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Stewardship Books for Pastors and Teachers

Below is a list of books recommended for use by pastors and teachers. They are arranged below according to area of need. Except where noted, the books reviewed below are not available from Generous Giving; to obtain any resource, simply click on the title, and you will be linked to an authorized distributor. Recommend a favorite book or see a shorter list of key books.

Understanding Biblical Generosity

Here are four books by pastors who are passionately interested in promoting biblical generosity. If you are new to the idea of generosity, these resources—all written from a pastor’s perspective—are a great place to start. They are also excellent resources for elders, deacons, stewardship committees and lay leaders. Books in this category are available at discounted rates if purchased in bulk. See also key verses on generous giving.
  1. Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving
  2. John Piper, Money: The Currency of Christian Hedonism
  3. John R.W. Stott, Stott on Stewardship: Ten Principles of Christian Giving
  4. Andy Stanley, Fields of Gold: A Place beyond Your Deepest Fears, a Prize beyond Your Wildest Imagination
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Studying Money in Scripture

Nothing is more important for those interested in teaching and preaching on money than learning what the Scriptures have to say. These resources dig deeply into the message of Scripture and can help leaders apply the message of God’s word today. See also Generous Giving’s stewardship Bible study notes.
  1. Craig Blomberg, Neither Poverty Nor Riches: a Biblical Theology of Possessions
  2. Gene Getz, Rich in Every Way: Everything God Says about Money and Possessions: 102 Supracultural Principles for Handling Material Possessions
  3. Larry Burkett, The Word on Finances: Topical Scriptures and Commentary
  4. Brian Kluth, God’s Word on Finances, Wealth and Generosity
  5. Luke Timothy Johnson, Sharing Possessions: Mandate and Symbol of Faith
  6. Sondra Ely Wheeler, Wealth as Peril and Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions
  7. Stephen F. Olford, The Grace of Giving: A Biblical Study of Christian Stewardship
  8. Bruce W. Winter, Seek the Welfare of the City: Christians as Benefactors and Citizens
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Preaching Generosity

While there are few books explicitly about the pastor’s task in preaching generosity, the following will be of use as models. John Piper’s inspirational chapter is particularly helpful in providing direction. See also related articles.
  1. John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry
  2. Warren W. Wiersbe (comp.), Classic Sermons on Stewardship
  3. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty
  4. Charles Cloughen, Jr., One Minute Stewardship Sermons: Communicating the Stewardship Message Every Sunday of the Year
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Fostering Generosity

Teaching and preaching on money, possessions and giving can be a difficult task, particularly in a culture focused on individualism and privacy. Nonetheless, Scripture teaches that it is a critical task for leaders. In addition to the books for understanding biblical generosity cited above, the following texts seek to help pastors and teachers foster generosity in the congregation. See also related articles.
  1. Eugene Grimm, Generous People: How to Encourage Vital Stewardship
  2. Michael Durall, Creating Congregations of Generous People
  3. George Barna, How to Increase Giving in Your Church: A Practical Guide to the Sensitive Task of Raising Money for Your Church or Ministry
  4. V.S. Azariah, Christian Giving
  5. Charles Cloughen, Jr., One Minute Stewardship Sermons: Communicating the Stewardship Message Every Sunday of the Year
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Discipling the Wealthy

Are you leading a congregation, Sunday school class, or women’s study with wealthy individuals? The following books by leading financial professionals can help you understand their specific needs and may provide inspiring stories for inspiration and direction.
  1. Ron Blue, Generous Living: Finding Contentment through Giving
  2. Lloyd Reeb, From Success to Significance: When the Pursuit of Success Isn’t Enough
  3. Ron Blue with Jeremy White, Splitting Heirs: Giving Your Money and Things to Your Children without Ruining Their Lives
  4. Alan Gotthardt, The Eternity Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Investing Your Money for Ultimate Results
  5. Claude Rosenberg, Wealthy and Wise: How You and America Can Get the Most out of Your Giving
  6. Ken Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy, The Generosity Factor: Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure
  7. John Haggai, Paul J. Meyer and the Art of Giving
  8. John Haggai, The Wackersberg Connection: The Investment of Influence
  9. John Haggai, The Steward: A Statement on Stewardship As Expressed through the Life of Guy W. Rutland, Jr.
  10. Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
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Helping Families

Stewardship—like almost everything else in life—must begin at home. Pastors and teachers must be especially careful to manage their finances and train their children appropriately (1 Timothy 3:3-4, 12; 6:6-10; Proverbs 31:10-31). “Families and stewardship” is also a critical area which must not be neglected in teaching and preaching, particularly when so many people have been raised themselves with little or no training in biblical financial principles. Also listed are books specifically for children of various ages. See also articles on these related topics: Exhorting the Parent and Teaching the Child.
  1. Ron Blue and Judy Blue, Raising Money-Smart Kids: How to Teach Your Children the Secrets of Earning, Saving, Investing, and Spending Wisely
  2. Larry Burkett and Rick Osborne, Financial Parenting: Showing Your Kids That Money Matters
  3. Nathan Dungan, Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM
  4. Susan Crites Price, The Giving Family: Raising Our Children to Help Others
  5. James Dobson, Money and Success
  6. Ellen Sabin, The Giving Book: Open the Door to a Lifetime of Giving
  7. Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree
  8. Ravi Zacharias, The Merchant and the Thief
  9. Joan Summer, A Gift for Jesus
  10. Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need? (adapted for children)
  11. Larry Burkett with Lauree Burkett, What if I Owned Everything?
  12. Aesop, Fables
  13. Ryan B. Anderson, The Christmas Rifle
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Setting the Church Agenda

OK, so your people are opening up their wallets. Where and how should the church spend its money? While there is no exact blueprint, these books provide some inspiration and direction for church budget priorities. Initial statistical evidence and our own experience suggests that churches that set high priorities on biblical models of church budgeting will “be rich in every way so that you might be generous on every occasion,” just as Paul advised the Corinthians when asking them to raise money for the poor (2 Corinthians 9:8, 11). See also related articles.
  1. Timothy J. Keller, Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road
  2. Wesley K. Willmer, ed., Money for Ministries: Biblical Guidelines for Giving and Asking: Perspectives from 30 Christian Leaders on Funding the Evangelical Enterprise
  3. Richard F. Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal (chapter 12)
  4. Larry Burkett, Giving and Tithing (Includes Serving and Stewardship)
  5. Thomas H. Jeavons and Rebekah Burch Basinger, Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry
  6. Carolyn Weatherford, God Has Done His Part: Biblical Teachings on Support of Missions
  7. Michael O’Hurley-Pitts, The Passionate Steward: Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising
  8. Robert Smith, Biblical Charity: for the Poor You Have with You Always
  9. Terry A. Parker, Gregory L. Sperry and David H. Wills with Michael J. Dowling, Investing in God’s Business: The ‘How to’ of Smart Christian Giving
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Digging Deeper into Biblical Generosity

For more meat and broader analysis than that found in our books for understanding biblical generosity above, you might consult the following texts. See also Generous Giving’s stewardship Bible study notes and our list of key study guides.
  1. Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity
  2. J.I. Packer, Hot Tub Religion: And Other Thoughts on Christian Living in a Materialistic World
  3. John and Sylvia Ronsvalle, Behind the Stained Glass Windows: Money Dynamics in the Church
  4. Wesley K. Willmer with Martyn Smith, God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link between Your Possessions and Your Soul
  5. John MacArthur, Whose Money Is It, Anyway? A Biblical Guide to Using God’s Wealth
  6. Michael Wakely, Generosity: Big-Heartedness as a Way of Life
  7. Douglas John Hall, The Steward: A Biblical Symbol Come of Age
  8. O.S. Hawkins, Money Talks: But What Is It Really Saying?
  9. Selwyn Hughes, Divine Mathematics: How One Plus One Equals Three in the Kingdom
  10. Marva J. Dawn, Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society
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Managing Personal Finance

Consumerism and financial foolishness continue to be pervasive problems; many people can’t give to missions or dedicate their lives to full-time ministry because of deep financial problems. These texts help are helpful tools for preachers and others who seek to develop, apply, model and teach a healthy approach to personal finance. Many of the following books were written by committed believers. See also related articles.
  1. Larry Burkett, The Complete Guide to Managing Your Money: Three Best Selling Works on Achieving Financial Freedom Complete in One Volume
  2. Doug Hagedorn, Ease the Squeeze: Develop a Life Plan, a Giving Plan, and a Financial Plan: A Blueprint for a Solid Financial Foundation Practical and Spiritual Approaches to Money and Life
  3. Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts: The Biblical Guide to Earning, Spending, Saving, Investing, Giving, and Getting Out of Debt
  4. Larry Burkett and Ron Blue with Jeremy White, The Burkett and Blue Definitive Guide to Securing Wealth to Last: Money Essentials for the Second Half of Life
  5. Elizabeth A. Patton, The Big Bucks: How to Manage Money Now That You’re on Your Own
  6. Ron Blue with Jeremy White, The New Master Your Money: A Step-by-Step Plan for Gaining and Enjoying Financial Freedom
  7. Sharon Durling, A Girl and Her Money: How to Have a Great Relationship without Falling in Love
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Understanding Cultural and Political Issues

The following resources address political economic issues. Since this is not Generous Giving’s primary area of expertise or ministry, this list at present is brief.
  1. Tony Evans, Tony Evans Speaks Out on Gambling and the Lottery
  2. Todd Flanders, Gary Quinlivan and Michel Therrien, International Debt Relief: A Moral and Economic Challenge
  3. Abraham Kuyper, The Problem of Poverty
  4. David Gushee, ed., Toward a Just and Caring Society: Christian Responses to Poverty in America
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Teaching Economics

In addition to the Bible’s basic case for generosity, preachers sometimes find it helpful to dig deeper into the sociological, historical, political, demographic and ideological aspects of charitable giving. The following books take a “big picture” of charitable giving inside and/or outside of churches. Many of these texts are more sociological and less religious. They treat a variety issues from a variety of ideological perspectives. See also related articles.
  1. Robert Wuthnow, The Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual Malaise, Fiscal Woe
  2. George Gilder, Wealth and Poverty
  3. John Ronsvalle and Sylvia Ronsvalle, The State of Church Giving through 2003
  4. Dean Hoge, Patrick McNamara and Charles Zech with final chapter by Loren B. Mead, Plain Talk about Churches and Money
  5. John Green and Kevin E. Schmiesing, The State of Economic Education in United States Seminaries: A Report from the Center for Economic Personalism at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
  6. R. Scott Rodin, Stewards in the Kingdom: A Theology of Life in All Its Fullness
  7. Paul R. Lindholm, First Fruits: Stewardship Thoughts and Stories from around the World
  8. Larry Eskridge and Mark A. Noll, eds., More Money, More Ministry: Money and Evangelicals in Recent North American History
  9. Patrick H. McNamara, More Than Money: Portraits of Transformative Stewardship
  10. E. Calvin Beisner, Prosperity and Poverty
  11. Doug Bandow and David L. Schindler, eds., Wealth, Poverty and Human Destiny
  12. Justo Gonzales, Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance and Use of Money
  13. John C. Haughey, Biblical Foundations of Virtue and Affluence: The Challenge of Wealth
  14. Robert Wuthnow, God and Mammon in America
  15. Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
  16. Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson
  17. Robert Wuthnow, Virginia A. Hodgkinson and associates, Faith and Philanthropy in America: Exploring the Role of Religion in America’s Voluntary Sector
  18. Michael Novak, Business as a Calling: Work and the Examined Life
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Alternative Learning

Let’s face it: Some folks—including some pastors—learn concepts better when they aren’t presented in a typical nonfiction format. The following are novels, collections of meditations, biographies and other books that are more nontraditional in their approach to the issue of generosity (some only touch on generosity in places; click on the title to see our reviews). See also our list of children’s books as well as related articles on literature.
  1. Randy Alcorn, Safely Home
  2. Richard Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power
  3. R.G. LeTorneau, Mover of Men and Mountains: the Autobiography of R. G. LeTorneau
  4. Bob Buford, Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance
  5. John Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman and a Plea for the Poor: The Spiritual Autobiography of the Great Colonial Quaker
    Samuel Gregg, Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded
  6. Gordon MacDonald, Secrets of the Generous Life: Reflections to Awaken the Spirit and Enrich the Soul
  7. Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity
  8. Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
  9. Michael Watts (editor and commentator), The Literary Book of Economics: Including Readings from Literature and Drama on Economic Concepts, Issues, and Themes
  10. Kevin Belmonte, Hero for Humanity: A Biography of William Wilberforce
  11. Jerry B. Jenkins, A Generous Impulse: The Story of George Sweeting
  12. Randy Alcorn, Heaven
  13. Arthur T. Pierson, George Mueller of Bristol: and His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God
  14. John Chrysostom, On Living Simply: the Golden Voice of John Chrysostom: A Book of Ancient Christian Wisdom
  15. Paul Kooistra, Seven-Day Faith Promise: A Devotional
  16. Oseola McCarty, Oseola McCarty’s Simple Wisdom for Rich Living: Words from the Laundress Whose $150,000 Scholarship Gift Inspired the Nation
  17. Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need?
  18. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
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