In a previous blog post, we talked about the Faith Church Membership Covenant, and how Vision of Hope seeks to partner in the biblical goals of the covenant as well. As we continue our focus on this topic, let’s review the first section of the Faith Church Membership Covenant:
I purpose, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together with the other believers of Faith Church in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of the church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to attend its services regularly; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to give it a sacred preeminence over all institutions of human origin; to give faithfully of time and talent in service; and to contribute regularly, as God has prospered me, to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the help of those in need, and the spread of the gospel.
Last time, we highlighted the importance of walking in unity with fellow believers, and this week we will highlight another aspect of the covenant. Today, let’s focus on another biblical principle found here: the principle of faithful stewardship in generosity.
The Bible teaches that each of us are given gifts that we are to use to bring God glory (1 Peter 4:10). In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells of a Master who went on a journey and left his servants with money. Two of the servants invested the money and had more to give to the Master at his return, and one servant was fearful and buried his talent, returning it to the Master as it was. Strong words were used against the third servant, as the Master told him, “You wicked and slothful servant!…you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents…And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 25:26-28, 30) According to these verses, stewarding our time and talents well is a big deal to our Lord.
Here at Vision of Hope, we want to place importance on what our Lord sees as important. The ladies in our program have many opportunities to give of their time to serve our church and other ministries with the organization and upkeep of our church and Community Center, helping with lawn care at Faith’s Senior Living Community, and helping to get our Safe Haven home ready to house victims of fire or flood. Many of our ladies also have talents in arts and crafts, and they are encouraged to use these talents to make things to sell on our online store to support the ministry financially. All of these are stewardship opportunities that bears much fruit to further the kingdom of our Master, Jesus Christ! Our goal for every young lady who walks through our doors is that she not only graduate from Vision of Hope free from enslaving sin, but that she also has a thorough understanding of the everyday responsibilities that the Word of God places on believers; to give, to serve, to love.
We hope you have been encouraged and challenged along with us as we review the Membership Covenant. Stay tuned as we continue unpacking these promises and seeing how we can apply them to our lives each day!