Giving and Generosity by Dr. Zenet Maramara

Core to Discipleship and Mission Advance are Giving and Generosity

For fundraisers and nonprofit leaders in Christian ministry, stewardship, giving, and generosity are not just fundraising tools—they are central to discipleship and mission fulfillment. They become powerful means of spiritual formation, culture shaping, and Kingdom advancement when understood biblically and practiced faithfully.

The Missing Piece in Discipleship

Yet in many churches and ministries, these principles are underdeveloped. Discipleship efforts often focus on personal spiritual practices while overlooking how believers relate to their material resources. Many ministries overlook teaching believers how to steward the physical world as part of their spiritual growth. This gap leads to missed opportunities for disciple givers, engaging them as stewards, and inspiring them to see their giving as a sacred act of worship and partnership in the Gospel.

As a result, many Christian communities remain stuck in a scarcity mindset. Fundraisers encounter fatigue, inconsistent giving, or hesitation from givers who lack a theological foundation for generosity. Ministries struggle to resource their visions not because the resources don’t exist, but because they are not being released with joy and conviction. This isn’t just a funding issue—it’s a discipleship gap.

Reframing Fundraising as Discipleship

What if we reframed fundraising as a ministry of invitation—calling people into their God-given identity as generous stewards? What if fundraisers were not just gift solicitors, but disciple-makers—helping believers grow in Christlikeness by growing in generosity?

The reality is that generosity is not peripheral to the Christian life—it’s central. God is a generous God, and His image in us includes the capacity to give joyfully and sacrificially. As donors become disciplined, they don’t just write checks—they begin to live with open hands and generous hearts. They fund the mission because they believe in it, are spiritually formed by it, and are eternally invested in its outcomes.

This is the heart of the steward leader: to cultivate communities where giving and generosity flow freely, not out of guilt or obligation but from profound spiritual transformation. As fundraisers, you have a unique role—meeting financial goals and shaping a culture where generosity becomes a way of life.

From Transactional Giving to Kingdom Partnerships

Imagine the impact if every giver saw their giving as a calling—picture ministries as fully resourced because givers see themselves as partners, not just patrons. Visualize churches collaborating across regions and networks, sharing resources to accelerate the Great Commission. This shift—from transactional giving to transformational stewardship—requires an ecosystem of collaboration, trust, and shared purpose.

A Call to Multiply Generous Disciples

No single ministry or leader can catalyze this movement alone. We need one another—churches, nonprofits, givers, and fundraisers—working together and sharing insights, stories, and best practices to inspire a new generation of faithful and generous stewards.

Let us commit to raising more than funds. Let us raise disciples who are rich toward God, joyful in giving, and strategic in resourcing God’s mission. The transformation of our world depends not only on what we do, but on how faithfully we steward the generosity of God’s people.

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Dr. Zenet Maramara is the founder and president of the Christian Stewards, Philippines, and heads the newest Commission on Stewardship and Generosity for the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. She served as chair of the Global Trust Partners and was a professor of biblical stewardship at the Asian Theological Seminary in Manila.