More Than Money : Portraits of Transformative Stewardship (Money, Faith, and Lifestyle Series)

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Summary: More Than Money : Portraits of Transformative Stewardship
Review: Is stewardship past its prime as a motivating vision for ministry? In his new book, More Than Money: Portraits of Transformative Stewardship-just published by the Alban Institute and the latest addition to the Money, Faith, and Lifestyle Series-author and social scientist Patrick H. McNamara tells real-life stories of 11 mainline congregations where stewardship is the animating force that has transformed them into vital centers for mission.

McNamara gets to the heart of the stewardship question by talking to pastors, former pastors, and laity; and listening to stories of their churches and their approaches to stewardship. "These are not boring stories about how churches raise money, but exciting stories that give us the rich flavor of congregational life," explains Dr. C. Kirk Hadaway, Minister for Research and Evaluation, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, Cleveland, Ohio. More Than Money is not about money according to Dr. Hadaway, but about the importance of stewardship and "how a wholistic approach to stewardship helps vitalize congregations."

Reflecting on conversations between McNamara and church members in More Than Money, the Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Vallet, Minister for Stewardship and Mission Support, American Baptist Churches of New York State, Manlius, New York, notes, "Important factors emerge from the lively descriptions and records of dialogue between McNamara and the pastors and lay leaders he visited: The pastor's leadership is a linchpin of stewardship endeavor; they are willing to talk directly with their members about money. The churches take seriously a biblical and theological vision of their mission and are willing to be counter-cultural in reaching toward that vision."

"This is not an easy book; it will not provide simple solutions to complex issues and long-accepted practices. What it will do is encourage and inspire strongly motivated congregations and pastors to preach and practice the Gospel mandate of 'stewardship of the world,' as one church puts it," notes the Rev. Andrea La Sonde Anastos, Co-Minister, The First Church of Deerfield (UCC), Deerfield, Massachusetts. "Patrick McNamara has written an excellent resource for clergy and laity who are dissatisfied with the current paradigms in stewardship."

Patrick H. McNamara is emeritus professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and past president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. His publications include Plain Talk about Churches and Money (with Dean R. Hoge and Charles Zech; Money, Faith, and Lifestyle Series, 1977); Money Matters: Personal Giving in American Churches (with Dean R. Hoge, Michael Donahue, and Charles Zech; 1966); Religion North American Style (edited with Thomas Dowdy, 1996); and Conscience First, Tradition Second: A Study of Young Catholics (1992).

M. Douglas Meeks, Cal Turner Chancellor Professor of Theology and Wesleyan Studies at the Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and author of God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy (1989) wrote the foreword to the book.