6 - Tell stories of how God is creatively stretching your financial resources  In our church's recent expansion project, we recently had a $10,000 phone system donated to us, a retired electrician donated more than 300 hours of work over a 10 week period, a gravel company donated rock for our parking lot expansion, we were able to purchase a $35,000 office cubicle system at an auction for $4,000, a marble company donated marble for all of our bathrooms, a plumbing company installed all of our plumbing fixtures for free, etc., etc.. When you can report how God is "stretching" the financial gifts God is giving, they are encouraged in their personal giving and have a growing confidence that their resources are being wisely used.

7 - Use personal testimonies about how God has taught people to give  Once I was asked to come and give a stewardship message at a church in Iowa. I agreed to come under one condition. I told the pastor he needed to with the help of the treasurer, determine four individuals or couples who by their giving records, appeared to be giving 10% or more of their income to the Lord's work. (Notice, I did NOT say, the largest givers. Someone might give thousands of dollars each year, but it might only be 1 or 2% of their income). Each week for four weeks, one of the couples or individuals was to give a 2-3 minute testimony of how God taught them to be faithful givers. When I came to preach, people's hearts and pocketbooks had been touched and softened through these testimonies. During the next year, that little church's budget grew from $125,000 to over $200,000! The message to the congregation was not the needs of the congregation, but the grace of God in allowing people to become faithful givers to the Lord's work. In my own church, from time to time, we have people in the congregation tell their giving stories. One Sunday, we had a single mom give her story. She had been recently divorced, had 3 young children, was making $20,000/year, and had $24,000 in accumulated debts when she began to have a desire to give at least 10% of her income to the Lord's work. She told how God helped her with this decision, how he slowly began to increase her income, how she began to live on a budget, and that within 3 years, she had paid off all of her debts. She also explained how after learning to give 10%, she increased her giving to help missionaries and support the church's expansion projects. Many people were deeply moved and deeply motivated to become faithful givers after hearing her story of God's help and grace.

8 - Encourage God's people to personally read and study God's word  In a Barna Research poll, 52% of the people who read the Bible on the own were givers to their church. The less someone reads the bible, the less likely they are to be faithful givers at church. To help people learn God's perspective on finances, provide financial teaching in Sunday school classes, seminars, or Bible studies from Crown Financial Ministries or Willow Creek's Good Sense Ministry. If you want to reap a spiritual harvest of generosity in the future, you need to be regularly planting the seeds of God's financial truth today.

9 - Recognize faithful Christian giving increases with age  Barna Research reports what percentages of people in the following ages donate financially to their church: 31% of Babybusters, 43% of Baby boomers, 54% of Builders, and 61% of Seniors. Your most generous gifts will often come from older and more mature saints, but your church needs to be actively teaching younger saints God's word in the area of finances and generosity through a multifaceted financial ministry.