The Money Challenge Book Review

Pastor, if you are looking for an easy to use, person friendly, church-wide tool to help people get in the game of tackling their finances with God’s wisdom, then The Money Challenge by Art Rainer might just be your solution. Not everyone is ready to jump into the deep end of a 12-week personal money management training course. Unless of course their money is in the deep end and they are desperate. However, everyone needs to apply God’s wisdom even if they are not feeling financial pressure. 

Additionally, every pastor should be free to teach on the topic of money with the intent of helping your people. If you have been silent on money or stuck in fundraising mode, this book will be refreshing to both you and your people. Here is why.

  1. The book is a simple 30 day read that includes 30 money challenges. These challenges are very practical and doable. They also move the financial conversation from receipts and spreadsheets to heart and relationships. The challenges range from “spend time with the most generous person you know” to “get to know your financial personality.” We get money right and stick with it when our hearts are transformed. Budget and spreadsheets can be really hard to stick to unless, of course, you are passionate about these sorts of things and many aren‘t.
  2. The book leads with generosity. Often times, training on personal money management begins with expenses, savings, and debt. Giving is often addressed, but the priority of pursuing a debt-free lifestyle can lead to less generosity in the present. Art leads with generosity from chapter one all the way to the end. The Bible says our resources will follow our heart and giving is a huge part of heart transformation.
  3. Financial wisdom is succinctly stated with three phrases that are easy to remember and apply, Give Generously, Save Wisely, and Live Appropriately. These principles are supported via a narrative of Annie. She is a young, recent college grad that is striving to fix her financial priorities. She struggles with adequate employment, a broken car, and student loans. In desperation, she meets a banker who is very wise and generous. Each week they meet, she receives wisdom, encouragement, and a few money challenges.
  4. As Annie’s story unfolds Art takes the opportunity to build upon the heart challenges to adeptly weave in the common conversations often asked about money. Questions like, how much should I save? What’s an emergency fund? And, how should we save for kids college? In such a short book, that is a very easy read most of the basic money questions are addressed. It’s a really a brilliantly effective approach.
  5. Finally, this book is packaged to be purchased in bulk for church-wide initiatives. Here is a link for pricing and quick orders.  Art also does a weekly podcast called The Money Challenge to provide ongoing support to readers. You can find it in the iTunes Store here.

If you haven’t subscribed to Generosity by LifeWay yet, you may want to check it out. Art is one of our Featured Experts that provide behind the scenes insights and training. Art has several videos and blogs as well as a podcast he did for our listeners.

Here are some quick links for you if you are interested in learning more.

The Money Challenge