This week my family has much to celebrate. Today is our fifth wedding anniversary, and the tenth anniversary of our first date (give or take a day). Monday is my 38th birthday. Our son had his first day of preschool. We announced a new pregnancy, to the joy of apparently all our Facebook friends.
In fact, so many people have shared in our joy that we wanted to give an opportunity to celebrate with us. Instead of hosting a party, we created a
Facebook event and offered our loved ones an opportunity to support a cause we believe in.
What? Why in the world do we think asking our friends to give money to something they may never have heard of counts as celebrating with us?
If you are reading this, you probably know how much I love generosity, fundraising, and giving money. It brings me joy to live out my values by giving material support to things I say I believe in. Ever since we
paid off all our debt last year, we have had the opportunity to give more and think more about what giving means in our lives.
Last September I introduced our annual stewardship campaign with a newsletter article that does a good job of explaining why stewardship is my basic framework for following Jesus.