Every follower of Jesus has a before. The time when they do not know the Lord. Then, there is a moment when a person crosses from death into life, from self-rule into surrender. We call this salvation, and it is the great watershed event of the Christian life. But salvation is not the finish line. It is the starting line.

The New Testament word for this ongoing process is sanctification, the gradual, lifelong work of the Holy Spirit conforming us into the image of Christ. When we are born again, we are not immediately perfected. Old habits, old loyalties, old ways of seeing the world persist. Sanctification touches every corner of our lives: how we speak, how we love our neighbors, how we steward our bodies and families. It is a comprehensive renovation of the self, room by room, over a lifetime. And yet one room tends to stay locked the longest: our finances.

The Last Frontier of Surrender

Financial stewardship is among the most tender and contested territory in the Christian life. The vast majority of church members, even those faithful in attendance and sincere in prayer, never become regular tithers. Statistics from 2024 show that 25% of church members give nothing, and only 5% give a tithe. Clearly, this is not the generosity Scripture describes as the norm for God’s people.

Jesus was direct: You cannot serve God and money (Matt. 6:24, ESV). This is not a warning for the especially greedy. It is a word spoken to ordinary disciples who love God and also love the security that money provides. Money feels real in a way that is difficult to surrender. It represents security, options, and the future. The writer of Hebrews calls us toward something better: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5, ESV). The antidote to financial anxiety is not a larger portfolio—it is a deeper confidence in God’s provision.

God’s Oikonomos

The word steward comes from the Greek word oikonomos. It is simply household manager. The oikonomos (steward) therefore was responsible for managing all the resources entrusted to them by the true owner, to fulfill the true owner’s purposes. This is crucial for us to understand. It’s not about simply returning 10% to God. If God owns it all, and we are his oikonomos, certainly we should give to things that accomplish God’s purposes. But we are also responsible for how we manage the other 90%. 

Are we managing it in a way that furthers God’s purposes? What would happen if God’s people activated the portfolios they’ve been blessed with to support their lives while also:

  • Combatting human trafficking.
  • Caring for creation.
  • Providing jobs and dignity for those rescued from slavery.
  • Funding evangelism and church planting in some of the hardest to reach and spiritually darkest places on the planet.

We would argue God would be glorified, disciples would be made, churches would be planted, and His kingdom would advance. 

The Problem with Maximizing Returns

When a believer holds a simple, low-cost index fund (and tens of millions of Christian households do) they may unknowingly own stakes in companies that produce pornography, profit from addiction, fund organizations hostile to Christian values, or degrade human dignity in other ways. In fact, according to research that analyzes stocks for values alignment, 75% of the stocks in the most popular S&P 500 index funds conflict with our Christian faith. The broad diversification that makes these funds appealing financially also makes it easy to avoid asking or understanding what we are invested in and where the profit comes from.

Scripture is not silent here. “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.” (Prov. 10:2). A follower of Jesus who would never knowingly support certain industries with their time or voice may unknowingly support those same industries with their capital every month. This is not a call to guilt—it is a call to awareness. We cannot repent of what we do not see.

What Would It Look Like to Invest as a Disciple?

If financial sanctification means gradually aligning our money with God’s purposes, we suggest a four-part framework: Avoid, Embrace, Engage, and Proactively Invest.

1. Avoid: Remove What Grieves God

The first movement is subtraction. Just as the maturing believer learns to put off the old self (Eph. 4:22), the maturing steward learns to audit their portfolio for holdings that contradict what they profess to believe.

This means asking hard questions: Does this investment profit from pornography, predatory lending, gambling, or the oppression of human beings made in God’s image? Believers can work with advisors who apply biblically responsible investment screens, removing companies whose primary business activities are fundamentally incompatible with a Christian ethic of human dignity and justice. This is not legalism. It is an invitation of love to divest and redirect.

2. Embrace: Affirm What Honors God

Avoiding harm is necessary but insufficient. The second movement is addition: actively seeking to hold companies that honor God in how they operate and in the goods they provide.

This means asking: Does this company treat its workers with dignity? Does it operate with transparency? Does it produce goods that genuinely serve human flourishing? Paul’s filter in Philippians applies: Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure… think about these things (Phil. 4:8, ESV). This posture can and should extend to our economic participation in the world. Investing in companies that create dignified employment and serve their communities well is an act of neighbor love—a recognition that commerce, rightly ordered, is one of the ways human beings bear the image of a God who creates, provides, and sustains.

3. Engage: Exercise Influence as a Stakeholder

The most overlooked movement: the believer as active shareholder. Ownership of stock is not merely a financial transaction; it is a form of membership that carries rights and responsibilities. Shareholders can vote on corporate governance, file or support resolutions on ethical matters, and add their voice to the collective testimony of investors who care about more than the bottom line.

This is deeply consonant with the biblical concept of salt and light believers exercising steady influence from within the structures of the world, not merely retreating from them. Jesus said: You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14, ESV). Engagement is how that light enters the boardroom. Practically, this means choosing investment vehicles whose managers actively exercise proxy votes in alignment with Christian values and engage companies on issues of human dignity, labor practices, and business ethics.

4. Proactively Invest: Fund the Kingdom Where Others Cannot Go

The fourth dimension moves beyond public markets entirely. Could our capital be directly deployed in ventures actively advancing the Gospel particularly in the darkest, least-reached places on earth?

The Great Commission is unambiguous: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19, ESV). Yet there are places, entire people groups, entire nations, where traditional missionary access is effectively closed. Governments restrict religious workers. Open evangelism is prohibited or dangerous. But business is often welcome where missionaries are not.

This has given rise to mission-aligned enterprises operating in restricted-access nations—businesses that create genuine economic value, employ local workers, and build the relational infrastructure through which the Gospel can travel. These are not shell organizations; they are real businesses, serving real needs, staffed by believers who see their work as both vocationally legitimate and missiologically intentional.

Investing in such enterprises is a profound act of kingdom partnership—a way of participating in the fulfillment of the Great Commission through capital, opening doors that no visa application ever could. For the believer willing to accept the additional risk profile of private or alternative investments, this represents something extraordinary: the chance to be not merely a responsible steward of wealth, but an active co-laborer in the Great Commission itself.

Living the Life God Has Called You To

None of this is an argument for financial recklessness. God calls his people to wisdom and prudent planning. The goal of financial sanctification is not poverty—it is alignment, bringing the last room of our lives into the same light that has already transformed the others.

The question is not can we afford to invest this way but can we afford not to? Believers who Avoid, Embrace, Engage, and Proactively Invest can still generate returns sufficient to live the lives God has called them to. The God who fed five thousand with five loaves is not threatened by a portfolio that looks different from the world’s.

Most of us are somewhere in the middle of this journey. We tithe sometimes but not consistently. We have asked a few questions about our investments but not pressed too hard. That is exactly where grace meets us. The same Spirit patiently conforming us into the image of Christ in every other area of life is present and active in this one too. The invitation is simply to take the next step: to pray, to learn, to ask, to act. 

A Word to Pastors: Make Stewardship Part of Your Disciple-Making Process

Financial sanctification does not happen in a vacuum. It happens in community, under the consistent, faithful teaching of shepherds who are willing to walk with their people. Pastor or church leader reading this—we want to speak directly to you: Your congregation needs you to lead them into this conversation.

Stewardship is not a capital campaign. It is not a tithing sermon series dusted off once a year. It is a dimension of discipleship—as formative and as necessary as teaching on prayer, marriage, or mission. When the financial room stays locked, it is often because no one with spiritual authority has ever knocked on the door.

We encourage you to formally integrate financial stewardship into your disciple-making process. Not as an add-on. Not as a footnote. As a pillar.

The Steward Investor exists to help you do exactly that. It is a trusted resource built at the intersection of biblical conviction and financial wisdom, designed to equip both pastors and their members for this journey. Available resources include:

  • Read the Book—The Steward Investor, by Don Simmons, CFP
  • Free Masterclasses—accessible starting points for you and your congregation to begin exploring biblically responsible investing together.
  • Seminar Opportunities—structured learning experiences suitable for small groups, Sunday school settings, or church-wide financial series.
  • Retreats—immersive gatherings for those ready to go deeper, think carefully, and return to their communities equipped and inspired.

Our encouragement is simple: taste and see. Explore the resources. Attend a masterclass. Bring a seminar to your church. Then engage your members—not as a financial expert, but as a fellow pilgrim and a faithful shepherd pointing the way.

The Psalmist said it best: Taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8, ESV). We believe the same invitation applies here. The journey of financial sanctification is rich, and your people do not have to walk it alone. This article is a pastoral and educational reflection on Christian financial stewardship, not financial advice, nor a solicitation to buy or sell any investment. Readers are encouraged to consult with qualified financial professionals who understand their situation, and biblically responsible and mission-aligned investing.