Our Story (history)

Stewardship has its origins in a number of different organisations:

Stewardship Services

The first of these was formed in 1906, initially as the East of England Evangelization Trust, but later known as The United Kingdom Evangelization Trust. It was not directly involved in evangelization, but supported it. This was primarily through acting as owner or trustee of church properties connected with the Brethren movement, and receiving and providing funds for the purchase and development of these properties.

Some time in the mid 20th Century it started to provide a covenants service – tax-effective giving – for, initially, a small number of Christian donors. From the 1980s the covenants service started to grow strongly. It had been a small trust administered by a firm of solicitors, but became separately administered and developed under the leadership of Tony Wakeling (general manager until 2000).
It expanded with a range of legal, financial and administrative services and took on the Stewardship Services operating name in the mid 1990s. It became a mixture of charitable giving agency, accountants, legal practice, insurance agency and “bank” with deposits from and mortgages to churches and charities. It started to fulfil a unique, national role, almost like a denominational headquarters, only without the denomination!

David Jones became Chief Executive in 2000, having joined the charity in 1991, moving from general practice as a solicitor.
Stewardship Services continues to be the legal structure for the present Stewardship (the official name is Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited) and the other organisations mentioned next, merged into it.

Macedonian Evangelical Trust

MET was established in the 1960s, as a Christian charitable giving agency, with roots in the Brethren movement. From 1975 it was managed and administered by Ian and Betty Morrison from their home in Bromley.

A relationship with Stewardship Services started in the 1990s. This led to discussions about closer working which eventually resulted in a merger in 2001. Ian and Betty Morrison retired and all donor accounts were transferred to Stewardship Services.

Two of the Macedonian Trustees joined the board of Stewardship, and Redina Kolaneci, who had been conducting research and providing training and materials on Christian stewardship, joined the team at Stewardship Services. It was the input of the Macedonian Trust that brought a new emphasis on Christian Stewardship Education in to Stewardship.

Sovereign Giving

Sovereign Giving, another Christian charitable giving agency, was also established in the 1960s, and also had roots in the Brethren churches. Its founder was Harry Green, (father of Tim Green - subsequently to become chairman of Stewardship) and was originally called The North Staffordshire Evangelical Trust. The merger into Stewardship took place in 2004.

The three way merger between Stewardship Services, Macedonian Trust and Sovereign Giving marked a significant new point for the organisation. Three evangelical, Christian giving agencies had become one, and could realistically aim to be the giving agency of choice for Christian givers & receivers. But giving is just one part of this mission driven, trusted, cross-denominational Christian charity that seeks to act professionally and with excellence to serve the Church and advance the Kingdom of God.

Credit Action and Christian Stewardship Education

But the strategic collaboration and joining had not finished. In 2006, a significant part of the work of Credit Action was transferred to Stewardship. Our relationship with Credit Action and its director, Keith Tondeur, went back to the late 1990s. CA had a Christian foundation and provided money education both within the Church and wider community. Much of its growth and influence in the years leading up to 2006 was in the wider population.

Based on the relationship, we were approached by CA to take on the “church facing” aspects of its work. This we did, inheriting two employees and a volunteer network. This served to give a “crtitcal mass” to our Christian stewardship education ministry. Steve Pierce joined us in July 2006 to head up the work, and it now provides a heartbeat for Stewardship, helping us address and touch heart as well as head.

Maxco

The latest addition to the Stewardship family is The Maxco Trust. This Christian trust specialising in giving from capital, was established in 1970. Our relationship went back over many years, and the merging of Maxco into Stewardship in January 2008 was a natural progression. It has concluded a series of mergers to produce one substantial, trusted Christian support services charity, able and committed to connect people and resources to advance the Kingdom of God.