Stewardship Letter

Dear members and loved ones of Crooked Creek Baptist Church,

I want to offer you a special invitation to join us in September for a series of services that will focus on our stewardship of God’s creation.  Beginning on September 9 we will focus on our call to be good stewards of this world God has presented to us.

What is stewardship?  Merriam-Webster defines it as:

the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care

Historically speaking from Wikipedia:

stewardship referred to the occupation of a steward.  Initially, stewardship was the responsibility given to household servants to bring food and drinks to a castle dining hall. The term was then expanded to indicate a household employee's responsibility for managing household or domestic affairs. Stewardship later became the responsibility for taking care of passengers' domestic needs on a ship, train and airplane, or managing the service provided to diners in a restaurant. The term continues to be used in these specific ways, but it is also used in a more general way to refer to a responsibility to take care of something belonging to someone else.

One of the most dramatic understandings of stewardship then, reminds us that we are entrusted with the care of God’s creation as stewards- we have no ownership of creation or claim upon it as property but have been called to care for creation in the name of God.  We are going to explore this concept on two consecutive Sundays with this focus:

September 9

Scripture:  Genesis 1:26-31

Title:  Creation’s Stewards

September 16

Scripture:  Matthew 25:14-30

Title:  Talented People

These two stories from the Old and New Testament will help us to develop a further understanding of the blessings of being entrusted with something as precious as God’s creation.  I would like to personally invite you to join us for worship this month as we explore this concept together.  I hope that together we can discover the joy of this Divine appointment over the world God has created for us!

Yours in Christ,

Tom Bartley, Pastor