Mid-Year Check Up and Prescription

Here we are in the middle of the summer.  For many of us, it is a time to plan and to take strategic steps as we get ready to re-launch the regular activities for the fall.  Here are two ideas:

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR ANNUAL STEWARDSHIP CHECK-UP

“An annual stewardship “check up” is a great way to stay in shape as a good steward. Questions for this checkup might include: How is God’s grace present in your life? How is God blessing you? How are you responding? How are you taking responsibility for the ways in which you live your life? In what ways are you going beyond yourself in service? How have you experienced God’s presence as you served others this year? In what ways will you challenge yourself this coming year to reach out to someone in need? How are you offering yourself in generous response to the lavish gift of Christ’s love?”

Leisa Anslinger and Victoria Shepp in Forming Generous Hearts: Stewardship Planning for Lifelong Faith Formation (New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications) p. 103-104.

MAKE SOME NEW FRIENDS AND CHECK UP ON THE OLD ONES

This is a great time to connect with those you might not see during the school year.  You can have relaxed conversations as you share what God is doing in the school.  As always, we should listen to hear what they like (or love) about the school and how they connect to the mission.  We can always ask if they feel comfortable recommending the school to a potential new parent or someone else who might have an interest in education.  If you have an introductory tour of the school, make sure you hand out cards with the dates and times.  These visits are great for soliciting ambassadors for the school.  If possible, go to them in person.  We need to leave our comfortable desk and meeting them where they are conveys honor and value,

Young Stewards: "A Day of Service"

Is there an age that is too young to teach stewardship?

We tested this idea in April during an all-school Day of Service. The goal of the day was to share our blessings (time, talent and treasure) with many agencies within a 20 radius of the school. Also, we wanted to share Christ's love by going into the community and witnessing through serving.

One hundred parents and teachers joined in as we carpooled to 16 locations - all 320 of us!

Our students blessed the homeless shelters, Salvation Army, food bank, clothing bank, senior center, soup kitchen, retirement home, and others.

Here's how one of the parents described the day:

"I just wanted to express how much we appreciated the Day of Service. It was such a blessing to see first-hand the Kindergartners and First graders at the Friendship House in Wilmington. It was equally rewarding to hear how much my girls were blessed by blessing others at Shoes to Share and the New Castle Senior Center. We've always tried to instill in the girls how giving back is part of being a Christian and showing Christ's love. But, to have the entire school involved and seeing it on the kids faces and hearing the testimonies of their parents--- it made such an impact on our school family, I can't imagine what an impact it must have made on our community! I pray that this will become a yearly event and that the people of Delaware will not only see Tall Oaks as an impressive academic school, but as a school where God is alive and working in the lives of our staff and students and parents."

Biblical stewardship is a way of thinking, not merely an activity that we do. Please contact me if you would like to hear more about this stewardship day.

Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!