\u201cI notice you keep using the word \u2018management\u2019 more than \u2018stewardship\u2019, I remark. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d replies Rock. \u201cYou see David, we are still challenged with the use of this old English word which in our TED context has no direct translation in a number of our languages. So yes, \u2018management\u2019 best describes the partnership God invites us to enter into.<\/p>\n Having just returned from a weekend of ministry in the Cyprus Region, Rock shares how elements of her practical presentations were focussed on dealing with debt \u2013 an approach which invited participants to first \u201clook at themselves as a person\u201d. “Can I emphasise here that this has to be a compassionate and understanding process, listening to the challenges tens of thousands our TED members face. My role is to invite them to place their desperate situations, into the context of being faithful to God and returning to Him what is His. We had such a dynamic discussion dealing with what it takes to get out of personal debt in Cyprus.,\u201d remarks Rock. \u201cWe are saying to an individual – \u00a0because God has given you so much, everything, why not accept His invitation and recognise that by returning to Him a tenth of your personal increase?\u201d Unpacking this further, Rock also adds, \u201cwe need to recognise that in our partnership with God we bring to the table absolutely nothing \u2013 and God has invited us to be partners with him, not as His servant, but as his friend. Is that not the miracle of grace?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so what I try to do\u201d, Rock continues, \u201cis to the break down the debt problem into small steps – to manage the first steps towards debt recovery. And that recovery I am convinced involves a management partnership with God. At our local churches, it is important that we build loving relationships with each other so that we can carefully support those who find themselves living with debt through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are inviting God to \u2018manage\u2019 our lives because of his wonderful act of grace to us through Christ, in the same way is this not what a disciple does?\u201d, I ask. \u201cAbsolutely\u201d says Rock who goes on to answer the question by asking more questions. \u201cWhat does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? If I accept God\u2019s gracious invitation to follow Him, own and manage my life, resulting in me being a teachable person, am I willing to live a life in continual listening mode to discover His will for my life? Is not the understanding of Christian stewardship at the heart of discipleship, taking a lifelong journey with God? The answer is a resounding \u2018yes\u2019 because inviting God to manage my life is at the heart of discipleship. This is \u2018grateful living,\u2019 and I might just add, Stewardship Ministries is right at the heart of the TED\u2019s strategic focus to \u2018Grow Lifelong Disciples\u2019!<\/p>\n Rock began her ministerial journey back in 2010 as a local church pastor, but was quickly recruited to serve as the Principal of the British Union Conference Adventist Discovery Centre in 2017. Her call to ministry grew after working in business consultancy and management. It was in the spring of 2021 that she was called to serve in the stewardship role at the TED. I\u2019m interested to know how Rock has settled into the role.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat excites you most about Christian Stewardship? I ask. Without a moment\u2019s hesitation Rock replies, \u201cIt\u2019s the opportunity to reach out to support our counterparts at the Union-level sharing the breadth of dynamic resources we can make available for them to use \u2013 both in the language of the Union, and age relevant. My burden is to help them and the church promote and present stewardship subject matter in a different and more holistic way than it’s been shared in times past, because this ministry is about developing people, growing people into faithful Christ followers \u2013 putting Him first. And just in case any of your readers have missed this point, I will say it again and again – this is not about \u2018what we must do for God \u2013 or the church\u2019, but a consideration of \u2018our response\u2019 to his great and overwhelming grace for us in Christ.\u2019<\/p>\n As I begin to draw our time together to an end I can see that Rock is anxious to share a new development for TED Stewardship Ministries. Mystified about what it could be, I invite her to explain. \u201cConversations have begun with Newbold College of Higher Education regarding the inclusion of an academic stewardship module for future pastors as part of their ministerial training.\u201d<\/p>\n The light has gone on and I can see why Rock is incredibly excited about this, because without doubt it is a huge step forward. In one sense it\u2019s not rocket science because as Rock points out, \u201cTeaching members the principles of Christian stewardship and becoming lifelong disciples is a major part of a pastor\u2019s role. By including this module for newly called ministerial students we are setting the foundation for encouraging grateful living among our members.<\/p>\n ‘Grateful living’ \u2013 what could be a better value for the Christ-follower to embrace?<\/p>\n Stewardship Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n New Sabbath School Lesson app<\/a> (available in 39 languages). [Photos: David Neal]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stewardship – at the heart of growing lifelong disciples<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":13586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1577,1588],"tags":[1367,287,1368,1164,1052],"class_list":["post-13583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-organisational-updates","category-united-kingdom-ireland","tag-maureen","tag-news","tag-rock","tag-stewardship","tag-stewardship-director"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13583"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13609,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions\/13609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-4-3.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cHow\u2019s it going with the world church currently focussed on the stewardship theme?,\u201d I ask. \u201cIt has started off well and I am excited about these lessons\u201d replies Rock, \u201cI like the approach of these studies because they start off in the right place \u2013 at creation, reminding us that all humankind is part of God\u2019s family, who invites us to manage not only our own lives but also our world.\u201d But as Rock quickly adds, \u201cIt\u2019s not only the big picture matters this series of studies considers, but one which gets right down to the nitty gritty of how God invites us to manage our everyday lives \u2013 which is incredibly helpful for the cost-of-living crisis many TED members are currently facing.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-2-5.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-3-4.jpg\")
<\/a>As I continue to listen, I\u2019m picking up from Rock an essential outcome of the discipleship process. \u201cTherefore Christian stewardship is embracing our relationship with God in all aspects of our lives, our time, talent, treasure, body temple and family life. This in turn can only lead us to being effective contributors to our neighbourhood, sharing God\u2019s word and giving a testimony of His grace providing hope to those we meet. The most important aspect of stewardship is not the raising of money for the church, but the development of devoted Christians.”<\/p>\n
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\nGod First channel GC Stewardship Ministries<\/a>
\n2023 Youth (inVerse) Stewardship Sabbath School Quarterly<\/a>
\n2023 Adult Stewardship Sabbath School Quarterly<\/a>
\nHope Channel\u00a0InVerse (Youth Lesson) Hope Channel show<\/a>
\nHope Channel Sabbath School<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n