Our Theological Framework

Most Christian financial firms tell you that faith and finance belong together. Few explain why, or how, or what that actually means in a planning meeting. This page is our attempt to answer that question honestly.

Where We Came From

The intellectual foundation of Christian Planning is a tradition in biblical scholarship called redemptive-historical theology — a way of reading Scripture that takes seriously the full narrative arc of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. It asks not only what the Bible says in individual texts about money or work, but what those texts mean within the larger story of what God is doing in the world.

This tradition, associated with scholars Geerhardus Vos and G.K. Beale, shapes how we read the stewardship mandate. Stewardship is not a principle transplanted from Scripture into financial planning. It is a calling embedded in creation, distorted by the fall, partially restored in Israel, and ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The Christian who manages money is not simply following good advice. She is participating in a story — one with a specific beginning, a specific crisis, and a specific resolution.

That framework is the intellectual foundation of everything Christian Planning does.

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.

What This Framework Does Not Mean

Clarity about what a theological framework is requires equal clarity about what it is not.

It does not mean we impose our convictions on clients. Faith is engaged only at the client’s invitation or in response to what the client has already raised.

It does not mean every meeting includes prayer or Bible reading. Some do. Most focus on the financial work. The theology shapes the conversation whether or not it is named.

It does not mean financial success is evidence of spiritual faithfulness, or failure is evidence of sin. Neither is true, and both are dangerous ideas we explicitly reject.

It does not mean we have simple answers to complex stewardship questions. The manuscript behind this practice is nearly 70,000 words precisely because the questions deserve that treatment.

It does not mean the framework is only for the theologically sophisticated. It operates quietly for clients who want the planning without the explicit theology, and goes deeper for those who want both.

What it does mean is this: the framework is operative whether or not it is visible — shaping how we define success, how we understand risk, and what we believe a plan is actually for.

The Book

Jacob’s forthcoming book, Entrusted: A Christian Vision for Money, Work, and the Life God Gives, is the extended version of this page — the full theological argument behind everything described here. It covers what Scripture actually says about ownership, work, wealth, debt, generosity, marriage, legacy, taxation, and the person who brings these convictions into the room.

If you’d like to read the Introduction and first chapter before your introductory conversation, we’re happy to send them. Request a copy at info@christianplanning.com.

If what you’ve read on this page reflects the kind of integration you’ve been looking for, we invite you to begin with a conversation.