Growing up, I went to church with my parents every Sunday. And every Sunday, I would see my parents write out a check and place it in a church envelope to give during the offering. My parents believed in tithing which meant giving 10 percent of your income to the church. My parents were autoworkers, working on the assembly line in my home state of Michigan. They didn’t make a lot of money, but they believed what they got should be given back to God.
My parents represented an older generation of Christians that tended to give more. It didn’t matter if they were professionals or working class, it seemed like they gave more of their income to the church. Fast forward to today and it appears that younger Christians give much less to their local congregation.
About a decade ago, I asked today’s guest to come to the church where I served to talk about stewardship. If you are someone who goes to church regularly, you know about stewardship as something that happens at least once a year where people pledge how much to give for the year. She talked about stewardship, but in a very different way; seeing it much less as something that you had to do to meet the church budget, and seeing it as a spiritual practice akin more to having regular prayer or reading your Bible.
And that’s what we are talking about today; seeing stewardship as a spiritual discipline. My guest today is Kirby Gould. She is Vice President of the North Central Zone of the Christian Church Foundation and has been part of the Foundation since 1997. She is also a Commissioned Minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Certified Fund Raising Executive, a Chartered Financial Consultant and a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy. Join us as Kirby and I talk about what it means to view the offering plate as a way to draw closer to God.
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Show Notes:
Kirby Gould's Bio
Stewardship As A Spiritual Discipline
Center for Faith and Giving Website
Lectionary Q Podcast
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Episode 172: Transforming the Offering Plate into a Spiritual Journey with Kirby Gould