Leaders often approach the stewardship of property and wealth as a conversation that takes place within their community. This inward focus tends to overburden leaders and limits creativity. My goal in promoting stewardship, as the DEM, is to connect leaders and help communities grow their capacity for holy imagination.

Beyond decline, Christ calls us to steward our gifts with creativity and imagination. This is work that we do best together. If you are looking for resources, I would love to talk with you more.

– From Pastor Ryan Fletcher’s May 2025 blog post

What is stewardship?

Yes, stewardship is about money, but it is also about so much more than money. It is the daily walk to faithfully follow Jesus as we go to work or school, tend to the relationships in our lives, shop at the grocery store, separate our recyclables or compost, exercise or travel and everything else we do throughout the day and week.

  • The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. – Psalm 24:1
  • Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… – Philippians 2:4-5

Free or low-cost stewardship programs

New cohorts start each August, this program facilitated by GSB Fundraising, is a proven process for helping congregations begin a cultivating a culture of generosity in their congregation alongside coaching for an annual response. The cost is $450 per congregation and many congregations apply for a $250 Thrivent Action grant to help pay for the cost. For more information, visit the GSB Fundraising website.

The goals of The Generosity Project are to connect people ages 2 to 102, equip all ages and households for the faith practice of generosity, and to grow in God’s grace generation to generation. TGP may be used for a gathering of congregations, a single congregation’s fall stewardship focus or a preaching series for worship. It can provide learning materials for family camp, VBS, confirmation, intergenerational Sunday school or take-home study. Its potential applications for an expanded, year-round emphasis on stewardship are endless. The cost for the digital download of all their materials is $39.99.

This 2013 ELCA provides a prophetic framework for a year-round stewardship plan, with spiritual emphasis on discipleship and understanding God’s abundance. The 58-page guide and inserts is available for free as a PDF download.

Celebrate Generosity is a free four-week program you can implement in your congregation. Written by author retired ELCA stewardship leader Eugene Grimm, Celebrate Generosity makes it easy to get going with an annual stewardship emphasis.

Helpful books

Written with the needs of pastors and stewardship teams in mind, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate provides immediate, practical guidance to all who seek to help God’s people be better stewards of their resources. The author, J. Cliff Christopher, is a Methodist pastor, founder and CEO of Horizons Stewardship Company and a respected voice of stewardship leadership and church growth.

Embracing Stewardship will help you strengthen your congregation’s stewardship ministry. Mindful of generational perspectives and attuned to the world in which congregations live, this book provides eight pathways your congregation can follow to deepen your members’ understanding of themselves as stewards of the bounty of God. The authors Pr. Charles Lane and Grace Duddy Pomroy, members of congregations right here in the Minneapolis Area Synod, are respected stewardship leaders in the ELCA. Lane recently retired as the pastor for stewardship at Lord of Life, Maple Grove and Pomroy currently serves as the director of the stewardship leaders program at Luther Seminary, St. Paul.

We all know that everything we have is a gift from God. But sometimes it’s hard to know just how to give back to God. How much is enough? What does the Bible really say? What should giving look like in our everyday lives? Filled with good news for followers of Jesus, Mark Allan Powell’s Giving to God shows Christians the way to a better life and a better relationship with their money — and with God. Powell is a prolific author on generosity and Biblical studies. He most recently served as the professor of New Testament Studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, OH.

Considered by many to “the Bible” of stewardship ministry, the goal of Ask, Thank, Tell is to perform a dramatic rescue of stewardship, freeing it from any connection to “paying the bills.” When the Bible talks about stewardship it almost always talks about the intimate connection between how a person handles financial matters and that person’s relationship with God. Stewardship is an intensely spiritual matter that lies close to a disciple’s relationship with Jesus. The author is Pr. Charles “Chick” Lane, who recently retired as the pastor for stewardship at Lord of Life, Maple Grove and has become a trusted source for stewardship leadership in congregations across the ELCA looking to grow their generosity ministry.

Other online resources

The Stewardship of Life Institute, founded in 1994, is headquartered at United Lutheran Seminary, with campuses in Philadelphia and Gettysburg, Pa. The Institute’s mission is to serve stewardship in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They curate resources for teaching, preaching and growing in generosity and holistic stewardship. Current members of their Board of Directors include several Minneapolis Area Synod Leaders including, Pr. Norma Malfatti (Chair of the Board), Pr. Charles Lane (former Chair of the Board) and Christina Womack.

Stewardship goes beyond congregational giving to the household and society. The Stewardship Leaders Program strives to consider the full spectrum of stewardship practice and theology, including financial stewardship, holistic stewardship, and leadership. The current director is a member of one of our congregations, Grace Duddy Pomroy.

This is the ELCA Resource page for stewardship. On this page you will find resources to assist you in your personal and household stewardship. Also, there are resources to assist your congregation’s stewardship ministry.

This blog offers essays and other resources talking about a variety of financial issues, from helping parents talk to school aged children about money to creating household budgets to relationships and debt.

Reach Out

Reach out to Pastor Ryan Fletcher for questions, information, or resources about stewardship.

Pastor Ryan Fletcher

Director for Evangelical Mission