The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation has announced a new appointment to drive forward the ministry's biblical stewardship.

Dr Stan Toler, Senior Pastor at Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City in the US will now support Christians around the world in sharing their faith in Jesus Christ as the new Lausanne Senior Associate for Stewardship.

Lausanne leaders have welcomed Dr Toler's appointment.

"Stan is especially gifted in connecting the best ideas of stewardship across the distinctives of cultures and denominations in order for the whole church to join in the blessings that come when our resources are committed to God's purpose," said Lausanne's Treasurer Dr Roger Parrott, President of Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr Toler's particular passion is holistic stewardship. "The world has used the term stewardship almost more effectively than the church. We need to reclaim the word because stewardship is discipleship," he said.

In creating the position of Senior Associate for Stewardship, Lausanne Executive Chair the Rev S Douglas Birdsall said that "biblical stewardship is an issue of paramount importance to the global Christian community.

"We must seek ways to use our resources more effectively to advance the cause of world evangelisation."

Toler added that stewardship was critical in helping Christians to be effective witnesses for Christ as it involves the daily living out of a relationship with Christ, in connection with others and the surrounding world.

He urged Christians to recognise the urgency of telling others about Christ and share the vision of a "cycle of victorious giving".

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation was founded by the Rev Billy Graham, Bishop Jack Dain, and Rev John Stott among others, following the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelisation. Its purpose is to serve, unite, energise and mobilise the body of Christ to focus on evangelisation.