Resourcing Stewardship
Ruben Swint, Senior Strategist, Generis Partners, Atlanta, GA
The traditional manner in which North American congregations have received stewardship development events, experiences and materials was by requesting or ordering them from a denominational entity. The denomination was committed to this institutional relationship for if contributions from churches through the denomination’s unified collections system were to grow, then the gifts from members in the churches would have to grow as well. Denominations were committed to the development of Christian stewards for the members’ spiritual growth, for the successful funding of the congregations' programs and ministries, and for a worldwide growth in missions effectiveness and impact.
The economy of scale used to produce stewardship materials for its member congregations meant that the denomination offered a denominationally branded approach in resourcing stewardship that ultimately did not fit every individual congregation in terms of style, culture, values and mission. The denomination assumed that every one of its member congregations had the same mission during a time when congregations were discovering their own God-given mission.
Congregations began discovering their own unique identities, their own strengths for ministry and their commonality with other congregations of like size and geographical location, not necessarily like denominational brand. Congregations embarked on a resourcing strategy to discover stewardship development events, experiences and materials more suitable to their style, culture, values and mission. Congregations began using less and less denominational resources and more and more stewardship resources from other congregations, from church networks, and from individuals with personal ministries.
Since the Resource Model is a core value for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the CBF Stewardship Web page will provide information on stewardship development events, experiences and materials that are available from other organizations and individuals. The rationale for including a particular resource on the webpage will be how effective the resource is in serving Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.
Ruben Swint is a Senior Strategist with
Generis Partners, LLC of Atlanta, Georgia. Over the past 19 years, Ruben has directed 120 capital campaigns, helping churches expand and enhance their mission. For six of those 19 years, Ruben also served as President of the CBF Foundation. Other consulting has included annual stewardship program leadership, stewardship committee training and endowment and planned giving guidance. A professional speaker and published author, Ruben often leads stewardship conferences and is an active member of the National Association of Church Business Administration. You may contact Ruben Swint by
email or calling 1-800-849-2896, ext. 236.