Congregations are not immune to the influence of our constantly changing world. This is true of values and norms, but also of economics. When we see increased economic uncertainty and heightened political instability, we often notice a change in stewardship patterns — but we can learn lessons from history that inspire us to reject fear and greed and practice generosity in new and surprising ways.
One lesson from the past comes from the life of Madam C. J. Walker (1867-1919), known as the first self-made female millionaire in the U.S. Walker was a faithful member of Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and according to a recent biography by Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Walker’s external environment did not deter her from wanting to be extraordinarily generous. Freeman calls Walker “a foremother of black philanthropy.”
While it is tempting to acquiesce to the fear that economic uncertainty provokes, if we think about Walker’s context, there is no better time than now to lean into God’s audacious call to be generous. And not all generosity is financial — for example, we can adopt a generous attitude in our perspectives so that someone else does not have to be wrong for us to be right.
According to Freeman, Walker (whose birth name was Sarah Breedlove) lived a gospel of giving that she articulated in three ways: 1) give as you can to be helpful to others, 2) spare no useful means that may be helpful to others and 3) give more as your means increase to help others. Not bad for a woman born on a cotton plantation in Delta, Louisiana, four years after the Emancipation Proclamation. She practiced uncommon generosity in very challenging times. As we proclaim the good news of the gospel, we can teach people to do the same.
