The Certificate in Stewardship is a learning opportunity beginning in early 2025. The Dean of Fredericton invites individuals to join him in a local learning group for 7 or 8 sessions with the goal of exploring Time, Talent, Trust, Treasure, Terrain, Theology, and Thanks as it pertains to the topic of Christian Stewardship. A workbook and teaching videos will help guide the study. For those wishing to obtain the certificate, completion of a written or video assignment is required near the end of the sessions. Others may decide to audit and not submit the final assignment.
Offered through distance education at Atlantic School of Theology, the local learning group is welcome to pace itself with a recommendation of completion by Spring on 2025. AST has this to say about the program:
AST’s Certificate in Stewardship is available to anyone. People who work or volunteer in the charitable sector, non-profits, university, government, education, church, and other fields will benefit, as well as anyone who would simply like to do some learning and personal growth. As long as you have Internet access and a device that allows you to open a document, watch videos, and prepare a short final assignment, you can take this program.
Local Learning Groups may be organized and start at any time, according to the time frame determined by the designated leader.
For each of the seven components, there is a module that includes:
Pre-recorded video teaching materials (one hour per module)
A list of recommended materials for further learning
Reflection questions (or discussion questions for group settings)
Biblical giving encompasses the act of tithing, which involves giving a tenth of one's income, and giving — whether it be money, possessions or time — to advance the kingdom of God and bless others in need.
(Check out a Guide for Weekly Giving to see where you are in your giving and by moving one step to the left discover what growing by one percent would mean for you.)
The Bible teaches that everything we have belongs to God, and by tithing, we acknowledge God's ultimate ownership and trust in the provision we have been given. By obeying this command, we recognize that God is our ultimate provider on whom we rely for our needs. It is sometimes helpful to think about what we have as being on loan, "for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it." (see 1 Timothy 6:7)
Stewardship isn't just about money
God has given us unique gifts and abilities, and calls us to use them to the glory of God. Whether volunteering at our local church, serving in our communities or using our skills to benefit others, giving our time and talents demonstrates our willingness to be good stewards of the abilities God has entrusted to us.
Practically speaking
Practically speaking, being a good steward involves taking responsibility for our finances, time and talents and using them for God's purposes. It requires practicing generosity, supporting the work of the church and caring for those in need based on the foundational belief that we are the caretakers, not the owners, of God's blessings.
In the texts of Scripture can be found foundational budgeting principles: avoiding debt; giving generously and making wise investments. Budgeting helps us "steward" our resources. With practice we can learn and discover "good" stewardship by concurrently prioritizing needs, developing disciplines necessary for setting aside resources for specific and planned purposes and giving generously.
Taking steps toward stewardship
Collectively as a church, exercising good financial stewardship requires these steps:
Establishing a church budget as a way of planning for the future that allocates funds based on needs
Maintaining sufficient transparency so that as a body everyone has the opportunity to understand where the church stands as compared with the current plan (budget); the giving of others in the congregation, and knowledge of current circumstances
Avoiding impulsive spending and accruing unnecessary debt
Seeking financial advice from trusted sources when necessary
By recognizing that everything we possess ultimately belongs to God, we can begin to grasp the concept of stewardship. As caretakers and managers (the definition of stewardship) of God's resources, we can live intentionally and respond with joyful and sacrificial hearts. Acknowledging God's ownership empowers us to use our blessings wisely, from our material wealth to our time, talents and the earth itself, by taking a heart-centered approach to stewardship and giving in alignment with God's will for the church and for us as individual parts of the Body of Christ.
AST’s Certificate in Stewardship is available to anyone. People who work or volunteer in the charitable sector, non-profits, university, government, education, church, and other fields will benefit, as well as anyone who would simply like to do some learning and personal growth. As long as you have Internet access and a device that allows you to open a document, watch videos, and prepare a short final assignment, you can take this program.
Course Delivery: Entirely Online OR In-Person in a local setting
The seven modules of the Certificate in Stewardship can be taken in one of the following ways:
As an Individual. Learn at your own pace. You could complete the program over several weeks, in a weekend, or over the course of a week. It’s up to you. When you enroll, you will receive a workbook that will tell you clearly how to access all the learning materials.
As Part of the AST Stewardship Cohort. Over the course of 7 weeks in Winter 2025, join with other learners and a facilitator to go through the 7 modules, one per week, “live” in real time over the Internet. When you enroll, you will receive a workbook that will tell you clearly how to access all the learning materials. The start date, day of the week, and facilitator of the AST Stewardship Cohort will be identified in September.
As Part of a Local Learning Group. Organize a group in your local area to learn together. You will need a designated leader to register and organize the group. The designated learner could be a manager, minister, priest, or volunteer with strong group facilitation skills. Note: Local Learning Groups are self-directed without instructional support from AST.
Certificate in Stewardship Program Structure and Timeline
You may start the Certificate in Stewardship at any time as an Individual Learner. There is no set time limit for completing the Certificate, but a maximum of four months is recommended.
Those in the AST Cohort will start the program in Winter 2025 (date to be confirmed) and continue together for 7 weeks.
Local Learning Groups may be organized and start at any time, according to the timeframe determined by the designated leader.
The seven program components of this Certificate are Time, Talent, Trust, Treasure, Terrain, Theology, and Thanks. For each component, there is a module that includes:
Pre-recorded video teaching materials (one hour per module)
A list of recommended materials for further learning
Reflection questions (or discussion questions for group settings)
A final integrative assignment (written or video)
Your final assignment must be submitted to AST to receive the Certificate. The assignment is graded on a Pass/Fail basis, and you will receive constructive feedback. If the final assignment is submitted before April 1, you will receive your Certificate at AST’s Annual Spring Convocation. If you are unable to attend Convocation, your Certificate will be mailed to you.
The total time investment to complete the Certificate in Stewardship is approximately 30 hours. However, learners may progress as varying rates.
Admissions Requirements
Anyone is welcome to enrol in the Certificate in Stewardship. AST recommends a minimum age of 16 years. No prior learning credential is required.
Registration Process
To register for AST’s Certificate in Stewardship, please complete one of the following forms and submit to James Cheatley: [email protected]. The appropriate fee should be paid through the AST Business Office, as explained on the application form.
AST Stewardship Cohort Participants: $600 per person
Local Learning Group: $1,000 per group (individual rates do not apply) for a group of any size
Financial Aid
Some employers, congregations, parishes, or other denominational bodies will sponsor or assist with your fees and expenses. Please make your own inquiries to these groups.
For clarification or assistance in registering
Please contact AST’s Continuing Education Convener, James Cheatley: [email protected]
More Information
For information about AST’s other programs, please contact our Recruitment Coordinator: [email protected]
Stewardship is a core Christian practice rooted in scripture. The Bible offers a commentary on human stewardship that begins with God’s purpose in setting our first ancestor in the garden “to till and keep it,” and ends in the new creation, in a recurring pattern of crisis and resolution. That pattern of human crisis and divine resolution flows through the Bible — in the creation, in the covenant with Abraham, in the law, the prophets and the writings of the Hebrew scripture, in the life of Jesus, and in the continuing life of his disciples after the resurrection.
The first crisis of human stewardship came with our first ancestors’ decision to test the sovereignty of God by consuming the only fruit in the garden reserved exclusively to the Creator. Rejecting stewardship and embracing the illusory promise of sovereign possession of the garden, they initiate a continuing pattern of exploitation, entitlement, violence and destruction that plagues human participation in the life of the earth. There is only one essential stewardship question: Will we make use of resources entrusted to us to serve God’s mission, or for purposes that we ourselves devise or that are thrust upon us by an economy that depends absolutely on growing consumption to sustain it?
Stewardship is a response to the mission of God. When we invite persons into discipleship and baptize, we also invite them into the practices of faithful stewardship. Those practices are properly framed in terms of whether or not they contribute to what God desires in and for the life of the world.
The parable of the two sons opens up a stewardship crisis for leaders among the baptized. When we have turned inward to focus on our wants and needs, when we have used the language of stewardship to address our own religious agenda instead of God’s mission, when we have reduced the challenge of stewardship to servicing the existence, program and practices of the church, then we have squandered the treasure of God in a far country.
Will we make use of resources entrusted to us to serve God’s mission?
For Canadian Anglicans, no faithful conversation about stewardship can be undertaken without consideration of the Baptismal Covenant and the Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion. The former is, like the “Rule of Life” that preceded it in the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer, (p. 544) a framework for faithful personal participation in the mission of God. And the Marks of Mission form a framework for faithful corporate participation in that mission. The Resources for Mission Department works in partnership with dioceses to foster a generous sense of stewardship across the Canadian Church.
The Baptismal Covenant offers an expansive vision of stewardship, including commitments to the community and its common life; to resisting evil and turning away from our participation in it; to offering the world the gospel of Jesus Christ as an alternative to its story of entitlement, consumption, and conflict, to embody that gospel in acts of service and to work for justice, peace and the dignity of persons.
The Marks of Mission complement and support the principles and practices of the Baptismal Covenant with a commitment to shape our common life in alignment with the mission of God., Beginning with “the Good News of the Kingdom” they offer a set of shared practices that include inviting people to inhabit that Kingdom through baptism, and to enact the Kingdom’s ethos in response to human need, in a commitment to justice, in care for creation and in reconciliation and peace-making.
God sets out in mission to make all things new. It is God’s mission to transform persons, to redeem us and restore us to joyful and useful participation in God’s work. It is God’s mission to transform the church as well, to redeem and restore our common life so that we might live as stewards of God’s abundant gifts, and invite others into that stewardship – for the sake of the world God loves.
This document was approved as a theological rationale for the work of the Resources for Mission Department of General Synod by the Standing Committee on Philanthropy.
The Season of Creation runs annually from September 1 through October 4. The world’s 2.2 billion Christians are invited to pray and care for Creation during this time.
The Season of Creation unites the global Christian family around one shared purpose. It also provides flexibility in celebrating prayer services and engaging in a variety of actions to care for Creation.
The Feast of Creation of September 1, also known as Creation Day or World Day of Prayer for Creation, is the big celebration that inspires and nourishes the larger season that flows from it. Inspired by a rich tradition of the Orthodox Church, it was later embraced by most other churches. Besides being a moment to repent for our sinful desecration of the gift of Creation and pray for its healing, the feast honours God as Creator and commemorates the great mystery of the creation of the cosmos (learn more about the feast’s history and symbolism).
In other words, it is not just about celebrating “Creation as the created world” that God gifted us, but most importantly it is about celebrating “Creation as foundational mystery” of our Christian faith. In a nutshell, it is a moment to thank and praise God as Creator.
Christians around the world are invited to give particular attention to praying and caring for God's creation as part of the global Season of Creation. General Synod 2019 passed a resolution adopting the Season of Creation in the Anglican Church of Canada as a time of prayer, education, and action and encouraging dioceses and parishes to participate. Resources and events related to Season of Creation may be found on the Anglican Church of Canada website to help you plan.
Note: To avoid confusion it is worth noting that the Season of Creation is not a liturgical season like Advent or Easter but rather a time of intentional prayer and reflection.
This year, 01 September happens to fall on a Sunday, so it could be a special occasion to include the feast and mystery of Creation in the Sunday celebration. It is worth reminding the community about Sunday’s dual symbolism as both “the day of creation” (“the first day of the week” when God began the creative act, as per Genesis 1) and “the day of the resurrection.”
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says the church needs to renew efforts to foster generosity in our children. She shares five principles that can help instill the joy of giving in the next generation of givers.
How can we help our children become responsible, generous, unselfish people? This question is critical to the church as it looks to shape the next generation of faithful givers. It is even more critical to families confronted with the “gimme-gimme-gimme” mindset our consumeristic culture pushes onto their children from the most tender age.
While the need to instill generosity in younger generations is more critical than ever, it is also more challenging than ever before. Some of us are old enough to remember ... Read more
On Saturday 23 September, from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. in Cathedral Memorial Hall Lounge, we'll screen and discuss The Letter, an 82-minute documentary film providing environmental illustration, exploration and context to Laudato si’, the encyclical letter on the care of creation that was released by Pope Francis in 2015.
The movie tells the story of a recent gathering in Rome where Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders from many corners of the world met with Francis to respond to Laudato si’. The film is a fine witness and reflection on the climate crisis -- connecting climate change with human migration in Senegal; explaining the influence of unsustainable agriculture on deforestation and loss of human life in Brazil; telling the stories of Australian bush fires and flooding in India; and showing coral reef loss around Hawaii.
The stories in the film are presented in original languages with continuous translation.
Our screening will be followed by a brief reflection discussion.
Please reserve a seat with Kurt Schmidt: <k.schmidt at cccath.ca> or 506-259-3711.
How can parents shape a generous spirit in their children? Ken Sloane outlines ten practical ways families can focus more intentionally on giving and gratitude, compassion, and service so that their children grow in faith and generosity.
Who doesn’t want to see our children grow up knowing how to manage money wisely and generously — acknowledging that all blessings come from a generous God who wants our lives to be abundant and full of love and compassion? Unless we are intentional about teaching them, they have only what they will hear from the media and marketers read more ...
Telling our story.
Line item budgets are boring. Not only that, but seldom do they tell the real story. It’s too easy for us to make assumptions about how the dollar we give is used or not used on what we specifically consider important. However, no facet of church ministry operates in a vacuum. For instance, music may be one’s own personal focus, but music cannot happen without a warm, dry and lighted space. In fact, if we think deeply, we begin to realize that in a very real way everything depends on everything else.
Christians around the world are invited to give particular attention to praying and caring for God's creation as part of the global Season of Creation, observed from September 1st to October 4th every year. General Synod 2019 passed a resolution adopting the Season of Creation in the Anglican Church of Canada as a time of prayer, education, and action and encouraging dioceses and parishes to participate. Resources and events related to Season of Creation may be found on the Anglican Church of Canada website to help you plan, at anglican.ca/seasonofcreation. Note: To avoid confusion it is worth noting that the Season of Creation is not a liturgical season like Advent or Easter but rather a time of intentional prayer and reflection. from McCausland's Order of Divine Service, Anglican Church of Canada p. 136
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many have become familiar with the concept of being muted in conversations. Many voices are muted in public discourse around climate change and the ethics of Earth-keeping.
These are voices of those who suffer the impacts of climate change. These are voices of people who hold generational wisdom about how to live gratefully within the limits of the land. These are voices of a diminishing diversity of more-than-human species. It is the voice of the Earth.seasonofcreation.org
The burning bush is the Symbol for the Season of Creation 2022. Today, the prevalence of unnatural fires are a sign of the devastating effects that climate change has on the most vulnerable of our planet. Creation cries out as forests crackle, animals flee, and people are forced to migrate due to the fires of injustice. On the contrary, the fire that called to Moses as he tended the flock on Mount Horeb did not consume or destroy the bush. This flame of the Spirit revealed God’s presence. This holy fire affirmed that God heard the cries of all who suffered, and promised to be with us as we followed in faith to our deliverance from injustice. In this Season of Creation, this symbol of God’s Spirit calls us to listen to the voice of creation.
The Certificate in Stewardship is a learning opportunity beginning in early 2025. The Dean of Fredericton invites individuals to join him in a local learning group for 7 or 8 sessions with the goal of exploring Time, Talent, Trust, Treasure, Terrain, Theology, and Thanks as it pertains to the topic of Christian Stewardship. A workbook and teaching videos will help guide the study. For those wishing to obtain the certificate, completion of a written or video assignment is required near the end of the sessions. Others may decide to audit and not submit the final assignment.
For each of the seven components, there is a module that includes:
