Stewardship not just about money

By Frank Flegel

REGINA — Stewardship is about the life of Christ and not just about money, said Dan Potvin, director of stewardship for the Winnipeg Archdiocese.

Potvin facilitated a recent day of reflection on stewardship at St. Martin Parish. The day featured a half-hour talk on stewardship via DVD by Rev. John Lanzrath of Wichita, Kan., to a 2008 stewardship conference.

Lanzrath described what he called “four ships”: relationship, discipleship, stewardship and leadership, a path followed by Potvin in his presentation.
Potvin structured the day to include small discussion groups and 20-minute silent periods to reflect on the discussions but more importantly to “spend some time with God.” He encouraged everyone to use the mantra “Be still and know that I am God,” slowly eliminating each word, then repeating the sentence to help put aside other thoughts that intrude when one is silent.

He explained each “ship” beginning with relationship and moving through the remaining three and ending with leadership. “We see the risen Christ in our relationship with each other,” he said, and we grow in the relationship with God through the Word of God.

Following the Lanzrath talk, Potvin discussed the use of time. “Every second is a gift from God,” he said, and here he introduced the 20-minute quiet time.

Relationship took up most of the morning, followed by discipleship then a break for lunch. Discipleship, stewardship and leadership were all accompanied by hand-out cards that contained a quotation from noted authors and questions for participants to consider what that “ship” means to them and how it can be applied to themselves and their faith community.

Lisa Graff, who chaired the event, said the goal was to change people’s attitude about stewardship. “So often it is seen as just about money but it’s so much more than that.” Attendance was not limited to the parish, and attendees included people from out of the city as well as from several other Regina parishes. Rev. John Weckend, archdiocesan director of stewardship, was also in attendance.