All Bible verses in this article are English Standard Version (ESV).
As Christians, it’s important to not only view our finances from a worldly lens but also from a biblical one. After all, financial resources are a divine gift, which means dutiful financial stewardship is essential to faithful wealth management. This includes how we plan and manage our estate.
Effective estate planning is an act of financial stewardship. With our estate, we have the immense power to bless others, including our families, children, and charitable organizations we care about. In fact, your estate plan can reflect your deepest held values.
Responsible stewardship and providing for one’s family are praised as virtues in Proverbs 13:22, which stresses the necessity of leaving a legacy for future generations.
In this blog, we’ll uncover how Christians should approach estate planning and how our estate plans can make a more effective Kingdom impact.
How Should Christians Approach Estate Planning?
For Christians, intentionality is at the heart of estate planning. Since you are acting as a steward of resources that first and foremost belong to God, your estate plan should align with your faith and values—and bring glory to God in the process.
This will affect all of your decisions, including how to provide for your loved ones, how young children might be cared for, which charities to contribute to, and more. Your living will, advanced healthcare directives, and other aspects of your estate can help you make decisions regarding medical and end-of-life care that are in line with your Christian values and Kingdom impact.
In order to leave a legacy of generosity that will continue to help the causes you care about, many Christians include charitable gifts to churches, ministries, and Christian nonprofit organizations in estate plans. This could also be an opportunity to ensure that the family’s Christian faith continues to serve as a guiding light by passing on more than solely material possessions.
The ultimate goal of Christian estate planning is to provide balance between financial and religious considerations so that dutiful stewards are able to preserve faithfulness beyond death.
Why Is Estate Planning So Important for Financial Stewards?
Christians who act as wise stewards of wealth understand the significance of estate planning because it is consistent with biblical morals and convictions. Stewardship is a cornerstone principle for Christians—it stresses the importance of prudent financial management as stewards of God’s blessings.
Faithful estate planning is faith in action. It allows you to:
- Leave a lasting impact in ways that are consistent with your values, beneficial to your loved ones, and supportive of ministries you care about.
- Leave a lasting legacy that goes beyond material possessions by teaching the next generation about faithful stewardship
- Leave a lasting peace of mind for your family by creating a clear plan of how you want your affairs to be handled and how you’d like your family to manage your estate.
What Are the Two Most Important Purposes of Estate Planning as Financial Stewards?
The two most important purposes of estate planning for Christian stewards is aligning faith with distribution of wealth and leaving a strong, faith-based legacy.
- Align faith with the distribution of your wealth. This involves practicing Christian stewardship with the resources God has entrusted to you. By making a will or trust, you can ensure that your lasting impact of good stewardship will benefit those you love and organizations that share your values after your passing.
- Leave a biblical and ethical legacy for the next generation. Besides arranging for the distribution of material possessions, estate planning can also communicate expectations for the moral and spiritual upbringing of your descendants. By including provisions for the religious and ethical guidance of beneficiaries—as well as charitable giving—in an estate plan, you can ensure that your family continues to embrace and live out the Christian faith.
Help Future Generations Thrive
Estate planning as a Christian financial steward is not just about securing your future, but ensuring your faith endures as an inheritance for generations to come. Cornerstone Financial Advisory is here to guide you through your stewardship in a way that is obedient to God. We aim to teach you how you might glorify God with the wealth and resources that you have.If you want to learn more about the types of estate planning and how you can be a good financial steward, our Let’s Plan to Thrive program will help you deep-dive into the Bible and what God says about your finances.
