A single summary document explaining what each of the Seven Stewardship Principles is — suitable for handing to leadership, a board or a new cohort.
Seven Principles curriculum version 1.0 — author-review draft pending Leland Rubin's approval prior to publication.
About the Seven Principles methodology
Leland Rubin
Leland Rubin developed the Seven Stewardship Principles framework to guide churches through financial literacy, a three-to-six-month operating reserve, high-cost liability reduction, generosity, future ministry investment, pastoral wellbeing, and generous support for missions and community outreach.
Seven stewardship principles, taught in four pillars. Each principle has a defined purpose, a set of measured areas, four lessons and one named deliverable.
Leland's Seven Stewardship Principles give a church one shared sequence for its financial discipleship: literacy, reserve, liabilities, generosity, future ministry, pastoral wellbeing and outward giving. Leadership first rates each principle as they perceive it; the applications then supply evidence for the same areas; the distance between perception and evidence becomes the teaching and action agenda. The seven are never averaged into a single blended score — each principle is read on its own, with assessment, evidence and execution kept separate.
Foundation covers the first three principles: financial literacy, a funded operating reserve and the elimination of high-cost liabilities.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to make the church financially legible and financially stable before it makes larger commitments of any kind.
Why it matters to the whole framework
Generosity campaigns, building plans and outward giving all become fragile when leaders cannot read their own numbers, have no reserve to absorb a shock and are paying high interest on avoidable debt.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
S1 builds shared financial literacy and vocabulary; S2 calculates essential operating expenses and funds a three-to-six-month reserve; S3 names every liability, prices its true cost and sequences its elimination.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
Stewardship Nsites supplies statements, budget performance, cash position, reserve balances and debt schedules; Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies the roles and operating practices behind those numbers; Personal Nsites contributes only aggregate household-readiness themes, never an identifiable household.
Generosity
Cultivate Generosity Through Giving
Generosity is the fourth principle: giving cultivated as discipleship rather than solicited as fundraising.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to form generous people, read giving health honestly and report back to givers in a way that earns trust.
Why it matters to the whole framework
A church with clear books and no reserve pressure can finally teach generosity from conviction instead of crisis, and a congregation gives more freely when it can see where its giving went.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
S4 teaches the theology and practice of giving, reads participation, recurring share, lapsed giving and concentration in aggregate, and builds a generosity calendar with transparent reporting.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
Stewardship Nsites supplies deidentified giving-health aggregates; Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies teaching, follow-up and participation evidence; households are never named to church leaders.
Provision
Invest in Future Ministry · Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing
Provision covers the fifth and sixth principles: investing in future ministry and providing for the pastors' wellbeing.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to direct surplus toward long-horizon ministry capability and toward the people who carry the ministry week after week.
Why it matters to the whole framework
Churches that invest only in this year's calendar eventually run out of capacity, and churches that underprovide for their pastors eventually run out of pastors.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
S5 builds a future-ministry fund with a prudent, documented stewardship policy; S6 builds a fair compensation framework, benefits and retirement provision, and a real pattern of rest and renewal.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
Stewardship Nsites supplies fund balances, allocation history and compensation-policy compliance at the aggregate level; personal financial details of pastors and their families remain private.
Mission
Give Generously
Mission is the seventh principle: giving generously to missions and community outreach beyond the church's walls.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to turn financial health outward, so stability produces impact rather than accumulation.
Why it matters to the whole framework
The first six principles are only stewardship if they end somewhere outside the building; outward giving is the visible proof that the sequence worked.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
S7 names the mission field, funds missions and outreach on purpose, vets and formalises partnerships, and measures and reports outward impact honestly.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
Stewardship Nsites supplies outward-giving percentages and consistency; Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies outreach participation and partner activity; Personal Nsites contributes aggregate generosity-capacity themes only.
The seven at a glance
One line per principle — the question it answers and the deliverable it produces.
Principle
Area
Pillar
The question it answers
Principal deliverable
S1
Build Financial Literacy
Foundation
Can this church and its households read, understand and speak about money faithfully and competently?
Purpose, measured areas, deliverable and the first learning objectives.
S1
Build Financial Literacy
Foundation pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
Can this church and its households read, understand and speak about money faithfully and competently?
Build a shared financial vocabulary and set of basic competencies across leadership and households — reading a statement, building a budget, understanding timing and setting a real goal — so every later stewardship conversation starts from common ground instead of confusion.
What it measures
Shared Definition and Language · Statement and Budget Reading Competency · Teaching Reach Across the Congregation · Measurement and Growth Tracking · Guardrails and Professional Referral Discipline
Principal deliverable
Financial Literacy Foundation Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative financial literacy foundation plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Define biblical financial literacy in plain, teachable language
Assess how well leaders and households read statements and budgets
Design a recurring teaching plan spanning every life stage
Foundation pillar · 4 weeks · about 5 hours of household time across four sessions
Does the church hold three to six months of essential operating expenses in a governed, accessible reserve?
Reframe the financial reserve as an act of faithful stewardship rather than fear-driven hoarding, and help households calculate essential expenses, set a three-to-six-month target, fund it sustainably, and govern it with a written policy.
What it measures
Essential Expense Clarity · Reserve Target Setting · Funding Discipline · Placement and Protection · Governance and Review
Principal deliverable
Operating Reserve Policy and Funding Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative operating reserve policy and funding plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Reframe the reserve as stewardship rather than hoarding
Produce an accurate essential monthly operating expense total
Set a three-to-six-month reserve target and funding plan
Foundation pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
Which high-cost liabilities are draining ministry capacity, and what is the plan to eliminate them?
Build a complete inventory of every liability and its true annual cost, rank payoff priority using a documented method, pursue refinancing where responsible, adopt safeguards against new high-cost debt, and offer households a product-neutral, debt-free education pathway.
Generosity pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
Is generosity being formed as discipleship, with giving health read honestly and reported back with integrity?
Teach generosity as discipleship rather than fundraising, read aggregate giving health without exposing individual households, build a twelve-month calendar that balances teaching, inviting and thanking, and report back to givers with transparency and dignity.
What it measures
Discipleship Framing · Giving Health Visibility · Household Privacy Protection · Calendar Rhythm and Balance · Transparency and Trust
Principal deliverable
Generosity Formation and Giving Health Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative generosity formation and giving health plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Draft a discipleship-first generosity philosophy
Read aggregate giving health while protecting household privacy
Build a twelve-month calendar balancing teaching, inviting and thanking
Provision pillar · 5 weeks · about 8 hours of leadership time
What is being set aside and invested today so the ministry of ten years from now is possible?
Build a written ten-year capacity and calling vision, adopt a Future Ministry Fund charter and funding formula, draft a product-neutral investment policy statement for any invested balances, and adopt a decision-and-approval framework so ministry investment is planned rather than reactive.
What it measures
Ten-Year Vision Clarity · Future Ministry Fund Discipline · Prudent Investment Stewardship · Decision and Approval Governance · Review and Accountability Rhythm
Principal deliverable
Future Ministry Investment Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative future ministry investment plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Build a written ten-year capacity and calling vision
Adopt a Future Ministry Fund charter and funding formula
Draft a product-neutral investment policy statement
Provision pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
Are the pastors and their families provided for fairly, documented clearly and protected against risk?
Establish that caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility, document a fair and benchmarked compensation framework, review benefits, retirement and risk protection, and adopt a written rest-and-renewal policy that protects longevity in ministry.
What it measures
Compensation Fairness and Documentation · Benefits and Retirement Adequacy · Risk Protection for the Pastoral Family · Rest, Renewal and Sustainability · Governance and Confidentiality
Principal deliverable
Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative pastoral wellbeing and compensation plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Establish pastoral wellbeing as a governance responsibility
Document a fair, benchmarked compensation framework
Review benefits, retirement and risk protection adequacy
Mission pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
How generously, deliberately and accountably does this church give beyond its own walls?
Build a current picture of community and mission-field need, set an intentional missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale, vet and formalize partner organizations with written agreements, and report outward impact honestly, including shortfalls.
What it measures
Community and Mission-Field Awareness · Intentionality of Outreach Funding · Partner Vetting and Agreements · Accountability and Follow-Through · Honest Impact Reporting
Principal deliverable
Missions and Community Outreach Giving Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative missions and community outreach giving plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Build a current picture of community and mission-field need
Set an intentional missions and outreach budget with a stated rationale
Vet partner organizations and formalize agreements
