Giving as a Couple: When You and Your Spouse Disagree About Where to Give
Giving as a couple becomes difficult precisely because it sits at the intersection of worship, responsibility, and trust. When you and your spouse disagree about where to give, the dispute is rarely only about a ministry’s merits. It is often about competing pictures of faithfulness: compassion versus prudence, local loyalty versus global reach, evangelism versus […]
Big Names vs. Small Ministries: Who Should Get My Giving?
The question of big names vs. small ministries is not primarily a question of brand; it is a question of stewardship. Christian donors are not choosing between two marketing styles. We are deciding where the Lord’s resources—entrusted to us for a time—will be deployed for the good of neighbors, the strength of the Church, and […]
Why a Ministry’s Overhead Ratio Isn’t the Whole Story
Why a ministry’s overhead ratio isn’t the whole story is not an argument for carelessness with donor funds. It is a reminder that Christian stewardship requires more than a single percentage. The overhead ratio can reveal real problems, but it can also conceal them, and it can mislead faithful donors into rewarding the wrong incentives. […]
Estate Planning and Christian Giving: How to Bless Ministries Beyond Your Lifetime
Estate planning and Christian giving belong together because Christian stewardship is not limited to the years in which we can sign the check ourselves. Scripture consistently frames our resources as entrusted, not possessed: “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). The harder question is not […]
Form 990 for Christians: What It Tells You and How to Read It
Form 990 for Christians is not merely a compliance document. It is one of the few standardized windows a donor has into how a ministry governs itself, compensates leaders, describes results, and handles conflicts of interest. Scripture assumes that those who handle sacred gifts must do so in a way that is both faithful and […]
Estate Planning and Christian Giving: How to Bless Ministries Beyond Your Lifetime
Estate planning and Christian giving belong together because Christian stewardship is not limited to the years in which we can sign the check ourselves. Scripture consistently frames our resources as entrusted, not possessed: “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). The harder question is not […]
Giving Appreciated Stock vs. Cash: Which Helps Ministries More?
Giving appreciated stock vs. cash is not merely a tax question. For Christian donors, it is a stewardship question: how to direct resources entrusted by God in a way that strengthens faithful ministry, avoids avoidable loss, and sustains long-term fruit. Scripture consistently treats material decisions as spiritual decisions, and it does so with an unembarrassed […]
Tax-Smart Giving: 8 Strategies Every Christian Donor Should Know
Tax-smart giving is one of the few places where Christian donors can increase ministry impact without increasing spending. Done well, it is simply stewardship: arranging our affairs so that more of what we have been entrusted with moves toward the work of the Kingdom, rather than unnecessarily toward the tax bill. The stakes are not […]
Donor-Advised Funds for Christian Givers: Pros, Cons, and How They Work
Donor-advised funds for Christian givers sit at the intersection of stewardship, tax law, and ecclesial conscience. They can serve the work of the Kingdom with clarity and discipline, but they can also create moral distance between a donor and the actual ministries that receive support. For mature Christians who take Jesus’s warnings about money seriously, […]
Tithing, Offerings, and Above-and-Beyond Giving: A Biblical Framework
Tithing, offerings, and above-and-beyond giving are not three separate fundraising techniques. They are categories Scripture uses to form a people who know whose they are, what their money is for, and how worship reaches into the ordinary decisions of the household. For Christian donors, the question is rarely whether generosity matters; it is how to […]