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

“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  |  9 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

Here are two formulas to get us thinking the right way for this blog post:

motivation to give X financial problems = guilt.

Guilt = no giving.

So you preach God's word faithfully on stewardship and generosity. You cast a compelling vision of how God is working through your church to impact the Kingdom. People are touched; they are motivated ... read full post  |  3 comments

I've learned a lot from Ron Blue over the last 10 years. Ron has a way of taking complex ideas and simplifying them so that everyone gets the point. Think of the "5 uses of money" that he has been talking about for 20+ years: give, spend, pay taxes, save, and eliminate debt.

Money is complex, but Ron makes it simple. This is harder than it seems if you've never done it – and some people would even ... read full post  |  5 comments

The Bible says so much about money, stewardship, and generosity. For church leaders planning a preaching or teaching series on money, it can be difficult to decide upon single theme to keep things succinct yet powerful. Three common themes are:

Holistic stewardship seriesMore than just financial management, this series covers the stewardship of time, talent, God’s Word, relationships, finances, and more. ... read full post

I am reading the book "God So loved, He Gave" and reflecting on the well known passage out of I Timothy 6: 9 – "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." I've both read and spoken about this verse many times and tend to shrug it off with my Western mindset. Getting rich is part of the American dream; surely ... read full post