Aaron Cho Miran Cho Generosity Kingdom Fund Financial Finish Line Podcast
Finish Line Podcast Episode 37

Aaron and Miran Cho on Committing to Give More Than You Can Budget For

You may want generosity to become more than a line in your budget while still wondering how to give intentionally without reducing God’s direction to a fixed percentage or formula.

How can you create financial margin for generosity while continuing to pray, discern, and move forward in unity when God invites you to give beyond what feels predictable?


Apple Podcasts →

Spotify →

All Episodes →

Apple

Spotify

Episodes

Meet your guide

Aaron Cho, a CFO and finance professional, and his wife, Miran, share how discipleship, marriage, and prayer shaped their approach to generosity. After paying off their student loans early in marriage, they created a “Kingdom Fund,” setting aside money beyond their tithe each year specifically for whatever giving opportunities God might bring.

Rather than choosing the amount solely from their budget, Aaron and Miran separately spend intentional time in prayer before coming together to discern a shared commitment. They explain how debt freedom and an emergency fund created greater flexibility to respond, while marital unity became more important than pursuing increasingly ambitious giving goals. As their generosity grew, they also began using donor advised funds and impact investing to support Kingdom-minded businesses alongside traditional ministries.

Their approach keeps generosity connected to an ongoing relationship with God rather than a formula. By the end, you may see how financial preparation, prayer, and agreement with your spouse can create greater freedom to respond when opportunities to give arise.

What you’ll gain

  • How a Kingdom Fund can prepare you for spontaneous generosity
  • Why debt freedom can create greater flexibility for giving
  • How to discern giving decisions together as a couple
  • Why marital unity matters more than maximizing generosity
  • How impact investing can extend your Kingdom giving strategy
  • Why prayer can keep structured generosity from becoming mechanical

Inspired? Take your next step

Try the Game of Life Simulator

Step into a four-minute interactive experience and see what unfolds as you decide how to manage your resources.

Start the Game
Game of Life Simulator Mobile Screenshot
Game of Life Simulator Mobile Screenshot

Inspired? Learn how to partner with ministries well.

A compelling ministry story can inspire you to respond. But wise partnership often begins with better questions.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Focus

What is the ministry really seeking to restore?

Learn to look beyond visible needs toward people, context, relationships, and flourishing.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Fruitfulness

How do you recognize meaningful impact?

Consider how ministries learn, evaluate their work, and pursue lasting change.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Faithfulness

What does genuine ministry partnership look like?

Explore how to foster trust, alignment, and shared mission in your giving.

In our Intervention Series on the Applied Generosity Podcast, we’ll help you become a more thoughtful, discerning, and faithful partner.

Start the Series

Quotes to Remember

  • “There’s gotta be more to life than tithing our 10% to our local church.”
  • “There are many [spiritual] teachers, but not a lot of [spiritual] fathers.”
  • “Every year we pray for the forthcoming year, saying, ‘God, what do you want us to give over and above our tithe?'”
  • “When you’re debt free, you can just ask God, ‘What do you want me to do? Who do I give to? What do I give to?'”
  • “We fund our kingdom fund before we fund anything else.”
  • “We commit to a number that we feel like God is telling us to commit to for the next year, even if it doesn’t make sense for our budget.”
  • “God provides the money for his bank account. All he wants from us is the yes that we’ll do it. If the money shows up, we will put it aside in another bank account. That’s all he wants from us.”
  • “I would rather plan on working for the rest of my life and be extravagant givers along the way.”
  • “You can’t out-give God.”
  • “At the end of the year every year, we set aside two days and go to a prayer mountain separately. And then we spend all day praying and spending time with God. And during that time we ask God how much we should give away the following year for the kingdom fund.”
  • “That’s how we do everything. We pray separately and then come together and see if we are in agreement.”
  • “We’re always praying for God to open up doors to new ministries and to identify needs.”
  • “Investing in people is the model of Jesus.”
  • “God, here’s my treasure

Links from the Show

Bible References from the Show

Matt. 6:33 | Seek First the Kingdom

33 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:21 | Two Masters

21 You cannot serve God and money.

Use Our
Free Guide

Have you considered the ways you are uniquely called into generosity? We’re not all called into the same adventure.

Enter your information below and we’ll send you our free PDF guide to explore the specific adventure you were called into.

Generosity Profile Image

Use Our
Free Guide

Have you considered the ways you are uniquely called into generosity? We’re not all called into the same adventure.
Generosity Profile Image
Enter your information below and we’ll send you our free PDF guide to explore the specific adventure you were called into.
Generosity Profile Image

See Other Episodes