Stewardship Stewardship Stewardship

I'm currently reading 'Winning' by Jack Welch. I'm just over halfway through the book, and the underlying theme of all he says is stewardship. Now obviously he is approaching his book through a business lens, but it seems that what really drove him in business was the proper stewardship of resources--people and things at the most basic level. In business, it seems that because profit is so crucial to not only the business' livelihood, but also to the individuals, that they make every effort to ensure that resources are being allocated in a way that increase profit.

Although many businesses may have a 'worldly' mindset, I'm convicted by their commitment to stewarding their resources well. Compared to how we as an organization and how the church in general stewards the resources we are entrusted, we really should be ashamed. For us, who are committed to Christ and his value system, it would seem that we would feel and live out stewardship more earnestly than those in business. The one thing that Welch talks about over and over is making strategic choices in light of reality, and sticking to them. In regards to stewarding resources, he believes that companies should not invest their money and resources all around, but instead select the most promising or important areas and invest heavily in those. To see actual change in anything requires a significant investment of resources. It seems like organizationally we could grow in this sort of thinking, and really invest and 'bet' heavily in the new, for the sake of furthuring our effectiveness in fulfilling the Great Commission.

more to say later...