Wesley K. Willmer and Martyn Smith, God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul. NavPress, 2002.
Referenced in: Giving and Financial Stewardship
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is an excellent development on the spirituality of possessions. It is not simply a collection of devotional reflections, though it certainly includes these throughout. The authors emphasize the relationship between earthly possessions and eternal life, not only as it relates to one’s own destiny, but also the eternal implications our gifts have for the advancement of the kingdom. The authors also integrate other disciplines. For example, they use James Fowler’s stages of faith, rooted in the psycho-dynamic theories of Piaget, Selman, and Kohlberg, to derive a rubric on the “Correlation of Soul Maturity and the Use of Possessions.” (44) The appendix includes a helpful discussion guide for use in groups and Bible classes.
Church leaders will gain useful insights and ideas for stewardship development in their churches. Other treatments of the spirituality of giving are listed in the “Spirituality of Giving” section of the resource guide on Giving and Financial Stewarship.
From the Publisher
How we handle our earthly possessions directly impacts our eternal soul.
Countless Christians are not aware of the connection between their faith and their finances. Many believers feel their income is too limited to give. Others want to share in the work of God’s Kingdom, but don’t know where to start.
In God and Your Stuff, Wesley Willmer challenges the thinking that what we do with our stuff has no effect on the Christian life. An established authority on stewardship as a spiritual discipline, Willmer lays a biblical foundation for the crucial connection between our eternal souls and our earthly possessions. Learn how our use of possessions is a good barometer of our character, and how our giving practices develop our faith and shape us into the stewards God intended us to be. If you are ready to add a new dimension to your Christian walk, let God and Your Stuff show you how to build a vital link between your possessions and your soul.
About the Author
Wes Willmer, Ph.D., has initiated over one million dollars in research grants to study nonprofit organizations and is responsible for 23 books, including Revolution in Generosity: Transforming Stewards to be Rich Toward God; God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link Between Possessions and Your Soul; and The Prospering Parachurch: Enlarging the Boundaries of God’s Kingdom. Board involvement includes: Chair of the board of the Christian Stewardship Association (CSA), founding member of the CASE commission on Philanthropy, the executive committee of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), founding board member of the Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA), and consultant to numerous other boards.
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