GENEROUS LIVING ACTION PLAN

Living a generous life under God starts as we commit to give something, give consistently, and grow.

Living out the free and full life that God wants you to have will take more than wishful thinking. It will include prayer, but it can’t stop there. Whether you want to start on your generosity journey as a follower of Jesus, or you’re ready to take a next step, you must build and implement a strategy.
START WHERE YOU ARE.
Begin by taking a realistic look at your current position. Write out your monthly income on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side, write out your monthly expenses. Go back and look at your bank statement to see where your money really went. Group expenses together in categories like entertainment, food, utilities, housing/rent/mortgage, etc. This is your first pass at a budget. If there is more going out than coming in, this is the place to start.

Now, assign (or rank) these expenses to categories such as “non-negotiable” (ex, mortgage, rent, car payment, credit card payment, etc.)

Identify areas where your spending is more than it should be, and expenses that could be decreased or suspended until you reach your giving goal. This is the hardest part at first, because it is the most intrusive. For most folks, this means decreasing or suspending things like eating out, vacations and/or kids activities.
BUILD A BUDGET.
Also called a spending plan, your budget should include things like your tithe*, saving for emergencies, debt reduction, and ALL spending (not familiar with the concept of the tithe? Learn more here). Any “extra,” unforeseen income is committed to debt reduction.

DOWNLOAD BUDGET WORKSHEET

*IMPORTANT: While you may not be able to begin tithing at 10%, giving some consistent percentage of income is very important, as is placing it first on the list as “most important/doesn’t belong to me/belongs to God). First things first!
COMMIT TO A SPENDING FREEZE.
Commit to freezing spending on all non-essentials (vacations, eating out, clothing, home furnishings, multiple streaming services and subscriptions, etc.) until you are out of debt and have reached the tithe. As debt and spending decrease, this margin allows you to grow your giving (maybe 1% at a time). Once you have reached your goal, consider adding some non-essentials back if you’ve missed them. But you might be surprised at how much you don’t miss them at all!
MAKE AN AGREEMENT.
Once your budget is agreed upon by everyone in your household, write up an agreement that everyone signs, and if something comes up and the budget has to be adjusted, everyone will agree to change BEFORE the agreement is violated. This makes the agreement the bad guy instead of one of you.

MORE TIPS:
  • Before you purchase anything, put a 3 - 5 day waiting period in place. This is a safeguard against impulse purchases. Again, make the “agreement” the bad guy.
  • If you’re really serious, consider taking a second job (Uber, DoorDash, etc.) and selling stuff you don’t use or need. While you’re at it, simplify your life by going through the built-up clutter of things that you purchased but didn’t need or use. Donate what could be useful to others and toss the rest!
  • Read The Treasure Principle and register and attend Financial Peace University through Preston Trail Community Church.
  • Interested in free, one-on-one financial coaching? Email us at give@prestontrail.org
“God’s extravagant generosity toward us compels us to be extravagantly generous toward others.”
— Andy Stanley

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