incredible hpc staff meeting with hillsong's christine caine

(here's a link to a pdf of a rough and raw version of my notes i took during the staff meeting.)

christine caine from hillsong in australia spoke to the hpc staff today about the difference between being a servant and a steward. honestly, the term "servant" has been so much a part of my entire training since i was a kid in church, that i almost didn't think i was going to "buy" what she was saying. how could there be anything more important in the kingdom of God than being a servant?

the point was this - it's not like she was saying NOT to have a willingness to serve and to do whatever it takes. that's the fundamental thing about being a servant that we must have. but she distinguished a steward as one who doesn't just do anything he's told to do with a good attitude and do it well. the steward is proactive - because he has a sense of "ownership" of the vision, he'll go after things on his own. she put it much better than i could - so that's why i've put the link to my notes at the top of this post.

i will include this list she closed the talk with. (again, it's my typing while she spoke, so please forgive any odd grammar flows.)

twelve comparisons of servants versus stewards

• There is a shift from servanthood to friendship. A servant focuses on a task. A friend on harvest (bearing fruit), initiating, entrepreneurial mindset – am I fruitful, am I multiplying?


• A servant learns obedience through restriction, a steward learns through release. The restriction will reveal what is in your heart. Shift to stewardship will bring promotion from God. you can’t wait until you get promoted to start being a steward. It starts with you first. Then the promotion can come. A steward is given a release over an area but the remain committed to assume a posture of stewardship of the vision.


• A servant serves where they choose. A stewards serves where it best fits the need of the house. You must shift. Everything you do must be seen/decided upon by the mindset that you have decided to be a steward of the house. Stewards do what the house needs first. We are stewards of the grace of the house because that is what the house needs.


• A servant has visible rules of assignment. A steward serves invisible assignments. The enemy loves to challenge your stewardship mindset.


• A servant is empowered by a man. A steward is entrusted with things from God. American church tends to see this to mean that we get to “do our own thing.” But it is better to be a little fish in a big pond with a mission, than to be a big fish in a little pond but have no vision.


• A servant looks for a reward from man. A steward “has” to do it – is compelled – even if it goes against my natural schedule.


• A servant blindly follows instructions, but a steward knows intuitively the master’s purposes. If you don’t get the why behind the what, you’ll never understand why God does things the way He does them. Let people know the “why” – that’s how to help them become stewards.


• A servant isn’t interested in relationships – but stewards are considered friends. A steward may not have sat in a lot of individual time in a meeting with the pastor, but a steward still considers/makes the leader his friend. Listen to everything they say – it must become important to us.


• A servant is content with serving. A steward wants to steward to grow to graduate to elevate – to buy in at the next level. The buy-in happens here.


• A servant knows his God. a steward knows the same God as their master. Not talking about clones, but about essential convictions. If you don’t like the vision, leave. You’re not gonna change the pastor - and that’s not what you should even want.


• A servant is competitive and protective, fighting to be the best at the very base level. A steward helps people not get departmentalized.


• A servant has limited tenure. A steward becomes part of the future of a house. Don’t use what you’re doing here to build what you’re doing. We steward the house, the language, the whole role of steward is to give away the master’s grace. we are here to distribute the abundance – don’t be like the political barricades that leave containers of food on the dock in a starving nation. We are here to get the abundance to starving people.