Around the country, most pastors and churches realize that their people are not living up to their giving potential, but they are often uncertain about how they can change the tide of lackluster giving.

While conducting national research and also speaking for a 10-city stewardship seminar tour with pastors and church leaders from more than 50 denominations, I learned that nearly 90 percent of seminaries, denominations, and churches do NOT have an active plan to teach their people a biblical perspective of finances and generosity. Lilly Research studies also showed that 85 percent of pastors surveyed nationwide indicated they felt uncomfortable and unequipped to preach and teach on a biblical perspective to money and giving.

Scripture says, that "without vision, people perish." In this low tide of biblical teaching, American Christians have certainly been perishing in their generosity habits. Instead of living and giving generously from God's many blessings on their lives, many American Christians have adopted worldly financial habits that have led to materialistic lifestyles and increasing financial bondage through easy consumer credit, high end mortgages, home equity loans, 60-month car loans, and a record number of bankruptcies. This has led to a 30-year decline in the percentage of income that American Christians give to churches, missions, and ministries! Larry Burkett once shared with me that he felt that only about 5 percent of Christians actively gave 10 percent or more of their income to the Lord's work.

But while churches, pastors, denominations, and seminaries have been strangely silent on this subject for many years; the Scriptures are rich with God's truth on this subject. There are more than 2,350 verses on finances and possessions. When we effectively plan to preach and teach biblical truth on financial and generosity matters, we're on solid ground. When we teach on this subject we join a "Who's Who" list of biblical leaders who addressed these matters during their generation, including Moses, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Haggai, Nehemiah, Malachi, Jesus, Paul and James.

So, how can you effectively and specifically address generosity teaching in your church with an effective generosity emphasis, annual stewardship campaign, or capital project? Here are five lessons I've learned from working with many churches to launch generosity teaching that leads to transformed lives and greater giving:

1) All-church emphasis: Make generosity teaching an all-church emphasis. Do you know why tens of thousands of churches benefited from Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose? It is because everyone in the church was involved in a common focus based on basic biblical truths.

2) Biblical materials sent to every active household: Use written generosity materials that are mailed to everyone in the church. Most pastors indicate that generosity teaching from the pulpit "feels too self serving" to be done effectively. Use of proven materials that take people through daily Bible readings on generosity will allow the Spirit of God to work in people's hearts and homes and will be much easier for the pastor to endorse. Mailing biblical devotional materials to each home will allow you to make sure that everyone gets the same information, and not just those who happened to be in church on Sunday and were willing to stop by and pick up the material.

3) Family-friendly materials: Look for biblical generosity materials that husbands and wives can read together or that can be easily used by the whole family. Many children have no idea of their parent's giving philosophies and practices. Going through biblical generosity readings and exercises as a couple or family can help shape giving practices for years to come (and even for future generations)!

4) Small group discussions: Invite Sunday School classes or small groups to use questions from the material for part of their time together or as their curriculum for several weeks. Small group discussions related to biblical generosity teaching will allow those who are much more mature in this area of their Christian life to share encouragement, testimonies, and personal stories of God's faithfulness with others that have not really begun to be faithful Christian givers. Couples and families can also use discussion questions to open up meaningful talks about financial priorities and giving to the Lord's work at their church and beyond.

5) Generosity assessment tools: Use material that invites people to biblically assess their giving habits in light of all their income sources, lifestyle choices, personal assets, and current giving practices. Most generosity materials only focus on people giving from their salary, but ignore a more holistic view of living and giving generously from EVERYTHING the Lord has entrusted to them to steward for his glory.

If we're going to see the generosity tide rise in people's lives and in our churches, it is up to each of us to do whatever we can to help advance biblical financial teaching among our generation that is currently being left shipwrecked by wrong financial choices and no lighthouse of biblical generosity teaching.

Brian Kluth is a senior pastor and the founder of the www.MAXIMUMgenerosity.org Web site. He also sends out a generosity monthly newsletter that is sent FREE to 13,000 pastors and church leaders from over 50 denominations. He is the author of a "40 Day Spiritual Journey to a More Generous Life" and many other materials for use by churches and ministries to advance biblical generosity in churches everywhere in America and around the world. Copyright, www.kluth.org.