Stewardship: Generosity Report 2024

The organisation Stewardship recently commissioned a report to understand better how to help their partners - churches, charities and Christian workers – invite generosity and grow support.

The key highlights are as follows:

1. Regular church attendance more than doubles propensity to give

Practising Christians, who attend church, and read their Bible on a monthly basis, are more likely to give to every type of cause including their church.

2. Engaged faith leads to engaged giving

Practising Christians are most likely to budget to give monthly donations to their chosen Christian causes.

3. An appeal or personal approach triggers spontaneous giving

The research showed that most giving is reactive, rather than proactive. People need a prompt to consider giving.

4. Those who trust the causes they support are likely to be more generous to all causes

We found that those who trusted their church ‘a lot’ were much more likely to be regular donors across all causes (giving at least once a month).

5. People will feel more driven to give if they feel connected to a ministry or cause that can make a difference

The decision to give again, sign up for regular giving digitally, or increase giving is often a result of seeing the impact of giving, as well as feeling appreciated and connected to the cause.

6. Fewer people give to Christian workers, but the donations made to them are higher than for other causes

One of people’s top reasons for giving to Christian workers in the quantitative phase was ‘I could see how my money would be spent to directly benefit someone’.

7. Two key barriers to giving are feeling unable to afford to give and a lack of trust that donations will be used well

50% of those surveyed said that they can’t really afford to start giving or give more (it is worth noting this research was conducted in November 2023, when the cost-of-living crisis was acute), but we should also consider other barriers to giving.

8. Those who discuss their giving tend to give more themselves

Over 1 in 5 (22%) of those who give more than 11–15% of their income discuss their giving with friends or family more than every few months. Over 3 in 5 (61%) of those that give less than 1% never discuss their giving.

Further information is available here, and a pdf of the report can be downloaded (with an email address) from here.

The Big Picture Magazine 10 (2024) on Economics

The latest issue of The Big Picture, a magazine produced by the Kirby Laing Centre, has recently been made available.

According to the blurb:

‘The Bible has plenty to say about money and business. Money represents both a key conduit of blessing and the chief object of idolatrous worship. In this issue, our community offers advice and examples for business leaders, inspiring stories of Christ-centred businesses, and important challenges for all Christians to integrate our faith into our work lives.’

More information is available here, and the issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Online versions of the previous issues of the magazine are available from here.

Paul Mills on the Future of Money

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Paul Mills, ‘Cashing Out? Biblical Thoughts on the Future of Money’, Cambridge Papers 32, 4 (December 2023).

Here is the summary:

‘Monetary systems are innovating rapidly yet also losing the public’s trust. Given that trust (and government solvency) are critical to the survival of banks, recent bank failures may presage the transition to a new monetary paradigm. The Bible’s pointers to the features of a desirable monetary system are used to assess the merits or otherwise of the challengers to the status quo – notably cryptocurrencies and Central Bank Digital Currencies. The latter, in particular, raise a number of concerns regarding governmental surveillance and control.’

Lausanne Global Analysis 12, 5 (September 2023)

The latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis, from The Lausanne Movement, is available online from here, including pdfs of individual articles as below.

The summaries are taken from the Issue Overview by Loun Ling Lee.

Steve Moon

Innovative Integration and Collaboration on the Mission Field: A Holistic Intercultural Approach

Steve Moon reflects on the approaches and processes to evaluate what ‘new and creative ways, expressed through new cultural and technological tools’, would be appropriate, realistic, and faithful to the Word of God. Such evaluation requires much practical wisdom gained through contextualization, integration, and ‘collaboration with diverse people across disciplines, sectors, generations, and backgrounds’. This spirit of innovative integration applies also to mission financing. He recommends ‘integrating faith missions approaches and missional business approaches’ as ‘a realistic solution in many contexts’.

First Rievan

Beyond Self-Support Fundraising for Missions: Thinking, Structures, and Practices for Majority World Missionaries

Kirst Rievan addresses the question, ‘Are there ways to make international missions more sustainable and less dependent on the West?’ Although ‘the financial systems of most mission organisations are now more diverse than at their foundation’, their basic principle is still that ‘individual workers are responsible for raising their own support’. This poses great challenges especially for mission workers from the Majority World. The author revisits ‘the general models for financing international mission workers: 1) self support, 2) organisational support, and 3) a hybrid. Each has variations, strengths, and weaknesses’. He recommends changes in ‘thinking, structures, and practices’ and concludes that ‘multiple models’ are the way forward for financial sustainability for international mission organisations.

John Cheong

Islamic Economics for Christian Ministry and Mission: What We Can Learn from Zakat, Waqf, and Islamic Banking

John Cheong illustrates how we can ‘integrate the sociocultural and religious dimensions of economics into missiology’, particularly in Muslim contexts, by ‘examining three aspects of the Islamic economy: zakat (almsgiving/tithing), waqf (endowments/trusts), and Islamic banking (interest-free financing)’ and comparing them with Christian ‘life and witness in relation to the socioeconomic dimensions of life’. He hopes by doing so, we will ‘recover a more holistic gospel that is truly good news to the poor’.

Al Tizon

The Legacy of Ronald J. Sider: Five Elements Shaping Transformational Mission Today

According to Tizon, Sider’s one great impact on global mission is in catalyzing social transformation. His motivation for that ‘came not from humanist altruism, but ultimately from authentic, Christian discipleship – a deep desire to follow Jesus faithfully and radically in the world’. Since its first edition in 1977 to its sixth edition today, Sider’s book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger has challenged ‘the church to repent and to begin living out the economics of the kingdom’, including practising an ‘economically conscious mission’. His unwavering commitment to ‘a simple lifestyle’ and nonviolence as well as his urging of Christians ‘to enter the public square with the politics of Jesus’ have significantly influenced the ‘contour of mission’ and helped ‘build the kind of society that reflects God’s peace, justice, and righteousness’.

Stewardship on How Married Couples Make Decisions about Charitable Giving

The Christian charity Stewardship recently conducted a survey on how married couples make decisions about charitable giving.

They asked married couples about ‘how they manage their giving together, who they choose to give to and the challenges and opportunities they face when making giving decisions’.

750 married individuals took part in the survey, the majority of whom would define themselves as evangelical Christians.

The full report is available in exchange for an email address here.

The main findings are as follows:

3 out of 4 couples said they make giving decisions together

Most married couples choose to make giving decisions together with just 1 out of 4 respondents reporting that decisions are made by one spouse.

94% of couples agree with their spouse on how much they should give

Only 2% of couples would state that they ‘rarely agree’ on this subject. Money decisions are often considered a divisive issue among couples but giving to charity seems to bring couples together.

68% of respondents said that they thought their giving is set at the right amount

31% of respondents said that they would like to be giving more, with just 1% stating that they would like to be giving less than they do currently.

93% of married couples give to their local church

The most popular type of charitable cause that our survey respondents support is the ‘Local Church’ (694 out of 750 respondents). This is closely followed by ‘International Aid’ and ‘Global Mission’ causes.

Only 1 out of 10 couples said that they have a pre-agreed threshold amount for giving

Of this number, 38% of survey participants said they would discuss with their spouse any donation amount over £50.

60% of respondents said that they are giving more than 10% of their total household income

A further 37% of participants said they give between 1–10% of their income. These figures are above standard UK charitable giving statistics, where the average monthly donation in 2021 was reported to be £411.

As a follow up, Stewardship have also produced a ‘guide to giving for married couples’, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

The four principles outlined are these:

1. Appreciate that you are different

2. Agree on unity and mutual support

3. Pray and bring God into this part of your marriage

4. Take time to talk through the crucial questions

Centre for Public Christianity (December 2021)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has this month posted a ‘Life and Faith’ podcast (here) with the team talking about Christmas – ‘the food, the gifts, the traditions, the family time – and what any of it has to do with the original story’.

Also posted (here) is an interview with theologian Sarah Coakley on ‘the problem of desire’, or ‘our relationship to sex, food, money, the body, and God’.

Mission Frontiers 43, 3 (May-June 2021)

The May-June 2021 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by the U.S. Center for World Mission, contains a number of articles on the topic of ‘What Have You Brought For Us? Confronting the Hidden Dangers of Money in Missions’.

Here is the issue blurb, which sets the scene:

‘This issue of MF is your opportunity to learn from others the dangers of foreign funds in missions. In the West we often think that money can solve all problems, but in reality no amount of money can replace the hard work, ingenuity and innovation of people. Foreign money not only does not speed up the spread of the gospel, it actually hinders it as it discourages the people being reached from taking personal ownership of the process of making disciples and planting churches. A question for us as Jesus followers is, “How do you motivate and encourage people to make disciples and plant churches?” Some think money is the answer, but as you will read in this issue of MF, money is often a disincentive to what we want to see in ministry.’

The issue is available here, from where individual articles can be downloaded, and the entire issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Christian History Magazine on the Church and the Marketplace

The latest issue of Christian History Magazine is devoted to the topic of ‘When the Church Goes to Market’.

Here is the blurb:

‘Whether they have a lot or a little, most believers shy away from discussing money. And for good reason! One can cherry-pick scripture to present money as the root of all evil, a reward for a life well-lived, or a tool to be used for good. But just like a busy street market, the real story is far more complex.

‘In this issue of Christian History we’ll examine the complexities Christians face in the marketplace. We’ll look at usury (is money-lending and borrowing ever permissible?), uncover a biblical view of philanthropy (is it only for the wealthy?), and see how believers have found a higher purpose in the market and influenced the institutions we take for granted. Discover the relationship of Christians to economics throughout the ages in the second issue of our “Faith and Flourishing series,” CH #137: When the church goes to market.’

The whole magazine is available as a 12.6 MB pdf here.

Matt Williams on Money and Family Relationships

Matt N. Williams, Money Can’t Fix Everything: The Impact of Family Relationships on Poverty (Cambridge: Jubilee Centre, 2020).

The Jubilee Centre has published a new report, this one by Matt Williams, arguing that ‘family dysfunction is a key driver in poverty and, because of this, healthier families are a big part of the solution’.

Here are some paragraphs from the Jubilee Centre:

‘If you look at the manifestos of political parties on both the left and the right, you’ll see a pattern emerge; in many cases, tackling poverty is seen as a left-wing concern, whilst strengthening family is the sole province of the politically right. This separation of key social and economic issues along political lines is all too common. But what if, after taking a holistic look at the ugly wound of poverty, we find that it’s not just unhelpful, but impossible to talk about poverty without the family?

‘This booklet starts by painting three pictures of contemporary poverty, covering public consciousness of poverty in both Africa and the UK. In part II, it explores how we can recover the overlooked economic reality of family, arguing that the Scriptures give us a holistic perspective on family as part of a wider socio-economic vision. Finally, part III brings this biblical perspective to bear on today’s world. It suggests ways in which these ideas can be applied to face the contemporary challenge of poverty in three key areas: households, churches and government policy.’

The booklet is available as a pdf here, in exchange for an email address.

The Bible in Transmission (Autumn/Winter 2019) on Debt

The latest issue of The Bible in Transmission, from Bible Society, is available online here, offering a collection of articles on the issue of debt.

I have taken the summaries of articles below from Nathan Mladin’s Editorial.

Nathan Mladin

Editorial

Luke Bretherton

A Christian Ethic of Debt

Luke Bretherton... opens the issue with a brief and convincing plea for a richer and more nuanced understanding of the notion of debt. The language of debt, he shows, is pervasive across time as a means of expressing our personal and communal obligations: to God, to one other [sic], to society and to creation. At its best, debt can express social cooperation and mutually advantageous exchanges. At its worst, debt can be used as a means of bondage, exploitation and domination. Luke’s article ends with a clarion call for the Church to proclaim and embody the gospel story of the God who comes to liberate people from debt slavery and to lavish credit on those the powers-that-be deem to be high risk.

Eve Poole

Debt and Deformation [currently no working link to this article]

Eve Poole... helpfully introduces the idea of creation orders to explain how debt extends beyond the economic sphere. We are all born, she shows, into a form of debt, to our families, to society, and to creation. Eve also highlights the importance of institutions, which she describes as systems of rules. Where the rules are just, society runs smoothly. Where they are broken, they lead to injustice and harm. Student debt is then discussed as an illuminating example of a ‘rule’ that is doing more harm than good – effectively turning students from citizens into consumers, further extending the reach of the market into society.

Barbara Ridpath

Forgive Us Our Debts

Barbara Ridpath... looks at the most common form of debt: personal or household debt. She explains the reasons why people generally borrow, the warning signs of difficulties, the effects of unpayable debt, while also suggesting how practically to help the overindebted. A fruitful question is woven through the piece: what would a more just and loving approach to extending and repaying credit look like? To begin answering this question, Barbara distils the key arguments of the Forgive us our Debts report and offers the Christian ethical framework we put forward.

Hannah Rich

The Church’s Response to Debt

Hannah Rich... offers an insightful discussion of the Church’s response to debt problems. This has been mainly, but not exclusively in the form of debt advice, in partnership with Christians Against Poverty, but also through independent initiatives. Hannah shows how churches are uniquely placed to offer support that is deeply relational and holistic. Churches, she notes, generally address not only people’s economic burden of debt but also their relational and spiritual needs. Their support is inclusive, holistic, and joined up, integrated with other forms of provision. As an institutional voice, Hannah shows, the church has significant capacity to challenge unjust structures. The most notable initiative on this front has been what the media called the ‘War on Wonga’, the campaign led by the Archbishop of Canterbury against doorstep and payday lenders charging interest rates and fees of up to 5000 per cent. But there is, as she rightly points out in the conclusion of her piece, plenty of scope for the church ‘to go further in challenging unjust economic structures and create genuine alternatives’.

Philip Booth and Stephen Nakrosis

Government Debt, Inter-Generational Justice and Catholic Social Teaching

Philip Booth... and Stephen Nakrosis...approach the topic of government debt through the frameworks of Catholic Social Teaching, natural law, and virtue ethics. As with other forms of debt, government debt, they show, is not always and unquestionably problematic. It should be assessed on the reasons why it is incurred (e.g. spending while not taxing properly vs borrowing to invest in infrastructure) and its effects on, among other things, the relationship between generations, and between government and the governed, according to the principles of intergenerational justice and solidarity. They note, however, that any increase in the size and scope of government must be financed through adequate taxation of the current generation.

Paul Mills

Government Debt and the Enslavement of Future Generations

Paul Mills applies explicitly biblical wisdom on debt and stewardship to how Christians should think about government borrowing today. Paul acknowledges that there is no biblical material which speaks directly to the question of government debt, but offers scriptural principles focused on the ‘relational dynamics at work between borrower and lender, and between current and future generations’ which are still applicable to the issue of government debt today. The article ends with a set of suggestions to reduce and make government borrowing more transparent and responsible. In the end, however, beyond anything that policies informed by Christian wisdom may achieve, there is an urgent need, he argues, for ‘a change of societal heart’, away from selfishness towards self-giving. And it is in this context that Christians, shaped by the gospel, have a significant opportunity to embody a spirit of generosity and sacrifice.

Calum Samuelson on Just Pay

The Jubilee Centre has published a booklet taking a look at the issues surrounding ‘current excessive pay packages’ which create ‘a sense of burning injustice in the wider population’:

Calum Samuelson, Just Pay: A Biblical Perspective on the Ethics of Remuneration (Cambridge: Jubilee Centre, 2019).

Here’s the blurb:

‘A CEO is paid hundreds of times more than the “everyday workers” in their own company. The market seems to allow it, but is it morally right?

‘This report proposes a biblical framework for exploring remuneration, which has three major components – justice, dignity and reward. Justice is concerned with the fair amount of pay, to ensure families are protected from destitution. Dignity is concerned with the right kind of work and protects the agency of workers. Finally, reward is about working for the right reasons, and leads to the common good. Together, they provide new insight into the ethics of remuneration.’

More information available from here, from where a pdf of the booklet can be downloaded.

Theos Report on Debt

The latest report from Theos has just been published:

Nathan Mladin and Barbara Ridpath, “Forgive Us Our Debts”: Lending and Borrowing as if Relationships Matter (London: Theos, 2019).

Here are some paragraphs from the Theos website:

‘Over 16 million people in the UK have less than £100 in savings. Personal debt is now at 90% of GDP. Debt is clearly a serious economic issue – but it is also a profoundly moral one. How should we distribute the risks and responsibilities inherent in debt? How should we treat people with severe debt problems? Should there be limits on borrowing and rates of interest?

‘This report draws on the wealth of Christian thought on the subject to highlight the moral and relational dimensions of debt and suggest practical ways to address some of its problematic aspects at the personal, corporate, and public levels in the UK today.’

A pdf of the full report is available here.

David McIlroy on Finance

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by David McIlroy:

David McIlroy, ‘Time for a Financial Reformation?’, Cambridge Papers 26, 2 (June 2017).

Here is the summary:

‘The Global Financial Crisis ought to have been a wake-up call. Instead, it has largely been an opportunity missed. It is not, however, impossible to take the steps which are required to transform the financial services industry into one which lives up to its name. This paper seeks to remind us that the shape of banks and the nature of banking are not fixed, that there is an alternative to the domination of our financial system by a few large banks focused on short-term profits. Banking was different in the past and it could be once again.’

Ruth Valerio on Just Living

Ruth Valerio, Just Living: Faith and Community in an Age of Consumerism (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016).

I wrote the following mini review for EG, the quarterly magazine produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Ruth Valerio is as much at ease discussing sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and theologian Thomas Aquinas as she is about her exploits in keeping chickens and setting up a pig cooperative! It gives this book a wonderfully distinctive flavour, as Ruth joins the dots between our cultural context, our faith, and our lifestyle.

It matters that life is lived well, and the book ends with a series of recommended practices related to social concern, ecological concern, money, material goods, food, and more. But we do so in full awareness of the globalised world and consumerist society in which we live, and we do so in the light of the rich resources offered to us in Scripture and Christian tradition. Here especially, the book helps us navigate between therapeutic narcissism and world-denying asceticism to a way of life which appreciates what it means to use pleasurable things rightly and for good ends, bound up with justice and the welfare of others.

Walter Brueggemann on Money and Possessions

Walter Brueggemann, Money and possessions (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Since I saw it announced, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this volume by Walter Brueggemann in the ‘Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church’ series.

Westminster John Knox has made available a pdf except here.

Here are some paragraphs from the Preface:

‘The purpose of this book is to exhibit the rich, recurring, and diverse references to money and possessions that permeate the Bible. While we might conventionally assume, as we do in practice, that economics is an add-on or a side issue in the biblical text, an inventory of texts such as I offer here makes it unmistakably clear that economics is a core preoccupation of the biblical tradition.

‘In writing the book I have, in ways that have surprised me, come to the conclusion that the Bible is indeed about money and possessions, and the way in which they are gifts of the creator God to be utilized in praise and obedience. In such a frame of reference, money and possessions are of course intensely seductive, so that they can reduce praise to self-congratulations and obedience to self-sufficiency. Whatever is to be made of this expansive inventory of texts, it is clear that the economy, in ancient faith tradition, merited and received much more attention than is usual in conventional church rendering.

‘It is my hope that this exhibit of textual materials might evoke in the church a greater attentiveness to a keener critical assessment of the extractive economy around us in which we are implicated and a more determined advocacy for an alternative neighborly economy congruent with and derived from the gospel we confess. It is clear enough that voices that may champion and legitimate such alternative policy and practice are minimal in our society; the voicing of such alternative urgently requires the recovery of the tradition of neighborly money and possessions that has been entrusted to us.’

Christian Reflection on Generosity

The latest issue of Christian Reflection, published by the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, is available online, this one devoted to ‘Generosity’. The whole issue is available as a pdf here, and an accompanying Study Guide is available here. The main articles, with their abstracts, are as follows:

Robert B. Kruschwitz

Introduction

Since generosity echoes God’s love, practicing it in our lives and congregations is essential. Our contributors explore the distinctive features of Christian generosity, its central role in discipleship, and why its practice is so difficult in a consumerist culture.

Douglas V. Henry

Generosity of Spirit

Generosity names not merely something we do, but an admirable quality of character, something we are. Undergirding the character of truly generous people is a special awareness of themselves, others, and God’s gracious provision for the world, and this understanding inspires genuinely generous activity.

Kelly D. Liebengood

Paul’s Expectations of Generosity

True generosity requires us to give to those in need and make a place for them in our gatherings. Such generosity, Paul reminds us, is enabled by the transforming grace of God manifested in the self-emptying life of Jesus Christ and made accessible through the life-giving Spirit.

K. Jason Coker

Subversive Generosity

God’s reign, founded on God’s subversive generosity, opposes Roman oppression in the New Testament. Today it provides the moral vision to see through the distortions of consumerism and gives an alternative way to understand our obligations to one another and to God.

Patricia Snell Herzog

Solving the Riddle of Comfortable Guilt

Most of us admit that our giving behavior does not match our personal or our religion’s ideal of what it should be. Yet we are oddly content with this. Why do we have this comfortable guilt, and how can we change our habits to be rid of it? 

Ruben Swint

How Congregations (and Their Members) Differ on Generosity

Not every church member responds to the same message about giving. Not every congregation’s culture supports the same approach to developing faithful stewards, or generous givers. What variables in congregational life foster giving differences in members and congregations?

Heidi J. Hornik

Imperial Gifts

Heidi J. Hornik

Stopping to Help

Anthony Carl

All Who Thirst

Sharon Kirkpatrick Felton

Worship Service

Jonathan and Elizabeth Sands Wise

In This Old House

While generosity typically involves donating money or goods, it includes giving less material things. In this way, hospitality is a species of generosity, a making room and giving space to others in your own place, or in your attention, or in conversation. 

Richard Stearns

Time to Tithe

In our culture, the chief competitor to dependence on God is money – what it can buy and what it symbolizes. We need to give generously in order to inoculate ourselves from the virulent cultural diseases of materialism and consumerism. Unfortunately, we are not getting our vaccination shots. 

Allen Walworth

Unlikely Champions: A Widow’s Might

Scripture tells many stories about unlikely generosity champions, men and women who play out their lives, often in obscurity, except for the watchful eye of the biblical narrator – and God. They are champions of the human spirit. Upon their faithfulness the world turns, and the kingdom of God advances. 

Jo-Ann A. Brant

Generosity in the Bible

Most of us wish to be more generous. The four books reviewed here not only demonstrate the centrality of the call to generosity that runs through the biblical canon, they also provide practical advice about how we can turn our well-meaning intent into action.

Arthur M. Sutherland

Toward a Theology of Generosity

Americans long have wrestled with how God gives, the obligations of the rich toward the poor and the poor toward the rich, and how generosity shapes public life. Three recent books continue the struggle by surveying, probing, and depicting generosity as an orientation toward life.

Theos Report on Money and Capitalism

Clifford Longley, Just Money: How Catholic Social Teaching can Redeem Capitalism (London: Theos, 2014).

In the latest report from Theos, Clifford Longley lays out an approach to economics based on Catholic Social Teaching.

Here’s some of the blurb:

‘With the long-standing and highly esteemed model of Just War theory in the background, [Longley] unpacks the theory of Just Money. Drawing on the extensive and detailed tradition of Catholic Social Thought – a tradition with roots in classical philosophy and Catholic teaching that is accessible to people of all faiths and none – Longley sets out an alternative vision.

‘The answer is not to abandon the business economy but to humanise it, thereby making it fairer, more efficient and user-friendly, never forgetting that, like the Sabbath, the market was made for man and not man for the market.’

More information is available here, and the full report is available for download here.

The Hedgehog Review on Work and Dignity

The latest issue – 14, 3 (Fall 2012) – of The Hedgehog Review is now available, this one devoted to ‘Work and Dignity’.

A few sample articles are available online, including:

• a piece by Benjamin Snyder on dignity, the body, and truck driving:

‘My experiences with truck drivers... have shown me that what appears on the surface to be “unskilled” labor actually relies on a professional attitude toward the body that calls on workers to cultivate highly specialized forms of corporal expertise.’

• a conversation between Mike Rose and Matthew Crawford on work and dignity.

• a book forum on Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy.