What is Stewardship?

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it…” – Psalm 24:1

As Christians, we sometimes use “churchy words” with the assumption that everyone who hears them knows what we mean, but this might not actually be the case. “Stewardship” is one of those words. So to begin, what is a steward?  A simple definition would be: one who manages the possessions of another.  This was more common in Biblical times than it is in our modern world, though the term “manager” would be an apt comparison.  Thinking in this way, we can probably call to mind a number of managers both on an individual level (a financial advisor who manages a person’s money and investments), and more corporate ones (a city or county manager who is responsible for services and resources for a group of people).