As a pastor, I used to notice something that never showed up on a financial report.
It wasn’t the size of a gift. It was the consistency of the giver.
Month after month, faithful men and women would quietly support missionaries our church had sent or adopted. They weren’t wealthy. Most lived ordinary lives. They raised families, worked hard, paid their bills, and still found room in their budget for the spread of the gospel. They did it without fanfare and without expecting recognition. For many, it was a conviction that led to a lifetime of generosity. Looking back, I’ve realized that they all had something in common: they loved Christ deeply.
Today, as president of ABWE, I have the privilege of meeting churches across North America. Some are large. Many are not. Yet one lesson has only become clearer over the years.
The most generous churches are rarely the richest churches.
Recent research confirms what many pastors have observed for years. After several challenging years for charitable giving, evangelical generosity has begun to stabilize. More importantly, generosity consistently rises among believers who are actively growing in their walk with Christ. The strongest predictor of generous giving is not income but, rather, spiritual engagement.
That shouldn’t surprise us. The apostle Paul wrote about a group of churches in Macedonia that experienced “a severe test of affliction” and “extreme poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:2). By every worldly measure, these churches should have been consumed with their own needs.
Instead, they became known for extraordinary generosity. Why? Paul gives us the answer in verse 5: “They gave themselves first to the Lord.” Everything else flowed from that decision.
One of the beautiful features of 2 Corinthians 8 is Paul’s repeated use of the Greek word charis. Sometimes it is translated “grace.” Other times it refers to the gracious act of giving itself. Paul intentionally connects the two. Grace received becomes grace expressed. The gospel changes not only what we believe but what we value, what we love, and what we gladly give away.
The gospel changes not only what we believe but what we value, what we love, and what we gladly give away.
Generosity is not manufactured through better fundraising. It is cultivated through deeper discipleship.
That conviction shapes how I—and ABWE—think about church partnerships.
Our desire is not to pull generous people away from the ministry of their local church. In fact, it’s just the opposite. We want to help congregations become healthier disciple-making churches because healthy churches naturally become sending churches. When people grow in their love for Christ, they begin asking bigger questions. They pray more fervently for the nations. Some are called to go. Others joyfully send. All begin participating in the Great Commission.
I’ve watched this happen in churches of every size. One church that comes to mind would never make anyone’s list of influential congregations. They aren’t large. Their budget isn’t impressive by worldly standards. But year after year they send short-term missions teams, faithfully support missionaries, encourage those serving overseas, and celebrate every opportunity to participate in God’s global work.
Their generosity didn’t begin with a capital campaign. It began in the pulpit, in Sunday school classrooms, in small groups, and around dinner tables where people were being formed into mature followers of Jesus Christ.
That’s the pattern I’ve seen throughout my years in ministry. Healthy disciples become generous disciples. Generous disciples become sending disciples. And sending disciples become part of God’s work among the nations.
Pastor, if I could encourage you with one thought, it would be this: Your missions budget tells you something far deeper than how much money your church gives. It tells a story about the spiritual formation of your people. If generosity follows discipleship, then missions giving is not simply a financial metric. It is one indication of what your people treasure.
So before asking, “How can we increase our missions budget?” perhaps we should ask, “How can we help our people treasure Christ more deeply?” The answer to the first question often follows the second.
We would love to come alongside your church, not to help you build a fundraising calendar, but to help you build a sending culture. Because when a church is captivated by the grace of God, generosity becomes a joyful response, and the nations are blessed as a result.
