KANSAS CITY--Prompted by the concern that many churchgoers have a limited understanding of biblical, whole-life stewardship, a Church of the Nazarene committee is taking on the challenge of stewardship education. According to a news release from NCN, 17 people gathered in Kansas City to begin the process of creating a six-year series of stewardship resources for the Church of the Nazarene.

"Somewhere along the way we took for granted everyone knew what it meant to be a steward of the gifts God gives us," Stewardship Ministries Director Steve Weber told the group of pastors, educators, a district superintendent, laypersons and Nazarene Headquarters staff. "The result is that many in our churches have grown up with little or no understanding of what the Bible says about the ownership and management of our time, talents, and treasure."

Sponsored by Nazarene Stewardship Ministries, the group was facilitated by Michael Vail, senior program manager for education for the International Board of Education.

Among other things, the group developed a working definition of stewardship as "a loving, disciplined, holistic, lifelong response to God's ongoing grace to us for Kingdom purposes."

Participants also examined the biblical and theological foundations of stewardship and forged themes and concepts for six years of resource materials. Writing teams will use the themes to create age-appropriate materials for stewardship month emphases. These resources will be disseminated by Stewardship Ministries beginning with the summer 2005 Stewardship Month Resource Kit.