Stewardship is a recurring topic in the church today. Christians are commanded to be a good steward with what God has given to them as can be seen in (1 Cor 4:1-2 and Mattew 25:14-30). As a man of prayer Gudina understood that stewardship was something required of both the Church and Chirsitans. Stewardship in essence is responsibility. The Church and Christians have many responsibilities to God and to believers. But a common mistake that is made today is that the Church along with Christians limit stewardship to a single responsibility usually along the lines of finance… But Gudina Tumsa understood it in a different way, a holistic way, which shows continuity in his thought process. Gudina wrote how stewardship should be practiced, “ The description of Stewardship, therefore , should not be confined to a narrow area of life, describing only the relationship to property, which is a summon notion. Stewardship must be understood in its broader sense, as the New Testament presents it, including all areas of Chrstian responsibility and the whole response of love.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.151)
Gudina wrote on Chrsitian stewardship because he believed in a Chrsitian being faithful to the ministry God has entrusted to them. Gudina is a qualified individual to comment on the topic of stewardship as he did what was required of him by the Lord making himself an example of stewardship. Bishop Chiristian Krause recounts Gudina’s example of stewardship in this way, “He said to me: “How can I leave the country, my church, being a leader of this flock? I have to stay.”(Church and Society Pg.113). Gudina was presented with an option to leave his country, escape torture, death and the sepreation of his family, yet he chose to stay claiming that it was God’s calling for him to stay with his church and country, just as Chris stayed with this world until then end. Once we are able to comprehend Gudina Tumsa’s understanding of stewardship was much deeper than what we define as stewardship today. His definition of stewardship was holistic–exactly like the rest of his understanding of life– We believe that applying Gudina Tumsa’s definition of stewardship can influence Chirstians and Churches all around the world to follow Christ-like stewardship. Gudina begins defining Christ like stewardship by identifying the source, he writes, “Stewardship obtains its highest meaning and strongest theological foundation when the Apostle relates it to God's purpose which he set forth in Christ.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.153). The second key to understanding Gudina’s opinions on stewardship is acknowledging the holistic gospel. Gudina believed that stewardship was service to Christ and to people, stewardship that served the spirit and the physical and the theme of stewardship according to Gudina is obedience. By practicing holistic stewardship that related to God’s purpose Gudina Tumsa was able to be a faithful steward even in the face of death.
Today, how can we practice such stewardship? Firstly, according to Gudina we must remove the idea that stewardship refers only to the resources that God has given us; in order to do this we must take the holistic approach. Gudina in his writings tells us how our holistic stewardship should come out of the Gospel as it is our foundation of faith , “Since the Gospel is “the power of God”, we are possessed by it and placed in a world where the new law of love regulates our life, directing our mind, thoughts and emotions to the service of the Gospel of the living Jesus Chirst”. (Witness and Discipleship Pg.151). To conclude Gudina’s view on stewardship; we can refer to his writing of what true stewardship is: “As Stewards our responsibility is to transmit that which was delivered to us.” (Witness and Discipleship Pg.154). This quote from Gudina’s writings, tell us one clear thing whe should not over complicate stewardship. Gudina took the simplistic approach by following the written scriptures about the perfect steward, our High Priest Jesus Christ.