THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS IN MATTHEW 25:14–30

BY ESAYAS EMENE ENICHA (REV.)

Though the Use Your Talents (UYT) movement was initiated recently, to me it recalls the vision of Rev. Gudina who was determined to enhance the service of human development and the diaconal ministry of the church which had been affected by the dependency syndrome in the African Lutheran churches. The UYT approach encourages looking to what we have at hand rather than seeking external support and aims to stimulate the congregations to enhance the use of talents among their members in order to develop the community based on the biblical text Matthew 25:14-30.

The holistic theology of Rev. Gudina and the Use Your Talents movement center the congregations as main actors in community development (diaconia). Both initiate congregations to look to the resources that they have. Accordingly, long standing dependence on external support is not appreciated in both UYT and Rev. Gudina’s approach, except helping the needy in times of critical need, like natural or man-made disasters. Regarding partnership relations, Gudina supported the alternative to moratorium, which was the gradual decline of external funding and increase of internal income.

In the UYT approach, there is no clear objection of having external funding. Rather it teaches and initiates the congregation to look to what they themselves have in order to be economically independent and teaches the congregations to develop the community by the talents found in the congregations. As far as I experienced, dependence on external funding is not acceptable in the UYT movement. But external funding can be encouraging when it is considered as a motivation to enhance the UYT approach.

In general, the holistic theology of Gudina, his view of dependency, and his focus on congregations as the main actors of community development is analogous to Use Your Talents. The slight difference is that the theology of Gudina strives to address the whole person, whereas the UYT approach emphasizes the moralizing approach (human physical need), recognizing that congregations lack in this regard, or congregations have over emphasized spirituality and paid less attention to the physical needs of a person.

Part Two

Interpretation and Exegesis of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30