I often begin my presentations by posing some questions. It does not matter if the audience is a group of clergy or a Sunday School class in a congregation. Indelibly marked in the minds of all churchgoers is the link between stewardship and money. Moreover, I contend that, because of American society s ambiguous attitude toward money, this immediate identification leads to a hostile, or at least very conflicted, attitude toward stewardship. Americans deepest obsession is with money.
People worry about money a lot.
At the same time, Americans are embarrassed by the preoccupation with money. Moreover, we are corrupting the values of our children with this emphasis on materialism. So, Americans hold a love-hate relationship toward money. It is hardly surprising that, when people automatically connect stewardship with money, this love-hate relationship extends to stewardship. Indeed, Americans seem to be comfortable about faith and money only by putting them in separate compartments as if there were no essential connection between two.