One of the key concepts we teach at GenerousChurch was first stated by Andy Stanley as a challenge to church leaders way back in 2004 at a conference at North Point. Andy asked this question:

“When it comes to your people’s finances do they know what you want FOR them or do they just know what you want FROM them?”

That’s a powerful question for those of us in church leadership ... read full post

“Nearly 95% of the average church’s ministries are for its members alone.”

In 2006, Thom Rainer published that statistic to show us that our churches are not really engaging our communities. In other words, we are basically throwing parties for ourselves. We are working so hard to engage the people in our congregations that we have forgotten about the neighborhoods surrounding our churches. ... read full post

Recently, GenerousChurch spent some time with Chip Ingram discussing the way that generosity is connected to relationships. Here are three and a half questions from that interview:

Q1: Chip, you recently released a new book called The Genius of Generosity. From the beginning of the book, you tell the story of your relationship with John Saville and indicate that generosity is what created this unique ... read full post  |  1 comments

Churches cannot wait on financial windfalls to become generous. Do you regularly find a $100 bill in your coat pocket or in a pair of jeans that you haven’t worn for a few weeks? Does the bank ever make an error in your favor? Have you ever received an inheritance from a long-lost relative or discovered a money tree in your backyard? Ok, so that’s a little ridiculous. (But, if you have, I want to ... read full post

What do Bill Gates and Rick Warren have in common? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but these guys actually have a lot in common. They are both founders of large organizations; they live on the West Coast; they both appeared on a single episode of Meet the Press (in November, 2009), they both have bad hair days; they care about the plight of Africa; they are admired by leaders in all spectrums of business ... read full post

“The Great Recovery is a grassroots movement spread by people who are tired of looking to Washington for answers. The truth is that the government can’t fix this economy. It’ll be restored one ... read full post  |  1 comments

For almost ten years, I have been a fly on the wall of some of the most innovative churches in the United States. My work has been focused on one central question: What does it take to create a culture of generosity in a local church? I have used the Acts 2 church as my plumb line, looking to see which churches come closest to this early model. From time to time I will come upon a key element in a church and think, ... read full post  |  8 comments

One of my favorite books on communication is Made To Stick by Dan and Chip Heath. In it the brothers explore why some ideas thrive while others die. They also outline specific characteristics that improve the chances of worthy ideas spreading and sticking.

So when we put together the Genius of Generosity with Chip Ingram, we sought to create a number of sticky ideas when it comes to generosity that would ... read full post  |  43 comments

We've been using Ron Blue’s pyramid on "why Christians don't give" from his book Generous Living as a framework to explore Christians' lack of generosity and to develop strategies to address it. Our first post looked at the spiritual problems at the root of the issue while our second post went deep on the financial problems Christians of all income levels may struggle with.

This post will cover the ... read full post

As our GenerousChurch team works with pastors and other leaders, we often focus on strategies, tactics, and tools that are important for the spreading of Biblical generosity in a church.

Yet this excerpt from Francis Chan’s “Forgotten God” reminded me of the true “fuel” for a generous church. From pages 153-154 in the book:

"A few months ago, the ... read full post