1 - Aim for transformed lives, not institutional survival   If you are only using "stewardship truths" to fund the budget, pay the bills, or get building dollars, you will miss God's intention for stewardship teaching. God's goal is always transformed lives - men and women, boys and girls, transformed by the truth and power of God's Word. True biblical stewardship is Lordship teaching at its highest level. It 's bringing every aspect of a person's life under the Lordship of Christ.

2 - Encourage God's people to personally read and study God's word   In Dr. George Barna's national research he discovered that 52% of the people who read their Bible on the own were givers to their church. The less frequently someone reads the Bible, the less likely they are to be faithful givers at church. The more an individual learns God's perspective on life – and finances, giving, material possessions, etc. - the more likely he or she is to have a heart for giving to God's work.

3 - Realize that Christian giving is a barometer of someone's spiritual life   Billy Graham said, "Every person's checkbook is a theological document. It tells you who and what they worship." Hundreds of years ago Martin Luther said, "People go through three conversions: their heads, their hearts, their pocketbook. Unfortunately, they do not go through these three conversions at the same time." As a stewardship speaker and financial counselor for many years, I have discovered that a person's willingness to give to God FIRST and FOREMOST is a primary indicator of his or her trust and faith in God.

4 - Use personal testimonies about how God has taught people to give   I was asked once to come and give a stewardship message at a church in Iowa. I agreed to go under one condition; the pastor (with the help of the church treasurer) needed to find 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 on how God taught them to be faithful givers. By the time 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! In my own church, from time to time, we have people in the congregation tell their giving stories. One Sunday, we had a divorced mother with 3 young boys. She was making $20,000 a 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 shared how God helped her with this decision and how He slowly began to increase her income. She began to live on a budget, and within 3 years she had paid off all of her debts. And after learning how to faithfully give 10% even while she was in debt, she increased her giving to help missionaries and support the church's expansion projects. Many people were deeply moved and motivated to become faithful givers after hearing her story of God's help and grace.

5 - The greatest stewardship transformations occur in personal and small group Bible study and learning   The most greatest vehicle for teaching stewardship principles is NOT the pulpit, although the pulpit messages need to speak clearly on stewardship topics. In my own life, God's transforming stewardship principles impacted my life when I went through a personal 12-week Larry Burkett financial Bible study when I was in my early 20's. Over the years, my wife and I have led Crown Financial Ministry home Bible studies. Our church offers Crown Financial Ministry Bible studies every fall, winter, and spring to individuals and couples who want to get a better grip on their finances through learning what the bible teaches about money and possessions. Many churches use Sunday school classes as a place to teach God's financial principles.

6 - Connect people's giving to the ministry of the church   Often we ask people to "fund the budget," but in reality we are really asking for resources in order to minister to people. Recently, when communicating from the pulpit and later in a written letter to the congregation, I heard one pastor ask the congregation for a special offering to help expand the church's nursery, parking lot, and staff offices. He told the congregation that during a recent Sunday they actually had to turn away a woman's baby because of lack of room in the nursery and that some new people drove away from the church after they were unable to find a place to park in the parking lot. Needless to say, over the next few weeks, thousands of dollars were given to help rectify the situation.

7 - Provide spiritual vision   I learned of one church member who was considering giving his church a special $100,000 gift. He went to the pastor and asked, "If you had some e unexpected financial resources available, what would you do with them?" The pastor thought for a moment, and then answered that he would like to rewallpaper the ladies restroom. The man gave him $500 for the project and ended up giving $99,500 to another ministry that had a vision big enough to worthily put his gift to work for kingdom purposes. If someone wanted to give your ministry an unexpected $1000, $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000, what is your God-given vision for outreach, missions, facilities, and staffing? Scripture says in Isaiah 32:8, "The noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands." Remember that financial resources always flow to visionary leaders and plans, not needy institutions.

8 - Get God's written blueprint for your ministry   In Scripture, resources always followed a clear God-given vision and plan. In Exodus 30-35, God gave Moses detailed instructions and in Exodus 35, the provisions came forth. In Nehemiah's day, when the king asked him "what he needed", Nehemiah gave him a detailed answer, and the needed resources were given from the King's resources. When David challenged people to give in I Chronicles 29, he had a detailed plan he was asking them to resource. In regards to written plans for the temple, David said in I Chronicles 28:19, "All this, I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan." Do you have a detailed written plan from the Lord for your ministry? Are your plans tangible and measurable? I recall one Pastor who had a 14 point initiative he was seeking to accomplish. To many it seemed like a foolish plan, but within just a few years, the Lord had enabled the pastor to meet 12 of his 14 initiatives.

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 Baby busters, 43% of Baby boomers, 54% of Builders, 61% of Seniors. In America, a person's greatest earning years come in their 50's and early 60's. When considering major projects requiring funding, recognize that your greatest givers will be your mature members and Christians. Even from biblical times, there are examples of spiritual leaders coordinating the offerings and gifts of other leaders, heads of households, and clans to accomplish specific projects.

10 - Tell stories of how God is stretching people's faithful and generous financial gifts  During our church's recent expansion project, we 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 purchased 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, the people are encouraged in their personal giving and have a growing confidence that their resources are being wisely used.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brian Kluth is a national and international speaker and writer on Biblical generosity and financial matters.  He is also a church pastor and the founder of MAXIMUM Generosity, a public ministry dedicated to advancing Biblical generosity through inspirational preaching, leadership training seminars, writing, resources and the media.  Brian’s written materials have been distributed to more than 350,000 Christian leaders in more than 100 countries .For additional materials or to contact Brian, email: bk@kluth.org or visit: www.kluth.org