The Treasure Principle

  

Issue No. 26 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 26, 2007) is about generous giving. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 (NIV), “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Randy Alcorn says, “God owns everything. I’m His money manager.” The principles from Randy Alcorn's book are biblical, convicting, and enriching. Read why one pastor gave a copy of The Treasure Principle to every person in his church!   Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving More than 600,000 copies of The Treasure Principle have been sold—but have these remarkable biblical principles on stewardship really made a dent? Are you experiencing or hearing take-your-breath-away stories of generous giving? [2026 Update: more than 2 million copies sold in more than 25 languages.] Senior pastors, ministry leaders, development directors and every God-honoring Christian should understand and practice the simple, but radical principles of Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Principle #2 reads, “My heart always goes where I put God’s money.” Many ministry leaders assume the right direct mail technique or heart-tugging project will move non-donors into the donor circle. But there’s a key spiritual principle at play that is often ignored: generous giving flows when a person truly understands how money affects his or her own heart.  “God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving,” writes Alcorn. Send this book to the top 10 percent of your current donors and test it with an appropriate segment of your non-donors. Then host a prayer meeting and pray that these people will hear from God—not just for your ministry’s financial benefit, but for their own spiritual development. Alcorn’s 31 discussion questions are probing and powerful. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) “Five minutes after I die, what will I wish I had given away while I still had the chance?” (See Question #31 in Randy Alcorn’s book.) 2) Are we helping our donors understand these biblical principles of generous giving? Do our fundraising programs feed unhealthy motivations in people? Do we raise givers to a more biblical lifestyle?       Common Excuses for Not Preaching on Giving: Insights from the Management Buckets Workshop Experience Generous Giving once posted a list of 24 “Common Excuses for Not Preaching on Giving.” Here’s one: Excuse: "I have a very generous congregation. Giving isn’t a problem in my church." Response: "A generous congregation is good news, indeed. But we should also pause to ask ourselves: By what standard do we call a church generous? Do they give sufficiently to meet the budget? Or, do they give more than other churches in town? A more important question is: What is the Bible’s standard for generosity?" Generous Giving hosts conferences for major donors. Their robust website also has excellent resources for pastors, ministry leaders and every Christian. In our Management Buckets Workshop Experience, we integrate The Donor Bucket with 19 other buckets to maximize your development efforts. It’s all part of the "20 Critical Competencies Required for Leading and Managing Today’s Nonprofit Organization."   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      Read Jerry White’s commentary on Lesson 28, “Slow Down and Wait on God: He does not bestow his gifts on the casual or hasty”—one of 40 guest blogs on the book, Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom (2nd Edition).  MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. "There is nothing more beautiful than a dusty worker.” Count Zinzendorf and the Spirit of the Moravians highlights the 100-year prayer meeting that fueled the modern missionary movement. In this fascinating book about Count Zinzendorf, the author excerpts these lines from this spiritual giant’s poem: “Inactivity is not our attractiveness, Working and sweating refreshes and makes you rocklike. Our eyes are clear; our minds are in high spirits. There is nothing more beautiful than a dusty worker.” Read my review at the Pails in Comparison Blog.