How Churches Are Using Generosity University to Build a Culture of Discipleship

On a quiet Sunday morning in Mississippi, a couple sat in the back row of their church. Ten years of faithful attendance, but still unsure about giving. Debt, anxiety, and financial strain held them back. But after joining a financial discipleship course offered through their small group, everything changed.

By the final week, they’d paid off two credit cards, built their first budget, and gave joyfully for the first time in their lives. “It wasn’t about giving money away,” the wife said. “It was about finally trusting God.”

Stories like this are fueling a national shift - where generosity is no longer a campaign, but a sign of spiritual maturity.

A Discipleship Problem Disguised as a Giving Gap

At a church in the Midwest, giving was stagnant. But the real issue wasn’t dollars. “People weren’t holding back out of selfishness,” the pastor explained. “They were stressed, ashamed, and spiritually disconnected from their finances.”

That’s where a church generosity curriculum like Generosity University (or lovingly known by its catchy nickname, GenU) makes the difference. It shifts the conversation from budgets to biblical stewardship - showing people that generosity flows from trust, not guilt.

GenU focuses on aligning hearts before habits, helping members see giving not as obligation but as opportunity. Churches find that once the heart changes, habits follow naturally. One pastor described it simply: “We stopped talking about percentages and started talking about trust.”

And that’s the key: trust is the soil where generosity grows. Once people understand God’s design for stewardship, they stop asking, “How much should I give?” and start asking, “How can I live more open-handedly?”

How Generosity University Changes the Story

Unlike a short-term giving campaign, this church tithing curriculum focuses on heart transformation. Built for real life, it helps congregations develop habits of open-handed living, financial margin, and purpose-driven generosity.

Churches aren’t using it to raise money. They’re using it to raise disciples.

One multi-campus church known for its digital innovation recognized early on that giving campaigns couldn’t sustain generosity long-term. “We didn’t want generosity to be something we asked for,” a team member said. “We wanted it to be something our people became.”

They began weaving Generosity University into small groups, volunteer orientations, and even premarital classes. One group leader recalled, “By week three, people were opening up about fears they’d never shared before: fear of debt, of failure, of not measuring up. By week four, they were praying for each other’s financial freedom.”

It wasn’t just about money. It was about identity. People began to see stewardship as a form of worship. Soon, stories like the Pinelake couple’s became the norm: families finding freedom, not frustration, in their finances.

Compass City Church: A Launch Built on Generosity

When Compass City Church launched, they knew they needed more than volunteers - they needed a culture redefined. That’s why they started with a generosity curriculum.

“We didn’t want to run a campaign,” their pastor said. “We wanted to disciple people into a lifestyle.”

Soon, families were budgeting together, serving more frequently, setting up recurring church donations and giving with joy. It was beyond a financial win. It became a spiritual breakthrough.

The results were transformative. One member shared, “For the first time, I saw how my giving connected to God’s mission. I stopped seeing tithing as a bill, and started seeing it as worship.”

Small groups began meeting in homes to go through GenU together. Conversations stretched late into the night as people confessed financial struggles and prayed for wisdom. Within months, families were tithing consistently, outreach teams doubled, and new ministries launched without hesitation.

The financial results followed naturally, but the spiritual impact came first. Compass City Church had found its rhythm: a church culture fueled by trust, generosity, and shared purpose.

Pinelake: From Information to Transformation

Back in Mississippi, Pinelake’s discipleship leaders noticed something after introducing GenU. People weren’t just learning principles; they were experiencing transformation.

“I’ve led dozens of Bible studies,” one leader said, “but this was different. People cried, and not because they felt guilt, but because they finally felt free.”

Members began sharing testimonies about paying off debts, creating budgets, and giving joyfully for the first time in their lives. One couple even shared their story from the stage: “We used to fight about every dollar. Now we pray about every decision. The peace that’s come into our marriage has been worth more than any raise.”

As the stories multiplied, the church began to notice something deeper. Volunteer engagement increased, small group attendance grew, and new leaders emerged from within the community. The program didn’t just shift habits; it reshaped hearts. What began as a stewardship initiative became a spark for revival in homes and communities.

Gold Creek Community: Stability Through Stewardship

When Gold Creek Community Church entered a season of leadership transition, uncertainty loomed. Attendance fluctuated. Giving plateaued. The leadership team turned to Generosity University as a way to stabilize culture.

“It gave us something steady to rally around,” one elder said. “While everything else was changing, this reminded us who we were: a church that trusts God and lives open-handed.”

As they walked through GenU, the church found its footing again. Leaders modeled the content from the front lines, sharing their own financial testimonies and teaching from vulnerability. People responded with transparency and trust.

A young family in the congregation described it this way: “When everything around us felt uncertain, GenU helped us focus on what we could control - how we honor God with our resources.”

The outcome surprised them. Tithes and offerings increased. And so did unity and spiritual growth. People began seeing generosity as a shared mission, not an obligation.

One staff member described it best: “In a season of instability, this was our anchor.”

The Generosity Gap Is Closing - One Story at a Time

Each of these stories reveals the same pattern: before Generosity University, churches struggled with disengagement, anxiety, and spiritual disconnect around money. Afterward, they saw transformation in the forms of financial peace, renewed purpose, and stronger community.

Churches that use this financial discipleship course consistently report:

1. Spiritual Renewal
   Members rediscover that generosity is part of worship, not obligation.
   
   
2. Practical Transformation
   Families pay off debt, build budgets, and start tithing for the first time.
   
   
3. Cultural Shift
   From the pulpit to the pew, generosity becomes a normal part of church life, fueling outreach, serving, and long-term growth.

A pastor in the Pacific Northwest summarized it this way: “The biggest miracle isn’t the increase in giving. It’s the joy. You can see it in people’s faces when they talk about what God’s doing in their finances.”

It’s why churches - large and small, urban and rural - are discovering that generosity can’t be taught through guilt or campaigns. It has to be modeled, practiced, and experienced.

The GenU journey gives members a framework to talk about what they once avoided - money, debt, purpose - and replaces fear with freedom. The culture change doesn’t happen overnight, but step by step, one conversation at a time.

Why It Works Everywhere

Generosity University adapts to context. Churches use it as:

·  A small group curriculum for relational discipleship

·  A churchwide study to align the congregation’s culture

·  A leadership development tool for modeling stewardship

·  A pre-membership step to set vision early

What makes GenU stand out is its simplicity. It’s biblically sound, easy to implement, and deeply transformative. More importantly, it gives churches language for what they’ve felt for years: that generosity isn’t about fundraising, it’s about faith formation.

As one discipleship director shared, “GenU gave our people something tangible to live out every week. It helped us move generosity from a sermon topic to a lifestyle.”

That’s why so many churches keep returning to it year after year. It becomes part of their rhythm, their DNA, their discipleship process. The goal goes beyond finishing the course. It extends to starting a lifelong journey of open-handed living.

A Movement of Open Hands

Across living rooms, small groups, and sanctuary pews, stories of transformation continue to ripple outward. A family cancels debt. A young couple tithes for the first time. A pastor watches his church rediscover joy in giving.

Generosity University isn’t just helping churches raise dollars. It’s helping them raise disciples.

As one leader put it, “It didn’t just change our giving numbers. It changed our people. And that changed everything.”

In homes and churches across the country, people are taking their first steps into a life of freedom and trust - one budget, one breakthrough, one open hand at a time.

And that’s the beauty of this movement. It doesn’t start on a stage or in a boardroom. It starts in the hearts of ordinary people learning to live with extraordinary faith, reshaping what generosity looks like in the modern church.

Generosity University isn’t a program to complete. It’s a culture to embrace. And as more churches join in, one thing is clear: when generosity grows, discipleship deepens, and the ripple effects reach far beyond the offering plate.

Looking to pair spiritual formation with a seamless giving experience? GenU builds the heart. Overflow’s church donation platform powers the habit.