It is my privilege to serve in a role with MWC that involves inviting people to invest in the global church in partnership with MWC. As I seek to serve well, I read about generosity. I’d like to pass on some of the inspiration I have derived from my recent reading.
“Never take away the right of another person to be generous”
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa’s quote comes from a story in Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy, and a Spiritual Call to Service (2014) by Kerry Alys Robinson. Mother Teresa understood the dignity that comes from being a giver. She saw how each person can find ways to be generous, no matter how much or little they have.
Abundance
Thinking of John 10, I was inspired by Kerry A. Robinson’s invitation to cultivate “the divine ability to imagine abundance.”
“Stewarding potential is about abundance, not scarcity,” writes Kerry Alys Robinson. This approach to stewardship points us toward God’s desire. As in Jesus’ words from John 10, it orients us to the potential for an abundant life for all of God’s children. A life that is filled with meaning, gratitude and generosity.
When we choose a generosity of spirit, we discover freedom. There is delight and joy found in being fruitful with our lives.
Loving back
A Spirituality of Fundraising (2010) is based on the writings and presentations of Christian writer Henri Nouwen. He often spoke of finding ways to “love God back” for all of our blessings.
“We love God back by being fruitful with our lives, which is to take all that has been given to us and to place it at the service of others, of creation, of life itself,” writes Nouwen. What a clear illustration of stewardship!
Stewardship is both the proper care of all that has been entrusted to a person and the recognition of and response to the potential at hand.
Tenacious solidarity
Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann (1933-2025) preferred to describe God’s commitment to standing with God’s children as tenacious solidarity. This biblical concept is often translated as steadfast love in our Bibles. This call to a “stubborn persistence” in our deepest commitments to each other creates the foundation for mutual sharing.
Our worldwide Anabaptist family of faith in MWC presents an opportunity to live that out. Robinson’s book concludes with a challenge for us to cultivate habits which allow us to be more generous and to be catalysts for inspiring others to be more generous.
MWC is a community where we stand in solidarity with sisters and brothers. We all have gifts to share – both giving and receiving. Our relationships across difference and diversity demand radical generosity of spirit and tenacious faith.
As members of the MWC family, we are invited as a community into a vision of fruitfulness and a space of joyful passion. To be a good steward of the potential at hand requires cultivating a joyful heart.
Transformation
Generosity is a key marker of the Christian life. We model our lives on Jesus’ generous way of living and receive his promise of abundant life.
I think of Romans 12 which calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice as a reasonable act of worship as we invite God’s Spirit to transform our minds.
“Our transformation is never for ourselves alone. It is always for the sake of others,” writes Ruth Haley Barton, author and spiritual director.
As we live out our faith, may we follow Jesus’ example to live generous lives which also inspire generosity in others.
Bruce Campbell-Janz is the director of communications and engagement with Mennonite World Conference.