Words Matter

Early in my pastoral career, when my sons were still young, I had an awkward moment that has become a favorite story. I was still fairly new to the congregation and was hosting a Bible study in the parsonage living room, when, suddenly, Jason (the youngest) came down the stairs, holding back tears. “Michael called me the s-word!” he blurted out. Looking around the room at the looks of some shocked church members, I quickly announced to the group, The s-word is stupid!”

It was a word we didn’t allow, because it was a word meant to hurt, to degrade. We know our society is full of words like that, words that may seem harmless to some, but not so harmless to others. I’ve heard people say, “They are just words”; but words often do shape perceptions and sometimes even our actions, and they do matter.

Several years ago, I received two emails on the same day from readers of the Generous Living e-newsletter about my use of the phrase “stewardship campaign.” Our readers said that using these two words together reinforces the idea that stewardship is something that can be relegated to a campaign, to a season, to a few weeks of the year. These emails have reminded me that we do need to be careful about the words we put together.

The intended audience for this newsletter is local church leaders in stewardship and finance (both clergy and lay). The phrase “stewardship campaign” has been commonly used for years to refer to the programs that build up to people making (and hopefully increasing) a commitment of giving for the coming year. My normal practice in communicating with an audience is to use language most familiar to them. In this case, I think the two readers who wrote me made a very good point.

The concept of shifting our focus on stewardship from being something seasonal (a couple of weeks in the fall) to continual (a year-round strategy for keeping stewardship themes before congregations) is something I share in every workshop I do -- I can’t think of any one topic I stress more. (Check out this piece, “A Twelve Month Plan for Stewardship,” on our website.)