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Fr. Hector's message

Stewardship as a Symptom of Spiritual Health October is Stewardship Month in the life of our Annunciation Church, and Stewardship Sunday is on October 20th this year. Healthy stewardship giving is vital to sustain and grow the ministries of our Church and to ensure the well-being and growth of our spiritual lives individually. If we neglect stewardship, we neglect our Church and our very souls. Our Lord Jesus Christ talks more about money than any other topic in the Gospels, for the Lord teaches us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). How we share or neglect to share our money is a symptom of the condition of our heart. Unfortunately, the latest statistics reveal that Orthodox Christians in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America are lagging in the area of stewardship — represented by how much believers give back to their churches or places of worship. Statistics show the following: Orthodox Christians are the third highest income earners among bodies of believers in the United States (following adherents to the Hindu and Jewish faith traditions). The Orthodox are the number one income earners among all Christian groups in the U.S. However, Orthodox Christians are near the bottom in terms of giving back to their churches. A 2012 Pew Poll found that 79% of Mormons give at least 10% of their income back to their church, while the typical Greek Orthodox Archdiocese parishioner gives (not 10%, not 5%, and not even 1%, but) between 0.5% and 0.8% of their income back to their church. The national numbers from 2012 do not appear to be far off from our local parish numbers in 2019. Orthodox Christians in America are doing very well for themselves financially, but that does not typically reflect in their level of giving back to the Church. We know that strong stewardship is not cultivated through coercion or effective marketing, but as a byproduct of healthy Christians engaged in the life of a healthy church dedicated to the mission of Christ. A healthy parish life helps to generate more engaged parishioners, which in turn cultivates stronger stewardship giving. On the other hand, stronger stewardship giving helps to generate new parish initiatives and ministries, which lead to a healthier and more vibrant parish. A healthy parish cultivates spiritually healthy parishioners, and vice versa. The leadership of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, including the clergy, parish council, staff, teachers, and lay leaders, are striving every day to remain faithful to the mission of our parish written on the lower front page of each Annunciator — “To receive and share the Light of Christ” — so that we may cultivate a healthy church environment for our faithful. The question for each of us is: “What is God asking from each of us to become healthier stewards of His Church?” Our Lord is always encouraging us to dig deeper, to strive harder, and to be more generous with our giving. If we gave 0.5% of our income as stewardship last year, let’s pledge 1% on our 2020 pledge card. If we gave 1% last year, let us commit to giving 2% next year when we submit our 2020 pledge card on Stewardship Sunday. If we gave 5% last year, let’s work towards the Old Testament ideal of giving 10%. If we are already tithing and giving the Old Testament standard of 10%, our Lord will continue to encourage us, saying: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matt. 19:21). Let us strive to tithe and become more generous stewards in 2020, so that we may have a spiritually healthy new year for our church and our souls. Amen.