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February 16, 2009
A multi-ethnic approach to stewardship
The State Convention Stewardship Directors are in town for the Winter Stewardship Development Association meeting and the Cooperative Program annual meeting. I had lunch with Frank from the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He and I talked about the challenge of providing stewardship education and tools to churches not only of various sizes but cultures.
Given the rise in the non-anglo church population in Texas, he is forced to contextualize his approach for nearly every ethnic group. There is no similarity in language and idioms even among the general Latin American population. It never occurred to me how challenging his work must be. I was impressed to hear about the sophisticated approach he has taken to addressing this issue.
He has built networks of people who help him accomplish the task of resourcing churches to be successful in the area of stewardship and giving. And when he begins a campaign or the development of a new resource, he brings in leaders from the ethnic group he is trying to reach and involves them in the entire process...from the very beginning.
I know that Texas is not the only state with this challenge. I'd like to hear more about how you are addressing this in your church or area. Is there more than one ethnicity represented in your church or local association? How do you tailor your approach to stewardship and giving to ensure you are clearly communicating across language and cultural barriers?
Posted by bstroup at February 16, 2009 4:27 PM
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