God’s purposes for stewardship may best be understood through the lens of his plan, his people, and his process:

Plan. God has entrusted us with his Son to repair our broken relationship with him. He entrusts us with a relationship with his Son. Our response is perhaps the greatest stewardship decision we will ever face.

People. An even greater secret is the fact that God has chosen us to implement his mission in the world. God could have chosen a multitude of other ways — including options that we cannot humanly conceive of — and yet he chose you and me to accomplish this urgent task. Think of it, God, knowing that we have a tendency to fail him on a regular basis, chose — and still chooses — us to spread the gospel and to make disciples of all nations.

Process. In his infinite wisdom, God has also entrusted his resources to us to accomplish the tasks he set before us. He provides us with everything we need to accomplish his divine purposes. He chooses to rely on us to share our resources. He chooses to rely on us to exercise our God-given vocations and callings to fulfill his mission in the world.

All of us have been entrusted with resources designed and created by God. Each of us has the opportunity to serve and glorify God with what he has entrusted to our care. Every individual is a steward by God’s intention. But God does not want us to manage his creation by default. He wants us to manage it by design: his design. God’s design to complete his mission in and through the church requires a significant degree of collaboration and generosity among his people in order to accomplish his purposes.