Perhaps you've heard the tale of the three bricklayers working on a project. When asked what they were making, the first said, "$18 an hour." The next replied, "We're making a wall to help support the roof." But the third said, "We're building a cathedral for worshipping God!" They were all engaged in the same task, but only one caught the bigger vision.

Money is an integral part of our lives, and we spend a significant amount of time earning, planning, and spending money daily. Because of this, it stands to reason that being educated and well equipped in managing money would be of benefit to everyone. Unfortunately, financial education is sorely lacking today. Though possessing the best financial information available, God's Word, the Church isn't doing much to help people learn God's principles for managing money.

It's hard to imagine taking something like Biblical stewardship and overdoing it. How can someone be overcommitted to good stewardship or to doing too much to advance it? It's not only possible; likely, we've all done it at some point in one form or another.

When it comes to giving, a minority of churchgoers are still financially supporting a majority of church ministry. Usually less than 20 percent of churchgoers contribute regularly to their church. This is discouraging, first, because of the lack of resources for the church. Second, because of what it reveals; a lack of trust in God concerning money.

There is much division in our world today. No matter where you get your daily news intake, there’s no mistaking the reality that we are more divided and becoming more polarized every day. I know there’s an enemy at work here, working feverishly to steal, kill, and destroy, but didn’t Jesus defeat this enemy? Did He not “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” through the Cross? If He’s defeated this enemy, why are we still losing?

Imagine you’ve been making all the right financial moves for a long time. You estimated your future needs, diligently set aside a portion of every paycheck, invested the money according to a trustworthy strategy, bought proper insurance for your family, stocked an emergency fund, made sure your paperwork is in order (wills, trusts, living wills, power-of-attorney documents), and everything else. If you’ve done all that, congratulations — you’re in far better shape than most people! Now imagine today is your last day alive.

Biblical stewardship is a phrase we don't use too often in our daily vernacular, yet Jesus talks about being a steward over and over, as do the authors of the Bible. A steward's role is central to who he is and what he's been called to accomplish in life and ministry.

Most pastors struggle to help people when finances are concerned. They shy away from this kind of counseling. If they have any ministry available, it's usually some form of financial assistance program that's ill-equipped to deal with people's real issues today.

In the marketplace, outstanding quality and excellent customer service build good reputations. Take either of these two components away, and a good reputation won't be achieved. This is also true for churches.

Most of the wealth people possess is held in non-cash or non-liquid assets, an estimated 90%. Of all this wealth, a significant portion will transfer. The question is, who will receive those assets? Unfortunately, it looks like very little of that transfer will end up going to churches or kingdom causes.

For the last 17 years, I have served on staff at two large churches leading their stewardship ministries. During this time, I witnessed a surprising number of church leaders who also have an awkward relationship with stewardship. It doesn’t need to be this way.

There are many ways you can assess the spiritual health of your church members. Faith, regular church attendance, and engagement in community groups are just a few of the behaviors that reveal the health of a church member. But perhaps the most revealing indicator is one that’s impossible to fake.