Our Process
Christian Planning follows a financial planning process rooted in professional CFP® standards and informed by a historic Christian understanding of stewardship.
Our planning framework shares foundational convictions with the Kingdom Advisors tradition — particularly Ron Blue’s insistence that financial planning must serve purposes beyond accumulation, and that the lordship of Christ bears on every financial decision. Where our framework extends beyond that tradition is in the depth and rigor of the theological work underneath the practice: not principles borrowed from Scripture, but sustained exegetical engagement with what the Bible actually says about ownership, work, wealth, debt, generosity, marriage, legacy, taxation, and the person who brings these convictions into the room.
The Four Convictions
Everything we do is organized around four convictions that run through every client conversation, every planning recommendation, and every advisory relationship we build:
God owns
Everything in creation belongs to God (Psalm 24:1). The wealth a client manages was never ultimately theirs. This is not a devotional idea — it is the foundational premise that changes how financial decisions are made, how anxiety is understood, and how generosity becomes possible.
We steward.
The human calling, from Genesis forward, is not ownership but faithful management of what has been entrusted. Stewardship is not responsible management of your assets; it is accountability to the Owner for assets that were always his.
Christ redeems.
The stewardship mandate has a history of failure — and a history of rescue. Jesus Christ, as the Last Adam, accomplished the faithful stewardship the first Adam abandoned. The Christian steward does not merely follow principles about money. She participates, through union with Christ, in the stewardship Christ himself accomplished. The motivation for faithful financial life is not obligation but grace.
The Spirit forms.
The knowledge of what faithful stewardship requires is not enough. Formation is required — the patient, ongoing work of the Spirit in reshaping the desires, fears, and reflexes that actually drive financial behavior. This is why Christian Planning is not a program or a formula. It is an ongoing advisory relationship aimed at the person, not just the plan.
Framework
In practice, these four convictions take shape across five areas of planning work:
1
Ownership and Stewardship
We begin with the conviction that wealth is entrusted, not owned outright — shaping how decisions are evaluated, prioritized, and held.
This perspective encourages humility, responsibility, and long-term thinking.
2
Goals Informed by Convictions
Rather than assuming goals, we take time to understand:
What matters most to you
How financial decisions intersect with family, vocation, generosity, and legacy
Where tradeoffs require discernment, not optimization alone
Goals are clarified, not imposed.
3
Wise Planning and Prudence
Sound stewardship requires:
Disciplined planning
Risk awareness
Realistic assumptions
Respect for uncertainty
We rely on established financial planning principles while recognizing the limits of prediction and control.
4
Freedom with Responsibility
Money should serve life — not dominate it.
We help clients think carefully about:
Financial flexibility
Margin and resilience
The appropriate role of consumption, saving, and giving over time
Freedom is meaningful only when exercised wisely.
5
Long-Term Faithfulness
Christian financial planning is not about short-term outcomes.
It is about sustained faithfulness across changing seasons — adapting as life evolves while remaining grounded in enduring principles.
What Makes This Framework Distinctively Christian
What makes our framework distinctively Christian rather than merely religiously inflected is its Christological center. The stewardship mandate given in Genesis did not hover unchanged through history — it failed in Adam, was partially restored in Israel, and was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who as the Last Adam accomplished faithful stewardship of the Father’s creation through suffering and death to resurrection and exaltation. The Christian who manages money is not simply following good principles. She is participating, through union with Christ, in the stewardship he accomplished. That changes the motivation: from obligation to gratitude, from performance to response, from fear to freedom.
The theological framework described on this page is developed at length in Jacob’s forthcoming book, Entrusted: A Christian Vision for Money, Work, and the Life God Gives. If you’d like to read the Introduction and first chapter before your introductory conversation, we’re happy to send them.
A Note on Scope
Christian Planning provides financial planning and investment advisory services consistent with CFP® professional standards.
We do not provide theological counseling, and clients are encouraged to consult their church, pastors, or spiritual advisors on matters of doctrine or personal faith.
For a fuller account of the theological convictions underlying our work, see Our Theological Framework.