ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 24, 2026
In yesterday’s Etching, I provided a little background on stewardship at Cypress Creek Christian Church and where I feel as if I sort of dropped the ball. In my first year or so, prior to us doing the Capital Campaign, taking a low-key approach to stewardship (talking about money and other resources) probably made sense. It allowed for the anxiety to diminish and for us to get a real handle on where we were financially. The biggest concern was the mortgage. We owed approximately $2.77 million, and the church was paying interest only, and if I remember correctly, the church had skipped three or four payments in the previous year simply because there was no money. Equally concerning, there was no plan. I was not here when decisions were made, and so I do not judge or pretend that I would have known better. However, Cypress Creek Christian Church had run for four decades from the mindset of, “Build it and they will come.” Post-WWII and through the early 80s, that approach worked. But by the late 80s and early 90s, churches were building but very few in the community were driven to join the church like in previous generations. Today, it is amazing to see that, in spite of the flood brought on by Hurricane Harvey and the pandemic that followed, we are debt-free as a congregation. This is a combination of people’s generosity, a commitment to our vision and mission, and a belief in a God who makes a way when no one can see the way forward.
With that said, Christian stewardship is not about keeping churches open or making sure ministers’ salaries are paid (though I do want to thank you for that). It is about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and finding the best way of impacting this world with kindness, love, mercy, and hope. It is helping to realize God’s dream of justice for all creation, which includes liberating people from fear and the insecurities that drive hate and suffering. It is walking alongside the lonely and those who are grieving to embody the idea of incarnation—that idea that God shows up. What that looks like and how that is demonstrated will be different from one church to another, but the question is not about how many people are in the seats on Sunday morning but how many people beyond the building are impacted by the followers of Jesus because of what those followers experienced and learned in worship, study, and fellowship.
I believe we can make a good case for what we are doing, yet we cannot just assume that because we look like a church that we are actually doing what Jesus needs us to be doing. I hope that if Cypress Creek Christian Church ever gets to a point where it is no longer making a difference in our community and beyond, then as good stewards, we will close up shop and align the resources we have with a community that is making a difference. Again, I’m not suggesting that’s what we need to do today. Far from it! I see our impact only growing in the future. But as one who has watched so many churches move down the path of irrelevancy, I pray for the awareness and courage to move faithfully into God’s future even if faithfulness means leaving behind Cypress Creek Christian Church. Churches unable to say that out loud are often the ones that are already long past relevancy and are being poor stewards of their resources. At the end of the day, I don’t really want to stand before God and try to explain how I helped keep the doors of an irrelevant church open at the expense of the Gospel. I’m pretty sure God will remain gracious, but I’d rather be able to point to some ways that I shared with others in bringing real and transformative love into this world. And at Cypress Creek Christian Church, I believe we can point to many such places.
Help me to ask the necessary and often difficult questions about faithfulness, relevancy, and Gospel purpose. I look to you, Gracious and Vision-inspiring God, to guide my stewardship in ways that are faithful, generous, and impactful. Amen.
