Stewardship: Practice Generosity

"Gain All You Can - Save All You Can - Give All You Can" --John Wesley

Stewardship is more than just giving money to the church. It is about caring for and managing all that has been given to us by God. Stewardship is a lifestyle that involves making choices in all aspects of our lives to do the best with what we are given. It is a way for us to generously participate in God's work with our time, talents, and assets.

When a body of believers lives out the Christ-centered ideal of generosity, the impact is undeniably positive. For when we are truly generous, we reflect the character of God "who gives generously and doesn't hold back" (James 1:5). Becoming a generous person merely reflects the liberality of God's blessing upon us.

Generosity is a habit, not happenstance. A habit is a life practice. It's something you have done so often that it becomes part of who you are. On the other hand, happenstance is random and unfixed. As followers of Christ, generosity should be so woven into our character that it shows like bright threads in the fabric of our daily lives.

To learn more about Connectional Giving programs sponsored by the United Methodist, click the icon at the beginning of this article. In addition, the Center for Christian Stewardship, which is sponsored by the United Methodist Church, provides exceptional resources, training, and consultation for congregations and individuals about the joy of generous giving. To learn more about John Wesley's views of stewardship, read the three articles posted on this Web site.

There are always opportunities to practice being a generous steward at WUMC. Many of these opportunities are included on various pages of this Web site. Please contact the church office at (716) 634-4800 if you are interested in helping plan or organize stewarship programs.

World Communion Sunday - October 3

In 1940, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America established Worldwide Communion Sunday—originally a Presbyterian observance—as a global, interdenominational event. Prompted by the impact of World War II, the Methodist Church received an offering on this Sunday for the Fellowship of Suffering and Service. It aided the work of the Methodist Committee on Overseas Relief (now the United Methodist Committee on Relief), the Commission on Chaplains and the Commission on Camp Activities.

In 1971, The United Methodist Church changed the name of the observance to World Communion Sunday and redistributed the offering to support the Crusade Scholarship Program (begun in 1944), the Ethnic Minority Scholarship Program and the Division of Chaplains and Related Ministries. In 1980, Chaplains and Related Ministries was moved to World Service funding, but the World Communion Sunday offering continued to assist racial- and ethnic-minority persons pursuing various avenues of ministry. The 2008 General Conference changed the name of Crusade Scholars to World Communion Scholars. In 2009-2010 alone, more than $1.3 million in scholarships for advanced and college-level study were approved by the directors of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Your generous gifts on World Communion Sunday are used to fund the following scholarships and training programs:

World Communion Scholarships - 50% of this offering provides scholarships to U.S. and international racial- and ethnic-minority graduate students. Related tothe General Board of Global Ministries.
Ethnic Scholarship Program - 35% of this offering is used for scholarships to undergraduate students. Affiliated with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
Ethnic In-Service Training Program – 15% of this offering funds scholarships for racial- and ethnic-minority persons seeking second careers in church-related vocations. Also affiliated with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Please give generously to this worthy cause during WUMC’s worship services on October 3 or online anytime at https://donate.gcfa.org/FundDetails.aspx?ID=10000141000110004.