On the final morning of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul, a panel of global stewardship leaders called for renewed commitment to integrity, accountability, and biblical discipleship as the foundation for lasting generosity within the global church.
The session, titled “Celebrating the gospel through generosity,” was the second panel on Thursday morning (Oct. 30) and brought together speakers from several continents. It was moderated by Gary Hoag, president and CEO of Global Trust Partners (GTP), with panelists Valentine Gitoho, co-founder and former chair of the African Council for Accreditation and Accountability (AfCAA); Dr. Zenaida “Zenni” Maramara, founder and president of Christian Stewards in the Philippines; Dr. Sas Conradie, strategic relationship adviser at Tearfund UK; and Simoun Ung, chairman of the board at the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines.
Hoag opened the panel by observing that generosity within the global church remains vibrant, but trust and transparency have become essential for it to flourish. “God’s people, especially Gen Z and wealthy stewards, want to see trust and transparency,” he said. “Widespread corruption has contributed to a lack of credibility. What should we do in such times?”
Drawing on Paul’s letter to Titus, Hoag argued that the same principle that guided the early church still applies today. “Paul told Titus, ‘I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you may put in order what remained to be done and appoint overseers in every city,’” he read. “If you want the gospel to go to everyone, here’s your part in it: put order and oversight in place.”
Hoag said the phrase “order and oversight” captures the biblical link between accountability and credibility. “Order and oversight create the ecosystem of accountability which facilitates rich and abundant generosity,” he said. “Without such structure, giving flows only through relationships — and when people die, the ministry dies.”
Restoring trust through structures of integrity
Hoag, who leads GTP, explained that the movement was born out of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), an organization founded in 1979 with support from Billy Graham to address scandals that had eroded public trust in U.S. ministries. Today, ECFA accredits more than 2,800 churches and nonprofits with annual revenues exceeding $32 billion.
“Those ministries have the seal because they follow standards of responsible stewardship,” Hoag said. “It builds trust — and where there is trust, giving grows.”
GTP, he added, is now working with national and regional alliances to establish similar peer accountability groups in countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. “Albania, Bangladesh, Nepal — these are some of the latest examples,” he said. “If we want the gospel to go to everyone by 2033, we must ensure that credibility grows alongside generosity.”
“Are we standing in the way of blessing?”
Speaking from her decades of experience in auditing and governance, Kenyan leader Valentine Gitoho said that many Christian organizations possess strong administrative structures but lack the transformed hearts that make those systems meaningful.
She recalled visiting a government department where financial systems looked perfect on paper. “All the structures were good, everything was fine,” she said. “But when I looked at the results, the work was not done.” She confronted the staff directly, asking, “Why are you lying?”
Gitoho used the experience to warn that accountability cannot be reduced to compliance checklists. “We have to have hearts changed,” she said. “Are we standing in the way of blessing for the gospel because of corruption? Accountability is so, so important.”
She noted that even in Christian settings, leadership appointments are sometimes based on relationships rather than calling or competence. “We must remember that it is not our vision — it’s His,” she said. “We have been given a trust. Let us work in integrity so that the impact of generosity can flow freely for the sake of the gospel.”
Stewardship as a form of discipleship
Filipino leader Dr. Zenaida Maramara said that in the Philippines, generosity is not limited by resources but by a shortage of “faithful, generous stewards.” A longtime fundraiser for Asian Theological Seminary, she described her own turning point as a “second conversion” — a personal awakening to biblical stewardship that redefined her ministry.
“No longer was I a transactional fundraiser. I became a transformational fundraiser,” she said. “Instead of looking at donors as ATM machines, I look at them as stewards on a journey like me. I connect people and their resources back to God.”
Maramara founded Christian Stewards in 1999 to cultivate that mindset and now leads the Commission on Stewardship and Generosity under the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. Through seminars, generosity retreats, and a biennial national Generosity Summit, she and her team are building what she called “a Philippine generosity ecosystem.”
“Most of the stewardship materials we have were written in the West,” she said. “We needed to create contextualized resources that speak to our people. So we wrote our own open-handed generosity series for pastors and churches.”
Maramara emphasized that real transformation begins with leaders. “The problem is not a lack of mechanisms,” she said. “It starts with knowing who we are as stewards and who God is as the owner of everything. When the leader is transformed, the organization and community are transformed too.”
“Doing right isn’t enough. You must be seen to be doing right.”
From the corporate sector, Filipino businessman and seminary chair Simoun Ung reminded the audience that financial accountability is “a very basic form of stewardship.”
“We serve an omniscient God. He knows everything,” he said. “How can we be lax in handling the resources he’s entrusted to us?”
Ung said the absence of strong accountability mechanisms leaves ministries vulnerable to misuse of funds, fraud, and erosion of trust. “If you don’t have those systems in place, how will you even know what impact you’ve made?” he asked. “How can the Lord bless you with more if you can’t handle what you already have?”
He argued that ministries in Asia and Africa must begin viewing audits and reporting not as foreign burdens but as tools for credibility. Quoting 2 Corinthians 8:21, he said, “We are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.”
“Doing right isn’t enough,” he told the audience. “You must be seen to be doing right. Transparency is an enabler, not an obstacle. It allows you to raise more resources with confidence and show donors that you are faithful stewards.”
Generosity that changes lives
Dr. Sas Conradie, who helped launch the Global Generosity Network, connected generosity to the wider mission of the WEA and the Lausanne Movement — “to take the gospel to everyone by 2033.”
“I believe this dream can only become a reality when Christians start sharing more of their resources,” he said. “When hearts are changed, they also share financially into God’s kingdom.”
Conradie recalled how, in 2010, a meeting with then-WEA Secretary General Geoff Tunnicliffe led to a shared initiative between the Lausanne Movement and the WEA to promote generous living and kingdom-focused giving. Since then, he said, a “global generosity movement” has been growing, with believers rediscovering generosity as an expression of discipleship.
He shared a personal story about his wife’s decision to house a homeless woman for five years — first in their garage, and then inside their home. “Just think what can happen if Christians start living generously,” he said. “Open their houses, open their purses, open their talents. That’s how we will reach everyone by 2033.”
Conradie urged churches to embrace financial discipleship — teaching believers to manage resources “God’s way,” and encouraged participants to make a personal “generosity pledge” as a tangible commitment to a lifestyle of giving.
The missing elements: integrity, theology, and discipleship
As the session drew to a close, each panelist was asked to identify the single element most often missing in their regions that limits generosity and hinders gospel work.
For Gitoho, the answer was “integrity.” She warned that the church in Africa — though vibrant and growing — will struggle to advance unless its leaders remain transparent and faithful stewards.
Ung pointed to the absence of independent external audits, saying that many ministries are content to “do right before God” but fail to demonstrate accountability publicly. “You must be seen to be doing right,” he repeated.
Maramara said the greatest gap is theological rather than procedural. “What’s missing is our understanding of who we are as stewards,” she said. “We think we own the position, the power, the resources. But God owns everything.”
Conradie closed by returning to the theme of discipleship, encouraging every believer to cultivate habits of generosity through prayer, service, and sacrificial giving. “We are stewards of God’s kingdom,” he said. “When Christians live generously, communities are transformed, and the gospel advances.”
Hoag ended the session by reiterating Paul’s instruction to Titus as a charge for the global church. “If you only preach the gospel, you will grow by addition and it will lead to exhaustion,” he said. “If you want to grow by multiplication and see the gospel go to everyone by 2033, you must put order and oversight in place.”
