Stewards are those who manage the affairs of the master. They are to see that the job gets done. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2). The call for stewards is to be faithful and each local church is a congregation of stewards of the gospel. When you look at the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ you find his focus and progression to be outward. He came not to be served, but to serve. He subsequently gave this commission to his disciples," as the Father sent me, I also send you" (John 20:21).

As stewards of the gospel, Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1:8 they would receive power as the Holy Spirit came upon them and would be his witnesses from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world. The stewardship of the gospel is an awesome responsibility and no one accepted this responsibility more seriously than the Apostle Paul. He testified in 1 Cor. 9:16, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel!" The movement of modern day missions grows out of this concept of stewardship of the gospel. There is good news to tell to the world. The great evangelistic crusades and para-church organizations are founded upon the stewardship of the gospel. Churches must also see their responsibility in being faithful gospel stewards.

The stewardship of economics was also taught and modeled in Acts 2:45, "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." The early Christians in Acts 4:32 were known by the following testimony, "No one claimed that any of his possession was his own, but they shared everything they had." It was both a word and deed ministry from Pentecost forward. All believers were entrusted to be stewards of both the gospel and their possessions. Giving immediately followed believing. It was upon these two concepts that the early church grew as in Acts 2:47, "And the Lord added daily those who were being saved."

It seems the Holy Spirit was using both the preaching of the Word and the love of Christian believers for each other to bring people to salvation in Christ. It was the stewardship of the gospel and the stewardship of material possessions and resources that led to the numerical growth of the early church. Stewardship in both areas is essential to fulfill the Great Commission locally and to the ends of the world. It remains true today for your community, city, town, country, as well as the third world and regions beyond.

You’ve heard on many occasions, "God owns it all," and "God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack for anything." Corporately and individually the church needs to revisit and re-think such clichés to ask if we really believe these statements. If God is not adding to our church, where is the imbalance in our stewardship? Are we a preaching, teaching church but not very giving? Or is it the other way around? Are we a giving church but weak in proclaiming the gospel? The Great Commission is a "go, give and give" mission:

"Go into all the world."

"Give the gospel freely to all people."

"Give of your wealth to make it happen."