the last taboo, talking about money in church,” Crittenden said.

The stories of stewardship, Crittenden said, are intertwined with everyone’s faith. “Every faith decision we make as individuals or as a group has financial implications and conversely every financial decision we make has faith implications,” he said.

And he asked, “What does my checkbook or credit card statement tell me about what I value?”

It is a desire to share that connects stewardship and communication.

“Sharing is at the root of communication and stewardship,” Crittenden said. “This sharing is a nurturing of generosity, the kind of sharing that we can’t contain. We can’t keep it to ourselves. We have to share; we can’t help but share.”

Even Karen Schmidt, deputy executive director of communications and funds development for the GAMC, shared her stewardship story. Introducing Crittenden, she recounted how she used to “feel good giving back to God from all the hard work that I had done on my own.”

But it was later in life, she said, that she finally recognized God’s generosity in stewardship. “Everything that I think, do or have is a gift from God. … Every gift that I have is a gift from God,” Schmidt said.

Duane Sweep, a frequent contributor to Presbyterian News Service, is associate for communications for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. He covered the Presbyterian Communicators Network National Conference at Big Tent for PNS.