B UI LD I NG TRUST
PROMOTING ORGANIZATIONAL STEWARDSHIP
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T h e Attitu de s and Ac t io n s o f th e Le ade r
PAUL H. DOUGLAS
I
n religious circles, the term “stewardship” is often associated with how a person demonstrates their obedience to God by returning the tithe He requires (Lev. 27:20)1; and how a person demonstrates their gladness to God by giving their offerings in response to blessings received (Deut. 16:17). Stewardship ministries encourage personal stewardship through the use of inspiring programs and informative pamphlets. These promotions have been a catalyst for the continued growth in tithe and offerings recorded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church from faithful members, with annual amounts recorded worldwide in 2019 totaling approximately US$3.6 billion.2 An area of stewardship that does not get as much attention is that which occurs at the organizational level. Stewardship that occurs at this level relates to how leaders of local churches and church administrative units manage the financial resources provided by those fulfilling their personal stewardship. By way of definition, “organizational stewardship” is the composite of a leader’s attitudes and actions that signal to both God and church members that the position of trust extended is administered with highest regard. It would be unfortunate to ignore the importance of this area of stewardship, as it has the potential to impact positively or negatively on the personal stewardship of a church member. Several unfortunate instances of leadership failures have occurred in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In the aftermath of such failures, financial contributions from church members have declined. In some instances, recovery from the downturn took several years; and in other instances, the recovery is still
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in progress or may never happen. The evidence from these leadership failures suggests that there is a correlation between confidence in leadership and the level of support by church members. When confidence is high, contributions are high. When confidence is low, contributions are low. By extension, when there is no confidence, there are no contributions. Confidence is indeed the currency of leadership, without which the ability to navigate the opportunities and challenges of organizational stewardship is severely handicapped. Ellen G. White highlighted the importance of confidence, and counseled church leaders to discontinue lax business practices by saying: "The result is that the cause of God is involved in perplexity and brought into embarrassment, and a heavy burden is cast upon those who were appointed to bear weighty responsibilities. If this loose way of doing business is permitted to continue, it will not only drain the treasury of means, but will cut off the supplies that flow from the people. It will destroy the confidence in those at the head of the work who have the management of funds and will lead many to discontinue their gifts and offerings."3 Attitudes of the Leader The exemplary attitudes demonstrated by the behaviors of a leader engaged in effective organizational stewardship are informed by a heightened appreciation of being a steward. Inherent in the word “steward” is the reality that while there is no personal ownership of what has been entrusted, there is personal accountability for its use and outcomes. The steward acts as an agent of someone or some entity serving as the principal. Within the context of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Chief Principal would be God Himself, followed by those who, through His leading, place individuals into positions of trust. There are two theories that describe principal-agent relationships—those being agency theory and stewardship theory. In these theories, the behaviors of an agent stand in contrast to each other (see Table 1). On one hand, the behavior of an agent in agency theory presumes there will be a conflict of goals in the principal-agent relationship requiring monitoring and incentive mechanisms to reconcile that conflict. Further, there is a personal interest approach to leadership. On the
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