A Call to Faithful Stewardship for Churches, Families, and Communities of Faith
By Soo Yeon Lee
Estate planning is often viewed as something for the wealthy, the elderly, or the cautious. But Scripture calls all of us to provide for our households, care for the vulnerable, and love our neighbors well. When we plan wisely for the future we are doing exactly that, tending to relationships, honoring commitments, and ensuring that our values outlive our earthly lives.
Every estate plan, at its core, involves two kinds of decisions: who will serve as your advocate and steward when you cannot, and where your assets will go when you are gone. For most people, these decisions are not simple. They are layered with love, obligation, trust, and sometimes grief. And for certain families and individuals, they carry a weight that is especially profound.
We would like to walk through five situations where estate planning becomes not just a legal necessity, but a genuine opportunity for ministry and faithful stewardship. As you read, we invite you to consider: Which of these resonates with your own situation or with someone you know? You may recognize yourself, a family member, or someone in your church community or neighborhood in at least one of these stories.
“A little planning now isn’t just prudent—it’s an act of love that spares your family burden and ensures your legacy serves rather than complicates.”
Five Situations Where Planning Becomes Ministry
1. The Person Without Immediate Family
Some among us walk through life without a spouse, without children, or as the last remaining member of their family. They may be single adults living independently, older individuals who never married or had children, or those who have simply outlived everyone they called their own. It is understandable that planning feels less urgent without a spouse or children waiting in the wings. But the absence of obvious heirs is not a reason to delay, it is the reason to plan with even greater care.
For this group, estate planning is not about dividing an inheritance among heirs. It is about voice—the ability to speak for oneself about what mattered, and to whom. Without a plan, courts will decide who speaks for them in a medical crisis, and state law will determine where their assets go: often to distant relatives they barely know, or to no one meaningful at all. The law has a default answer for everyone. The question is whether that answer reflects anything the person actually valued.
With thoughtful planning, these individuals can name trusted friends, advisors, or fellow community members to serve as their advocates and decision-makers. They can direct their assets to the causes and people who matter most—a local ministry, a scholarship fund, a church building project, or simply a friend who showed up faithfully over the years. They can ensure that a lifetime of work speaks, even after they no longer can.
2. Families Living with Disability
Disability touches families in many forms and from many directions. A parent may be raising a child with autism or a developmental delay. An adult child may be the sole caregiver for a parent living with Alzheimer’s disease or a degenerative condition. A spouse may be planning for a partner whose abilities have changed. A sibling may be the only person in the family who can advocate for a brother or sister with a lifelong intellectual disability. In each of these situations, the core question of estate planning is not what will happen to the money. It is: Who will be there for this person when I am gone?
A well-crafted special needs trust can provide for a disabled individual without disqualifying them from essential government benefits. It can name a trustee who will serve not merely as a financial manager but as a champion for that person’s dignity, wellbeing, and quality of life. This kind of planning is not limited to parents of minor children, it is equally vital for spouses planning for one another, adult children who may outlive their caregiving siblings, and anyone who carries responsibility for a vulnerable loved one. Finding someone with the character, patience, and commitment to fill the trustee role is one of the most important decisions any of these families will ever make and the church community is often where that person is found.
3. Immigrant Families Far from Home
Many families who have immigrated to the United States have built more than they are given credit for—a home, a career, a future for their children. Yet the legal infrastructure that should protect what they have built is often the least familiar part of American life. Language, cultural differences, and a shortage of trusted advisors can quietly leave families exposed in ways they may not even realize.
The questions they face are ones most planning guides never anticipate. If something happens to both parents, who is nearby and trusted enough to raise their children? If an executor or trustee is needed, can a family member overseas navigate the American legal system—and will the courts allow it? How does a family honor its obligations to aging parents in another country while also securing what they are building here? These are not merely logistical questions. They are expressions of love stretched across borders, and they deserve answers that take the full picture seriously.
For communities of faith that serve immigrant families, this is a moment of genuine ministry. A trusted member of the congregation who understands both cultures can serve as a guardian, fiduciary, or simply a steady presence when difficult decisions must be made. Legal guidance offered in a familiar language, with cultural humility and genuine care, can make the difference between a family that is protected and one that is left vulnerable.
4. The Single Parent
Few burdens in modern life are carried with as much quiet courage as single parenthood. And for the single parent estate planning is not abstract, it is urgent. The question is immediate and deeply personal: If something happens to me, who will raise my child?
Naming a guardian is one of the most weighty decisions a parent can make. It goes beyond practicalities like housing and finances. It includes: Who will raise my child in the faith? Who will instill the values I hold dear? Who will love my child the way I love them? Without a written designation in a valid will, courts will make this decision for the family—and they will do so without knowledge of the parent’s deepest hopes and convictions.
For single parents in the church, this is a place where community becomes essential. People who know one another, trust one another, and are committed to one another’s flourishing is exactly what makes faithful estate planning possible.
5. Those with Modest Estates
Perhaps the most common misconception about estate planning is this: “I don’t have enough to worry about.” Many people with modest incomes and assets believe that planning is for someone else, people with large inheritances or complicated finances. This assumption is not only wrong; it is costly.
Assets pass to loved ones through several different channels: a will controls assets held in your name alone, but beneficiary designations govern retirement accounts and life insurance, joint ownership determines what passes automatically at death, and trusts can direct assets outside of probate entirely. Because these mechanisms interact, and because many people have assets in each category, a will alone may or may not be enough. A thoughtful plan considers all of them together.
Without a coordinated plan, even a modest estate may face a lengthy probate process, delayed or disputed accounts, and conflicts that clear written instructions could have prevented. Families already grieving should not have to untangle what a little planning could have made simple.
There is one final misconception worth naming: that estate planning delivers the greatest benefit to those with the greatest wealth. In truth, the opposite is often closer to reality. A large estate has professional advisors and resources to absorb the cost of a flawed plan. A modest estate does not. An avoidable probate proceeding, a disputed account, or an unintended tax consequence can erase what took years to build. The family with less to lose can least afford to lose it and may need a thoughtful plan more than anyone.
Where Planning Becomes Ministry
Every community includes people who are navigating this without adequate guidance: the aging individual without family nearby, the single parent raising children alone, the immigrant family unfamiliar with American legal systems, the caregiver managing complex and competing obligations. The barriers to planning are rarely financial. They are more often a lack of awareness, limited access to trusted advisors, and the entirely understandable tendency to defer what feels important but not immediate.
Advisors, employers, civic organizations, churches, and community leaders are all positioned to help close that gap by raising awareness, connecting people to resources, and creating environments where these conversations can happen with confidence and clarity. Faith communities in particular carry something distinctive: relationships built on trust, knowledge of their members’ lives, and a shared commitment to one another’s well-being. That is a powerful foundation for this work.
When communities choose to make planning visible, accessible, and supported, they replace hesitation with dignity and uncertainty with peace of mind. Meeting people where they are, through trusted relationships and clear guidance, turns preparation into an act of care in the most tangible way possible.
