Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)

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by Phil Smith, professor of philosophy at George Fox University, and member at Newberg Friends Church.

The Bible tells us to pray for kings and other people in authority. Okay, so we’re supposed to do it. But how?
I remember, as a child, hearing elders in our church ask God to give the president wisdom. Sometimes other political leaders were mentioned. We thanked God for the freedom of worship enjoyed in this country and asked that God continue to bless us.

Now, my memories are undoubtedly incomplete, but that’s about all I remember. Somehow, I don’t think it was, or is, enough.
I don’t suggest that we start offering politically partisan prayers: “Dear Lord, please help us defeat the ungodly (insert political enemy here)….” We can start by remembering that every person in authority is a human being, subject to fears and temptations, like all of us, and placed in a position of stress and responsibility.

Take our new president, as an example. We should certainly ask God to bless him with wisdom. We should also pray for his health. (I read that Michelle asked Barack to quit smoking. Pray that he succeeds!) We should pray for his family, that they have times of quiet and rest. Pray for his little girls. Pray for good working relationships among the White House staff. Pray for Obama’s informal advisors (every president has some), that they help him stay spiritually grounded.

And so on. Once we remember that a politician is also a person, it becomes easy to pray for him or her. Let’s make a habit of praying for people in authority.

Questions for Discussion:

1. How have you been led to pray for Obama or other governmental leaders?
2. What aspects of Obama’s humanity stand out to you? Have these led you to be more prayerful? Or disdaining?

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by Colin Saxton, NWYM Superintendent

For all of the talk about hope and change over the past many months leading up to the presidential election, I am now hearing a lot of fear and doubt about the future. As the economy continues to go sideways and we are staring into the prospect of more—rather than diminished—global tension, my sense is there is increased doubt about change we can believe in and diminished hope in what new political leadership can really accomplish, at least in the short-run.

Maybe this more realistic assessment is a good thing. Instead of pinning all of our hope for a new world on one man, maybe there is much more hope in, and possibility for, change in the prospect of us all working together to address the problems that plague our nation and the world. Instead of looking for a quick fix to help us go back to our comfortable-but-dysfunctional ways, maybe the current social-political climate will require us to really see and act in new ways that are healthy and sustainable. I hope that is the case. And to the extent that I am able, I will even work at being part of the change process.

I know, however, that my real hope for lasting change does not ultimately lie in the recovery of the global economy. Neither does it lie in signed treaties or legislation that is passed. It most certainly does not rest in the hands of an elected official or on the whims of either a benevolent or tyrannical dictator. My hope and belief in change will not be decided by a terrorist threat—be it real or only imagined.

Please don’t get me wrong. I think all of these issues are important. I think Christians ought to be engaged in their culture. We ought to pray that God’s work in the world will be so profound that even the nations begin to align their values with the ways of the Kingdom. In a culture like ours where we have a political voice and a vote to cast, we ought to use both prayerfully. In our history, Friends have worked together on legislation to advance justice. We have been actively involved in social activities leading to reconciliation and peace. Many of our people, sensing a call to political involvement have served in leadership with integrity. This is a part of our Christian witness to the world that I hope we will engage in all the more…rather than any less.

But my hope and my source for change is not in democracy or capitalism. I know it is not in improved weaponry or a better defense system. It isn’t even in the Friends church (much as I love it). And, it certainly does not arise out of my own ability or knowledge. Rather, hope and change come from knowing Jesus.

Jesus is our living hope! Through him we are offered the grace and forgiveness to know God and to experience the power and wisdom that actually makes us new! In Christ is the hope that God really is at work in the world reconciling all things to himself. At the same time, he gives us the spiritual insight and courage to live each and every moment on earth as it is in heaven. In Christ, we have the hope of eternity—that this life is not all that there is. More than a time and place, eternity also includes a sense of belonging. Now we are part of a people, one that is already being gathered from every tribe, tongue and nation. Yes, as sisters and brothers in Christ, we are part of God’s beloved community in which we are being changed into a people who actually know how to love, forgive and share as God intended from creation.

Our hope, of course, is greater than the few things I have mentioned. Similarly, God is at work transforming us in more complete ways than I have noted. To me, this is what makes being the church such a wonderful adventure. In Christ, we are being remade into a people who serve as a city of light, set on a hill, for all the world to see.

Philippians 3:20 describes us as “a colony of heaven.” The Greek word for colony is politeuma. It speaks to the idea of a political reality—not in the form of a human government—but as a community in which relationships are being changed because of Christ and where a distinctive way of life is being nurtured. In the creation of these kingdom people—who now live under the reign of Jesus rather than Caesar—the world is offered a window into heaven.

That is who we are called to be, Friends, a window into Heaven. May it be so in us this year for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the world!

Queries:

1. Where do you see signs of hope and change in the world? How might God be at work in those places?
2. Are there things going on in your world that are causing you to fear or despair? How might they be released to Christ?
3. How is your local church serving as a “window to heaven” for those around you?

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Latin American Civil Responsibility

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by Hal Thomas, North Valley Friends Church, Newberg. Hal and Nancy are currently serving with the Latin American Leadership Development Program (“PRODOLA” in Spanish). Most recently, they were in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and experienced the unrest there firsthand.

Wednesday, September 10, while Nancy and I were walking downtown in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, we became aware of increasing disruption around us.  A few minutes before entering the plaza I had observed threatening activity centering around a school on Beni Street.  I thought that maybe some university students had begun a demonstration. Now police officers began running towards us from an adjacent street. Powerful triple shot rockets that sounded like gunshots were exploding in the street behind them. We walked on to the opposite side of the plaza and entered another busy street where we finished our purchases. Before flagging a taxi to return home, we even bought strawberry and papaya floats. Everything still seemed relatively normal.

We began to feel the impact personally on Thursday morning.  Nancy and I were scheduled to go with Sergio, a doctoral candidate in PRODOLA, the Latin American Leadership Development Program, to Buenas Nuevas Christian high school.  Just as we arrived at the school an eleven-year-old daughter student came running down the street, sobbing. She had seen the car in front of her taxi attacked, the people pulled out and beaten, and the car destroyed.  The taxi driver was able to escape.  But just after she left the taxi to walk around the corner to the school, an older teenager attacked her and took her cell phone.  She was in shock.  That afternoon the school itself was threatened.  The administration and teachers were able to load computers and files on a truck and remove them to safer places.  They were also able to safely dismiss the hundreds of students to return to their homes.  We also received instructions to be ready to evacuate our own university offices if mobs began to develop in our section of the city.

The story behind these incidents is complex and, while not the subject of this article, it continues to affect the lives of thousands. Social injustice, violence and conflictive political agendas are part of life in Latin America. In this social context evangelical Christians make up a significant percentage of the population. Bolivia, like various other countries, is now 15-20% evangelical Christian. And the question arises as to what difference it has made, or is making.

How do the Christians we know respond? Many are concerned that so little public influence is coming from evangelical Christians, pressing toward national ethics, morality and innovative creativity. Others note, more critically, that twentieth century evangelical Protestant missions called people to conversion but muted communication of their civic responsibility. But I am impressed with how the evangelical leaders we work with in Latin America are responding.

David and Arminda Tintaya, pastors of a Friends church in Santa Cruz, asked how they could help a widow with dependent children who had become a part of their congregation.  The church purchased a couple of large aluminum kettles, a wheelbarrow, a gas bottle, a burner, and a large spoon, ladle and cups to set her up in business to make and sell hot fruit drinks in a market.  It was what was possible for the congregation and became a lifeline for the woman, making it possible for her to support her family.

Hugo Pérez, a Baptist leader and our student in the Bolivian Evangelical University, is writing a master’s thesis on the successes and failures of evangelical leaders in Bolivian public service since 1950.  He considers that public service and political leadership is a point of mission that evangelicals cannot ignore.

Jorge Lolín, a PRODOLA doctoral student, pastor of a large Christian and Missionary Alliance congregation and seminary professor in Quito headed evangelical participation in the rewriting of the Constitution of Ecuador this fall.  He wrote, “as Protestant Evangelicals we have come together to present our proposals to the nation and to (the) … congress ….  Among our proposals are: 1. that the name of God should remain in the constitution;  2. that the state assure and guarantee the value of human life from conception to death: 3. that the state recognize and protect the family and marriage. . . and promote healthy, viable families; 4. that the state recognize interculturality and the multi-ethnicity of our peoples….The President of Ecuador has invited leaders of the Protestant Evangelical churches to a breakfast (to talk about these issues).”

How are we as evangelical Friends in Oregon, Washington and Idaho responding? Our present Quaker Queries evidence both historical and contemporary concern for the expression of personal transformation and social responsibility. They build from a foundation of personal encounter with God and call us to respond personally to civic responsibility, and as the people of God, to work for social justice, responsible stewardship of the earth, and reconciliation and peace between persons and social groups. That’s quite inclusive. We cannot diminish our emphasis on encounter with God. But we do need to further recover and flesh out the Reformation and Quaker emphasis on vocation which is biblically both prior to and redeemed by, the doctrine of reconciliation of creature and creation with their Creator.

Although the circumstances may differ, like our Latin American brothers and sisters, we face the same challenges of responding as responsible Christians to our social context.

Questions for discussion:

1. What do you think?! How are Evangelical Friends responding? Do you have suggestions or questions?
2. How can we “further recover the Quaker emphasis on biblical vocation?

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A goal of the NWYM Global Outreach Board is to highlight NWYM folks who serve with other mission or relief agencies.

~ Linda Byrd, Member at Newberg Friends

What type of ministry is the most effective means for reaching the most receptive hearts? Christian camping!

I can still smell the pitch and feel the autumn sunshine of a redwood grove, where years ago I attended a seminar taught by one of the Christian Camping International (CCI) founding fathers. The Lord called me into camp ministry then and I’ve been blessed to serve in a variety of capacities including several years on staff at Tilikum, a ministry of George Fox University.

Over the past four years this call has led to international camp ministry opportunities in Jamaica and Latin America. The setting and approach may differ, but the vision of Christian camping as a tool to reach children, youth, and adults is universal. Every year, Christian camps around the world impact millions of lives. While currently working for CCI in Panama, I would welcome your prayers as I seek the Lord’s direction for the next place of service He has for this lifelong camper.

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 Rachelle Staley serves as the interim Youth Superintendent for Northwest Yearly Meeting. She works with youth and young adults, and the people who minister to them. Recently, a training conference was held for the youth workers. Here’s a reflection from Rachelle.

“If you want to start a food ministry, find a hungry person and feed them.”

Marshall Snider, BridgeTown Ministries 

A group of 50 youthworkers gathered in Hood River, Oregon, for our annual Youthworkers’ Training Conference. They came from around the northwest to learn to motivate youth towards service in our communities. Before the conference ended, we were the ones motivated. Our speaker, Marshall Snider of BridgeTown Ministries, shared his story about beginning a homeless ministry under the Burnside Bridge in Portland, feeding the hungry, washing their feet, hearing their stories, and sharing his life while inviting others to come alongside.
Gar Mickelson, NWYM Associate Superintendent of Local Outreach, and Josh Reid, youth pastor at Newberg Friends, also shared their personal journeys about working with the church to be an impact for the Kingdom of God. The message to keep service simple came as a relief. God’s directions are to care for the oppressed, not to become overwhelmed administrators of complex programs.    

With a background in social work, I can list all the reasons why I should leave redistribution of resources up to qualified organizations or established programs that have screening tools, federal regulations and community connections. I can list the reasons why giving a handout is working against people getting motivated to help themselves. Yes, it’s true: in pursuit of efficiency, I stopped actively reaching out to the poor.

As we learned ways to connect our youth, many of us felt encouraged to move beyond a “program” and towards the heartbeat of Christ. We were reminded that youth should see service and care for God’s people as part of our everyday life, not just a structured youth event. As a community of youthworkers, we left with a new commitment to serve those in need.

by Rachelle Staley

Joy Lujan is a wife and mother of six children. She is just beginning to get serious about slowing down, simplifying her life and resting in Jesus. She hopes to share with others a more peaceful and simpler way of living. She enjoys canning and gardening, and finding resources that help her raise her family in an environmentally friendly way. Check out her blog.

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I try to incorporate my “green” thoughts into my walk with Christ because, for me, they go hand in hand. To assist me with faith-to-lifestyle integration, I often use the Friends Queries. Northwest Yearly Meeting and Spokane Friends Meeting showcase them well.

On this topic, it is helpful for me to look at Query 13.

“Is your life marked by simplicity? Are you free from the burden of unnecessary possessions? Do you avoid waste? Do you refuse to let the prevailing culture and media dictate your needs and values?”

These are four large questions to ponder and live by! This is where I find being green goes hand-in-hand with my faith.

A) “Is my life marked by simplicity?” I try. I don’t feel I’m extravagant in my dress, outward appearance, home decor, children’s lives, etc. There are many ways this could be lived out. But for those who know me, I have to ask them if they see this value being expressed in my life. If it is not being lived in a way that can be seen from the outside, it means very little and loses its ability to be a testimony that points to God’s primacy and provision in our lives.

B) “Are you free from the burden of unnecessary possessions?” Goodness no! I have more stuff than I know what to do with! But I am making progress… I think. As a family we are discussing purchases and evaluating the “need value”
versus “want value” of those things we are considering. For example: Do I need another pair of shoes? No. Do I want them? Yes. So if I get them, perhaps I will give some of my older ones to Goodwill I’ve just started this with the girls. If they get a new (read “newer”) item of clothing, they must get rid of an article of clothing. This makes them really think about how bad they want something, knowing something else is going to have to go.

C) “Do you avoid waste?” Boy, I sure think so! From leftover meals to finding a use for things beyond their intended purpose. My daughter Sky is heavily involved in recycling. Here is a picture of her taken Monday at the recycle place. This was her second trip this month. As you can see, there are MANY bags in the trailer we had to use since there were too many for my Suburban. She has 65 pounds here. Plus the 30 pounds she had before. That’s 95 pounds of cans, peoples!!! And, it’s a whopping $51.30 for Mexico! She actually made $57 but after her tithe, it’s the $51.30 and really, she only had quarters so decided to make it $5.75 so that left her with $51.25 for her fund. I’m so proud. It’s one thing for me to do this stuff but when my kids start doing it, on their own, it’s a big mommy moment.

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Back to the query: Do I avoid waste? I say, “yes, I do.” But more importantly, would you see that in my life? I need feedback to
really challenge my own perspective. It is easy to miss bad habits that are integrated into my lifestyle.
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. D) “Do you refuse to let the prevailing culture and media dictate your needs and values?” Eww, this one is tough. Aside from the Guitar Hero addiction – it really has created MANY family nights of fun and that is important, right? I know I let it dictate some of my needs – my new Pearl Blackberry for example is SO utterly awesome. But I didn’t need it. But I like it. See my quandry? I don’t believe I am adjusting my values to what media and culture are doing. We’re very modest on dress, strict on music and movies our kids see, we don’t allow the TV to just be “on.” All media must be approved, etc. But I know that I could definitely strengthen this area. Technology is grand, but it does add an element of need-versus-want to one’s life. And apart from acquiring things, there are other ways that the culture dictates my values and assumptions and self-image.

But what do you think? Respond below and let’s create some dialogue around the issue of “simple living” in the family.

Questions for Discussion:

1) In what ways is your life “marked by simplicity?” Either as an individual, or in your family situation, how do you pursue this?

2) What are some of the toughest areas to refuse to let “prevailing culture and media dictate your values?”

3) What questions regarding this query would you have for Joy or other readers of this dialogue?

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by Gene Christian, consultant for the Yearly Meeting Foundation

Monthly budgeting. Retirement planning. Stewardship. If you’re like me, you probably have spent many hours during your lifetime thinking about how to most effectively earn, save, and then give all that has been entrusted to you. It’s not an easy process and it’s certainly different for everyone!

God created this world—and everything in it—for his own pleasure. The Bible says that we are merely caretakers of the gifts and talents we have been given. So God has endowed us with certain abilities in order that we can earn and save money—and then ultimately return what we have accumulated to the one who owns the “cattle on a thousand hills.”
But how can we do that most effectively? We need the money we have saved to support us during our retirement years. We also may have educational expenses for loved ones, or costs associated with operating a business, and myriad other financial commitments we know God has called us to support.

So how can we be maximally effective stewards for the kingdom while at the same time honoring the commitments we may have to support our families as well?

For me, one of the best ways to think about stewardship is through estate planning. In fact, your estate plan will be your final act of stewardship on this earth—taking all that God has entrusted to you during life and distributing it to the people and causes you care about at death.

For those who are stewardship minded and have always wished they could do more for kingdom-building causes, one of the strategies we find most effective is what we call the “Give It Twice” estate plan. The concept is really quite simple. It works like this:
When you pass away, a trust account receives a portion, or all, of the value of your assets (your estate). Then, for a period of years, your loved ones receive an income stream from the trust. As a result, their inheritance is received in smaller amounts of money over several years, rather than a large, one-time sum all at once.

After the pre-determined number of years, the trust discontinues, and whatever remains is given outright to charitable causes. Often these “Give It Twice” trusts are set up to pay out to your loved ones about as much money as they earn each year. Therefore, when the trust’s term expires, roughly the same amount of money remains as when your estate funded it several years earlier.

So, if you’re willing to have your loved ones receive their inheritance in smaller amounts over several years (give it first to family), then you will be able to also support your favorite charitable causes when the trust expires (give it second to charity).

This is one example that has certainly gained popularity in recent years—particularly with those who are Christians. It’s just one strategy to consider as you think about taking all that God has entrusted to you during life, and ultimately turning it all back to him in death.

The Yearly Meeting Foundation has resource material and people to help you along the way. The free Estate Planning Resource Guide and the Estate Inventory Form are available here. For more information or to set up a no cost, no obligation consultation with Gene Christian, contact the yearly meeting office at (503) 538-9419.

SPOTLIGHT

We appreciated the broad guidance and helpful principles Gene gave us as we were preparing an update of our wills.  We had an idea how to help future Christian ministry and we wondered if it was practical and if it could be achieved.  He helped us think through our options of how to share our resources both with family and organizations we want to support. He helped us with details we had not known even to ask. Rather than feeling directed to pursue anyone else’s agenda, we felt enabled. We left our session ready to take the next step with our lawyer, with the confidence we had a plan that would accomplish our goals to be faithful with our estate.

Ron and Carolyn Stansell

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A goal of the Global Outreach Board is to highlight NWYM folks who serve with other mission or relief agencies.

Since 2002, Kim and Andrew Stave (North Valley & Eugene Friends) have been serving at LCC International University (formerly Lithuania Christian College).  LCC is an English-speaking Christian liberal arts university that educates nearly 600 students from 21 different countries with the goal of sending out moral leaders into Eastern Europe/Central Asia to be change-agents in their countries.
Like the majority of the expatriate staff and faculty at LCC, Kim and Andrew serve in their roles as volunteers—raising all funds through a variety of individuals and church partnerships.  Both serve on the Student Life staff: Kim as the Director of Community Life and Andrew as the Athletic Director. Their daughter Ieva was born in 2005 and has just entered Lithuanian preschool this fall.

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~ LCC’s website: www.lcc.lt.

~ Stave’s blog: www.kimandrewstave.blogspot.com

~ To donate toward the Stave’s ministry, you may send a check to LCC International Fund: 39 Southgate Court Suite 202, Harrisonburg, VA, 22801 and please note that it is designated to them.

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Since this issue of Connection is themed around the topics of stewardship and simplicity, I wondered what particular impact living in another country has on these issues. So I asked some questions of our overseas workers. Below are a few of their responses. Remember to pray for all our workers as they wrestle each day with how to best live out the Gospel in the places and with the people to whom they have been called. ~ Shawn McConaughey, Global Outreach

J&J, in what ways do you wrestle with the issues of ownership of things as you minister within other cultures?

I understand now how one’s possessions can defeat you. In a foreign country, one naturally begins to yearn for just a few familiar things. Bisquick pancake mixes, muffins, the feel of a football in your hands, light reading in English, Tex-Mex food, a car larger than a Ford Focus, a highway without cars driving in the break-down lane. Everyone has some hankerings when living abroad, and if kept to only one or two, it’s probably harmless to indulge in the smaller ones. But if you start feeling entitled to all of them, and turn to something American as “the better solution” or the “easiest thing,” then your apartment will look so American that local folks will find it odd and foreign. Indeed, when you leave your apartment, everything will seem to you to be different and therefore, unsafe. It’s hard to reach people when you seem very different, and you live so differently, especially in Russia, where home hospitality is everything.

– Russia

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Neiferts and Kelleys, in what ways has generosity (yours or others) impacted your ministry?

There have been many times overseas when we were astounded by others’ generosity and care for us. Once in Romania, close friends of ours invited our family as well as other family members visiting at the time to their house for an elaborate meal. Because we knew them well, we understood that they barely had enough money for rent that month, but they wanted to honor us and our guests. In Russia, one of my English classes took up a collection and bought me a beautiful samovar, or Russian tea pot, for my birthday. We have many more stories of how individuals and families have blessed our lives as they have taught us the meaning of generosity.

Patrick and Christy Neifert -Middle East

We constantly open our home to friends, and friends of friends for hospitality, sometimes with as little as two hours notice! This act can seem trivial when viewed in the wider purpose of why we are here. But we have had several people throughout the country tell us years later how sharing our home with them encouraged them at a critical time in their ministry.

Bill and Betty
Kelley -North Africa

What has simplicity come to mean for you?

Focus on the basics. Strategies and technologies are wonderful tools, but the engine which propels my spiritual life is prayer. For years I have studied about prayer. How refreshing it is just to do it without worrying about doing it correctly.

Bill Kelley
-North Africa

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Tim Burdick is father to Sierra, husband to Heather, and a bi-vocational co-pastor of McKinley Hill Friends Church in Tacoma, Washington. He is also a part-time Ph.D. student at University of Birmingham and loves to play disc golf.

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My sweet widowed grandmother lives by herself in a house with a four-car garage. She doesn’t need a four-car garage. She has only one car, and even that she really shouldn’t be driving. The remaining three bays are occupied with random stuff from garden equipment to a friend’s truck (he ran out of room at his own place). When pulling up to her house the sight is quite formidable—all you see is a wall of white panels standing guard around her charming home. Once you get past these parapets it doesn’t get better. Somewhere in the house there is a cluttered basement, several guest bedrooms with too many boxes, and a dusty attic holding the rotating supplies of seasonal decorations.

Of course, my grandmother is never going to downsize. Every time she trudges out to the hinterland areas of her home and sorts through old boxes, she gets mired down with the difficulty of letting go. Every item is a memory, connected to some part of her, and getting rid of it is like getting rid of herself. I suppose at her age she h as earned the right to protect these memories, no matter how excessive it looks, but her story is telling on how much our “things” can control and shape us.

In truth, ownership creates identity. When we buy things we are adopting a set of inherent values. Without thinking about it, those values become ingrained in who we are. The more ownership choices we make the more a prevalent pattern of overlapping principles start to appear and our sense of selfhood is formed. In the end, we risk becoming what we own.

The same can be said not just about tangible possessions, but also for those ideas and beliefs we claim to hold. Saying, “I am a Christian,” is no different in terms of identity formation than saying, “I own a single-family house in the suburbs.” Both statements are claims about possession and both come with a set of values. Both equally influence who I am.

In some ways, the whole idea of private property (intellectual, spiritual, or material) is the ultimate means people use to differentiate themselves. Saying, “I am a Christian living in a big house in the ‘burbs,” is instantly recognized by the hearer as more of a character statement than one of geography or faith. You assume things about me, both good and bad, based on that statement. In the same way I might announce, “Most of my clothes are secondhand.” Although this statement is factual, I say it because I want you to understand part of who I am in relation to my purchasing choices. Ownership is both formative and instrumental. It shapes who we are, while we use it to help influence how we are perceived. For some, the whole process becomes unhealthy and they buy into the marketing idea that you are incomplete without item X, or Y, or Z (all on sale right now). For others, like my grandmother, the psychological shaping comes from years of living in the same house with the same belongings. They slowly and unconsciously become part of us through mental and physical proximity. Whether it be a big house, a strongly held belief, or a small item of sentiment, ownership impacts our identity.

In contrast, the idea of stewardship is about what we do with possessions—intellectual, spiritual, or material. It’s different because we have none of the power that comes with legal rights of ownership, while maintaining all the responsibility. If this doesn’t sound appealing, it’s only because we are blinded by generations of free market capitalism and individualism. Ownership is sold to us as power. But with this power comes the burden of maintenance. In the end, sustaining it becomes a difficult reality to defend without slowly turning into something we resent.

Stewardship, however, is about being responsible. Again, saying, “I am a Christian,” is only a claim that helps define me. On the other hand, saying something like, “I am a steward of Christianity,” becomes an examination of how I live out my faith. If Christians are suddenly in bad repute I share the responsibility because I am a steward. I can’t escape my duty, can’t sell for a loss, and can’t try and move on. I am a caretaker.

These same dynamics work for almost every area of our lives when looking at ownership vs. stewardship. Saying something like, “I am a steward of the suburbs,” takes me away from merely being a private property owner, and makes me a participant in my neighborhood’s vitality. Saying, “I own a car,” is about status and power (regardless of the type of car we own). But saying, “I am a steward of the roadways,” suddenly makes me a responsible member in dealing with mass transit, carbon emissions, road rage, hands-free cell phones, and drive-through restaurants. Ironically, when I let go of the psychological hookups garnered through ownership, I am freed up to become a responsible custodian.

Switching our thinking from ownership to stewardship is certainly difficult. Not just because of the extra accountability it requires, but because it involves letting go of who we think we are.

But the good news in living this way is that there is great freedom in partnering with Christ in various stewardship roles. It’s a lot more fun for me to think of being a steward of the resources I have, compared to the burden of ownership and maintenance. The former is about working hard within grace and giftedness, while the latter is about the tiring efforts to protect and hold what I can, while I can, for as long as I can. If the recent turbulent economy can teach us anything, it’s that this type of futile hoarding is quite literally, crazy-making.

But what do you think? Respond below and let’s create some dialogue around the issue of “ownership” and its impact on us.

Questions for Discussion:

1) What stands out to you from this article? Any new or odd ideas? Something to “push back” on or agree heartily with?

2) Have you taken any steps to simplify your possessions? Your commitments? Your values?

3) Where have you experienced freedom in relation to this topic?

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