Office of Stewardship
Why have we named our office “stewardship” rather than “development” or “institutional advancement.” Naming our office the office of stewardship gives us an opportunity to express a fundamental understanding of life with God. At its core, stewardship refers to a way of living that sees life in all of its parts as held in trust from God. As Christians, we know ourselves to be stewards rather than owners.
Feeling grateful and expressing gratitude are central to how stewards spend their time, energy, and attention. Gratitude is an attitude we want to demonstrate to the seminary’s friends who fund the ministry with which the church has entrusted us.
The work of the seminary is a series of acts of stewardship.
· We act as stewards in relation to leaders in formation sent to us by the church.
· We are entrusted with a method of preparing for ministry. A graduate seminary marshals the faculty, support staff, facilities, technology, and library that enables the seminary to function as an intellectual center for the church.
· By means of the library, the seminary makes available many voices in the churches' written memory.
· Faculty members interpret and hand on select traditions, bringing them into a demanding conversation with present-day circumstances and voices.
· The business and stewardship offices act as stewards of the funds given to us by almost a thousand persons and organizations every year; and through trustee and staff attention, we exercise prudent care for the endowment funds given to us by the living and those who have long since passed.
In the book Your Money or Your Life, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin assert that money represents an exchange for life energies. We give our energy and earn money. This would mean that the money we receive to operate this seminary every year embodies the life energies of almost a thousand persons and organizations. We feel humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be stewards of such tremendous gifts.
901
N. Mingo Road