11/10/63

Scripture: Read I Timothy 6: 12-21.

Text: I Timothy 6: 20; ...“guard what has been entrusted to you.”

Several seasons ago, at a great ecumenical gathering of churches from many lands and many communions, someone made the plea: “Let the church be the church.” The statement is so simple that it could be trite. But it caught the imagination of the delegates present, and it became a kind of slogan.

I commend it to this congregation now. “Let the church be the church.” We have tried to make it so. We have become a part of the United Church of Christ, and, together with others, have been feeling our way in the new alignments of the fellowship. Like a couple of folks recently married, we have discovered that there are some adjustments to make, and we are endeavoring to make them. We continue in the free tradition which has been our heritage and which is guaranteed in the constitution of the United Church of Christ. But we are trying to use that freedom responsibly and carefully and purposefully.

This is the time of year when we have our attention drawn especially to our stewardship. Somehow, whenever we hear that word, we incline to connect it with money. It is connected with our attitude toward our possessions, but it is broader than that. It comes from a word in the Bible which means a servant or an employee who is charged with the care, the administration of his employers possessions, and investments, and household. The steward was chosen for the job because of his integrity and dependability and administrative skill. He was expected to manage his master’s affairs with great care.

To speak of Christian stewardship, therefore, is to affirm that each of us who is called Christian has that kind of relationship to God. What we have in the way of life and opportunities and abilities and possessions is a gift or trust from God. We are to administer it carefully and responsibly. There are some responsibilities that are stern and demanding. There are some that represent great opportunity for service. To come into the possession of money in any amount is to be under the responsibility of a stewardship. To own property of any kind, in any place, is to be responsible. We are responsible for the livelihood of our families. We are responsible for the kind of community we help to form. We are responsible citizens of our nation and people of the world. And we are responsible for what our church is, and is to become.

So let us think a bit about our church today. This church is a church of the people. It is not the ministers, nor the official boards, though it includes them. It is all of the people who participate in its work, its worship, its programs. We determine its character; we determine its mission. Whatever is accomplished by this church, locally, and beyond this locality, is made possible by us, as we try to live in the light of God’s truth, and of Christ’s teaching.

As a church, we gather regularly to worship God. We meet in a sanctuary built and dedicated for that purpose. We worship God here, and in our smaller groupings, in our homes and in our individual hearts. Here we welcome others to come and worship with us. That is the way the church has lived and grown through the centuries. We are aware of what worship means to us, and we have some concern for what we get out of our church. But more than this; we are aware that the church is also mission. We have teaching work to do! We are concerned with our children and our youth and ourselves -- that we all grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

This year our church school has put into use a new curriculum that means a new kind of effort and a new kind of effectiveness. A committee of us is in the midst of intense study of the kind of rooms we should have in a new building for the more effective teaching of Christian experience and truth. We are concerned not only with the children who belong in families now connected with the church but with others who may come into the community. It is part of our mission to welcome them to our church school, our vacation school, our youth fellowship, and to welcome whole families into the church’s circle of concern. We have a mission to the families of our own community.

We are a part of a mission here in the state of Wisconsin. All we need is a little imagination to see that the work of our conference is our work. We have a significant share in it. Specifically, about $2.10 per church member of our mission giving is needed to maintain the conference staff and work.

We are part of a mission to the United States of America and to the world. The Board of Homeland ministries and the Board for World Ministries are the channels of our interest and our effort. The effectiveness of these agencies depends in no small measure upon our support in time and study and support and giving of resources.

Early this week, there came into most of our homes a letter from the finance committee chairman of our church. It was thoughtfully prepared. With it came a printed budget sheet showing in detail the financial operation of our church for the past year and the proposed budget for the coming year. This budget was not prepared lightly. Representatives of every department of our church’s activity were invited to be present when it was taking shape. They were asked to submit their estimates as to what is needed to make the work effective. Each item was considered critically and carefully in more than one session. The final adoption of this tentative budget, as our working budget for 1964, is a matter of business for the annual meeting early in January. And that adoption depends on our willingness to underwrite it fully with our pledges now.

The budget provides for the continued ministry which the church and its boards have considered necessary; for continuation of the music which enriches our worship; for the various services and maintenance items that are necessary for our plant and program. You will recall that we authorized our trustees to borrow enough money so that we could contribute $15,000 to the Fairhaven Retirement Home early this year. The budget has an item for repayment of that loan and for payment of the modest interest charges. We expect that this item can be repaid in three years.

We continue our contributions for the training of ministers, remembering that the cost of this education, like all other schooling costs, has steadily risen. But the means must be kept available for assisting those who are willing to prepare for service to the churches as ministers, chaplains, directors of Christian education, and related vocations.

This past year we finished a modest repayment amount to the Congregational Church Building Society. We want to continue our contribution to Green Lake Pilgrim Camp and our token support of the World, National, and the State Councils of Churches.

The largest single item of our list of proposed expenses is the one for Our Christian World Mission. (We used to call it by the less accurate term “benevolences.”) This is the item which most clearly describes our determination to be the church as mission. For it takes our influence all over the world. Nearly 22% of this item will stay in Wisconsin to maintain the work of our Conference staff and equipment.

The other 78% of our proposed giving for Our Christian World Mission will go to our national agencies for the mission work of the Board of Homeland Ministries and the Board of World Ministries. The Board of World Ministries is meeting this coming week in Florida; and one of our members, Dr. Handy, now a member of that Board, is on his way to attend the meeting. This is the Board which, since formation of the United Church of Christ, includes the work of the former American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

The pioneers of the American foreign mission movement knew that the field is the whole world. Every day furnishes evidence that they were right. No enterprise of any general significance today can operate within a smaller frame of reference than the whole wide earth. Least of all can the Christian Church fail to take the world as its field. The command of our Lord: “You shall be my witnesses .... to the end of the earth” [Acts 1: 8] is at the center of Bible teaching. Our acceptance and support of the mission work of our churches is our recognition of the importance of the task.

The mission program of the church is not alone the preaching of the Christian gospel, vital as that is. It reaches out to every continent with both words and deeds, touching the whole range of human needs from food for the body to training for the mind and light for the seeking spirit. We have no illusions that we can heal all of the world’s ills. But, recognizing that God’s goodness is at work everywhere, and in all manner of ways, we can help by seeking to focus our efforts with precision and power. The missions include worship and preaching, teaching, healing, training in self help. It includes emergency assistance when disaster poses new needs. The increase of faith and love is the goal.

And we are not alone in the work. We are linked with other churches as partners. That which no one of us could accomplish, nor one church alone, becomes reality because many of us can help. Which of us could, single handed, build and staff a hospital (either here in our city or at Sambarene in Africa? Which of us could build a college campus, or establish an inner city mission alone? But as denominations of many churches we can do some of these things and do them well. The scope of the work is as wide as resources permit. Our board maintains missions in more than a score of countries, related to the indigenous churches. There are over 500 missionaries serving in a great variety of ways --- some in the 36 hospitals and clinics; some in the 201 schools and colleges; some at a dozen and a half social centers; some at agricultural education and extension; student work; religious journalism; Bible translation; interracial fellowship; relief activity; and so on.

Here, within the borders of our own land, our Christian World Mission includes assistance to new church projects in every section of the nation; in special rural projects; community service in urban areas; church building loans and grants; preparation of Christian education materials; services to camps and conferences; publishing of books and pamphlets; leadership training of many sorts; promotion of hospitals, children’s homes, community centers, retirement homes, campus ministries, and a score of related services. What a field of interest and support! One wonders at the miracle of how so modest amounts as we contribute can go so far and do so much!

Our church has done well enough at the support of mission so that we need not be ashamed in the fellowship of churches. And, for the most part, our giving has increased through the years as we have grown and the need has grown. We can do even more when we have the vision and the sacrificial willingness to match our ability. You see, I believe in our Christian World Mission, and I believe in this church!

Now the overall budget of our church can be fully subscribed and made effective if each one of us looks to his or her own stewardship. It is wonderful what our dedicated time and talent and treasure can do, when we remember that we are managers of the very life and living that have been entrusted to us by the Creator. The service that is given by uncounted numbers of people would make an impressive total if tabulated in man-hours of measurement. And as for our money -- it can be immortal!

One of great men of our fellowship in the first half of this century was the Rev. Jay Thomas Stocking. He served pastorates in Vermont, in Washington, DC, in New Jersey, in Missouri, in Massachusetts. He became chairman of the Commission on Missions of the General Council of Congregational Churches and was elected Moderator of the General Council. He became much concerned over the failure of many church folk to understand and to practice Christian Stewardship on a high level. He was an eloquent advocate of missionary service at home and abroad. Jay Stocking realized that a Christian will give of his possessions to the work of the church proportionally when he gives himself --- commits himself -- to God, in Christ and his way of living. He maintained that, on the highest level of Christian stewardship, in giving your money, you give yourself. And that, says Stocking, makes money immortal! “A man is immortal as he is useful. He lives as long as the thing in which he has invested lives.” “Money that is invested in the welfare of immortal lives becomes thereby immortal.” “Money is life done up in convenient form for storage and use.” “One may almost reckon the deep needs of humanity in terms of money. Money is health, money is opportunity, money is salvation,” says Stocking.

Since our money is not just “filthy lucre,” but is rather the “stuff of life,” our handling and management of it assumes great dignity. It is to be earned faithfully, saved wisely and with care, expended wisely, shared worthily. Now, speaking practically, in the management of our own budgets, what portion shall we assign to the specialized service of God which we call “giving?” Are you still a student? If so, will you set apart a definite part of your allowance or part-time earnings for giving -- especially to your church? And will you sign a pledge card indicating your intention, and take envelopes for that giving?

Have you finished your schooling, and gotten started at a job and perhaps with a home? Does it feel so good to undertake this responsibility that you want to make a definite, worthy pledge to your church as one of the obligations you assume?

Have you gotten fairly well established in life and living so that you have a decent share of the community prosperity in you own income? Will you, then, undergird your church’s program with a really substantial gift or pledge?

Have you retired, or found your income otherwise reduced but still want to share a worthy proportion of what you do receive in giving through your church?

Do you set apart some worthy percentage or portion of your personal income or resources for the undergirding of your church’s program, and is it enough to make you feel good?

Paul said to some Christians of his time, “Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” [II Corinthians 9: 7]. I covet for every member and friend of this church this love of God and the experience of feeling really good about his or her giving.

Knowing the opportunity, and your ability to meet it, will you be satisfied with your decision? Let us remember that the church is not just another “community cause.” Its scope is far beyond my club or lodge. It is the Christian community; and we, with our sister churches, are a part of that community.

I trust that each one of us will give in the church’s program until we are really happy about it!

[distribution and signing of pledge cards]

[copies of budget and covering letter on literature table]

[Dedication of pledges]

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 10, 1963.