It is God's nature to be generous.

When the Bible talks about God's generosity, it is usually in terms of prosperity for the whole community rather than just an individual. In other words, the intent of God's generosity is for the community of faith to be abundantly blessed so that they can be generous blessings to others - living into God's mission to redeem the world.

This means church is the community, like East Side Lutheran Church strives to be, of faithful people acting together as stewards of God's mission. As the Apostle Peter writes, we are "good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1st Peter 4:10). We already have all of the abundant (manifold) gifts and resources that we need to take part in God's mission. God would never give us less than we need for the sake of the mission!

"Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries."

(1st Corinthians 4:1)

Jesus Teaches

Jesus teaches us in the parables (Matthew 25:14-30 & 24:45-51) that everything belongs to God and everything means everything: people, assets, facilities, and even the mission to which God has called us. We belong to God. The church belongs to God. The mission belongs to God. And - one way or another - God will make sure that the mission will get done.