Teaching and calling people to live and give generously to God's work is a common theme throughout Scripture.

When a pastor and a congregation's leaders recognize the importance and the need to launch generosity initiatives or campaigns, they will find themselves on solid biblical ground with spiritual leaders across the pages of Scriptures. A vision for teaching a congregation God's Word on finances and generosity will lead to transformed lives, hearts, and pocketbooks for the glory of God and the benefit of others in our generation.

Even a simple review of Bible characters (Nehemiah, Malachi, Hezekiah, Haggai, Moses, Jesus, Paul, and Timothy) shows that God wants leaders to lead his people away from the quicksand of materialism, consumerism, greed, and idolatry to the high ground of living a generous life for the glory of God in their generation. So, when you decide to launch a generosity initiative in your church, you are joining a "Who's Who" list of godly spiritual leaders throughout the Scriptures and across the ages.

But for most churches, when it comes to teaching on finances and generosity, this is the "silent subject." When it comes to teaching on giving, some churches stop at nothing.

I often like to say that "no church has a money problem, they have a faithfulness problem." God has generously given financial blessings, resources, and provisions to his people, but they need to be taught, encouraged, and instructed to faithfully share the best of what God has given them.

Studies show that pastors feel unequipped and unprepared to effectively teach on money. Yet, every church somewhere has to tackle the constantly-under-the-surface question, "when and how are we going to effectively teach and encourage our people to be generous?"

Well, the first thing to realize is that a generosity initiative is not only on the pastor's shoulders. An effective plan will be multifaceted and will include preaching, devotional readings, stories and testimonies, family/small group/classroom discussion, mailings, and more.

But before we go into detail about the "what" to do, let's take a look at the "why" of conducting a generosity initiative on an annual or regular basis.

Reason 1: A generosity initiative will increase people's biblical understanding.

Living generously does NOT come naturally. We're all born selfish. The Bible teaches that we're to excel in the grace of giving. Grace is a supernatural work of God in people's hearts that move them from being self-centered to God-centered, from being greedy to being generous, and from being selfish to sharing. Scripture is filled with verses and insights on living generously for the kingdom of God in our generation. A few years ago, I wrote a Bible devotional booklet on a "40 Day Spiritual Journey to a More Generous Life" and identified more than 500 Scripture verses that can influence people's view on their finances, wealth, and generosity. A regular or annual approach to bringing some of these scriptures to light will help transform hearts, lives, and pocketbooks.

Reason 2: A generosity initiative will help people rise above the pull of materialism and consumerism.

People in our congregations are bombarded with billboards, TV commercials, mailings, radio ads, newspaper ads, magazine advertisements, and stores filled with thousands of products. This world screams at them in every way imaginable that only having more stuff or the latest-greatest stuff will make them more happy. And yet we know from 2 Timothy 6:10 that "godliness with contentment is great gain." As a church specifically teaches its people about God's view on finances and generosity, it will help people slay the dragon of materialism that breathes down their necks every day. Teaching and encouraging people to be faithful and generous givers to God's work is the only antidote you can give them to living an unsatisfied materialistic lifestyle.

Reason 3: A generosity initiative will deepen people's commitment to the Lord and to your church.

Matthew 6:21 tells us that "where your treasure is there your heart will be also." When you intentionally instruct and inspire people to be generous to the Lord and his work at your church, you are building stronger spiritual bonds in their life. If people sit in a pew week after week, but do not learn to faithfully and generously give to the Lord's work at your church, their hearts are not with you. Even if people volunteer a lot or even serve on your top leadership board, if they are not faithfully giving, their hearts are not with you! The sad reality is that in many churches, 25-40 percent and sometimes even 50 percent of those sitting in the pews/chairs most weeks have giving records that show $0 given.

Reason 4: A generosity initiative will provide a format and forum to encourage greater generosity in people's lives.

If done well, people will genuinely begin to get excited about giving to God's work. This will often lead to behind-the-scenes and/or up-front stories of God's provision and faithfulness to his people as they begin to faithfully give to the Lord.

I heard about a missionary who lived with some tribal people. Once they had begun to read their Bibles, they came up and asked him, "What does the word 'tithe' mean?" Since he thought they were too poor to give, he skirted the question for a number of months. They kept asking, however, and he finally explained that the Bible teaches that Christian believers should faithfully and generously give at least 10 percent to the Lord from whatever he gives them.

The tribal Christians began to put this into practice and began to experience God's help in their finances and daily provisions. Soon they were fully supporting their local church and church leaders. The missionary later confessed that as the "rich American" he was wrong in not teaching the people about giving to the Lord. By his silence, he was causing them to miss out on the joy of giving, the excitement of receiving, and the privilege of supporting God's work.