Stewardship Resources

Financial planning

• Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey)
• Crown Financial Ministries
• New Focus Financial Coaching
• Love INC (Love In the Name of Christ)
• Inner City Christian Federation (serves only West Michigan)

Books and magazines

• The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving, by Randy Alcorn
• Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship, by J. Clif Christopher
• Whose Offering Plate Is It?: New Strategies for Financial Stewardship, by J. Clif Christopher
• Haggai and Friends: Sixty-Six Perspectives on Stewardship, by Patrick McLaughlin
• dfree: Breaking Free from Financial Slavery, by DeForest B. Soaries Jr.
• Freed-Up Financial Living curriculum, from the Willow Creek Association
• Giving magazine, published by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center
• Your Gifts: The Easy-to-Use, Self-Guided Spiritual Gifts Survey, by Larry Gilbert
• New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program, by Herb Miller
• Treasures of the Transformed Life, by John Ed Mathison
• Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity, by Adam Hamilton

Websites

• Barnabas Foundation
• Ecumenical Stewardship Center
• Share Save Spend
• Stewardship of Life Institute
• Faith and Money Network

Additional resources

• Online Stewardship Survey for Churches (cost: $7 per respondent; $300 plus travel costs for consultation; offered through the Barnabas Foundation)
• ChurchEXCEL (the RCA and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability are partnering to offer free resources on church finance, governance, and gift administration)
• Grace Period (an alternative to high-interest payday loans; maybe your church could start a similar program in your neighborhood.

Barnabas Foundation

The RCA is a member of the Barnabas Foundation. This membership gives RCA churches and organizations access to quality stewardship education resources, development programs and, from time to time, church conferences and events.

The Barnabas Foundation approaches its work with churches from a Christian perspective based on two key principles:

• Stewardship is a way of life.
• Living generously is an expression of God’s love.

Stewardship of our resources recognizes and reflects God’s ownership of all things. Since stewardship development and education is a core value of the Barnabas Foundation, they serve as a catalyst for churches to develop good stewards based on God’s ownership of everything, our role as his managers, and our desire to use all the gifts he has given us to honor him.