Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Satan and his false prophets make big business scamming the church out of money. If only money did grow on trees, then the devil and his televangelists(TBN) would be out of business.

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1. Scientists created this hypothesis out something they can’t see, but yet they don’t give God a chance because they can’t see him either.

2. It doesn’t believe God made something out of nothing, but yet they don’t know what created a big bang

3. Billions of years should have created billions of missing links, but it’s funny that they’re still called “missing” links

4. Parts of the galaxy spin in multiple directions, but supposedly the big bang happened while a bunch of matter was all spinning in same direction

5. We came from monkeys because we look like them, but what similar looking animal did monkeys come from?

6. The suns energy would have been depleted by the time mankind evolved

7. While even studying our own planet we live on, the reason for global catastrophe in the past and the continental divide is unknown, but we’ve made up our mind about the galaxy even though we can’t see it all, let alone touch it.

8. Darwin admitted himself that evolution was a theory

9. homo-sapiens are further evolved than the monkeys, but i suck at swingin on trees

10. How did scientific evolution create ghosts, spirits, or demons?

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There’s much argument about whether Jesus was poor or not. Of course he wasn’t poor, he was God and owned everything. But aside from that, when we look at his manhood on earth, I think there’s obvious examples in the bible that illustrate that he was poor, and other times it illustrates that he was rich. One example that comes to mind that seems he was poor, is when peter came to Jesus and asked about paying the temple tax. Instead of Jesus pulling out his nice thick leather wallet and flipping the cash to Peter, Jesus performs a necessary miracle in order to conjure up the cash. An example that illustrates Jesus wealth is the account of his expensive cloak being rolled for dice and wagered on, while he’s being crucified. So, was Jesus rich? Yes. Was he poor? Yes.

Come on! To argue about whether Jesus was rich or poor, is it worth it? He owned every piece of ground that he walked on while on earth, even his cross. But at the same time the bible says he became poor like us and came from his riches to poverty. You see we don’t know what rich is.

1 Corinthians 8:9
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich

For thirty-three years Jesus came down from the riches he had and lived with the poor. Yeah, he could have been rich on earth, and yes, he could have been poor. But the point is no matter how rich he was on earth he adopted poverty. The goal for every believer is to adopt poverty in some way. I can’t explain or describe to you how. What riches have you given up for the sake of others?

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The church used to be the central place of local fellowship for the whole town. Most everyone spent their time around the church either to hear announced news, or to celebrate some sort of event. Much time, effort, and money was poured into the church and its upkeep. But, over time the church and culture surrounding it no longer mingled the way it had once done. The church became a separate entity, and the society became detached from its life support. Even though our steeples have gotten more noticeable and our pews have gotten longer, society does not attend these chapels for a social gathering. The conventional church building is no longer viewed as a place of gathering and fellowship for the community. Because the church building is seldom used nowadays, it is very hard to discern the amount of effort and support that church buildings should receive.

There are many good reasons to develop a facility that’s state of the art and also attractive. There are many times that this money goes wasted. I can’t judge how and what our money is used for. I do know that churches and their building funds will never be satisfied. Then again neither will all the poor be satisfied. When confronted with the decision to improve your furniture in your church or to feed the hungry, feeding the hungry is not the easiest decision. You won’t get a title deed, you don’t get to use it, neither are the homeless attractive to look at. I personally think, that feeding the hungry is a mission that’s a little closer to Jesus. During Jesus ministry, I don’t remember one time putting a roof over somebody’s head, but I do remember him feeding many people. I know that buildings do service some needs, but outside of Sunday service it is not a place of local fellowship, and neither is it a public place for the community.

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Mission organizations receive donations from around the world. People have freely given them donations, and it’s no wonder why they freely give back. Don’t you think it’s odd that organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army are the ones left up to taking care of the needy? Why don’t we think there’s something wrong with that? The homeless are supported by other organizations poorer than the church, and we wish we had more money to better fulfill the great commission.

Whether or not pouring money into our church real estate is right or wrong, the church is definitely not a recognized candidate for charity. We take our tithe check and horde it into something that looks good instead of pouring it into people who are not attractive at all. I agree, I would feel more comfortable as well, if I gave my money towards something more beautiful that could be considered a financial investment. It’s hard to give that bum on the street some money, cause in the back of our head we’re thinking that it would be wasted on some booz.

Demanding a tithe brings no accountability to the leaders of our churches. The mission organizations receive free donations. They know that they might not see that money ever again, but they give it back freely, because they have received it freely. Imagine if our government was supported through charitable donations, how much more honest would it be? We give our lives back to Christ much more freely because we have received it freely. God was under no obligation to give, and neither should we.

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Today our church building is typically interpreted as the Old Testament storehouse. If we look at the description of a storehouse, would a church really fit this description? Isn’t a storehouse called a storehouse, because it stores things? For instance in the Old Testament, the Israelites brought the first fruits and tithe to the storehouse, so that it can be stored until it was later distributed. How long does the church hold on to your tithe or offering check for? One day(typically), a week, or a month at the most. The banks biggest customer on Monday mornings is church secretaries depositing the tithe and offering checks from Sunday services. So, really your church doesn’t store your increase, the bank does. Wouldn’t the bank be a better, literal interpretation of what the storehouse was in the Old Testament?

Hmmm, are the wheels turning yet? I usually get the argument, about the church being where our money is distributed to the poor and missions. Well, doesn’t a bank distribute funds as well? No, I don’t think the bank is the storehouse, nor do I think that the church building is the storehouse. The literal interpretation of the storehouse is the kingdom of heaven. “Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven”. It is the place where we store our spiritual and eternal increase (our precious stones and crowns) and it is where we will distribute to Jesus Christ our king and High Priest.

A recent study by Barna, the leading Christian research and statistics organization, has found that “House Churches Are More Satisfying to Attenders Than Are Conventional Churches”. While on the other hand the satisfaction of conventional churches stagger. There are many effects this movement has on the conventional churches, but of course since this is a tithe and offering blog, we’ll touch on the finances. According to Barna, many of the house Church attendees are donating to ministries that may not be given to the conventional churches. These funds typically get directed to some sort of mission-minded organization that helps the poor, or evangelizes. This puts the pressure on conventional churches who have betted on the future attendance of their congregation. The house church movement continues to grow, and why not? If these statistics are accurate and that many more people are satisfied with the operation of their house church, why attend or put your money into something that you are not as satisfied with?

I think the key to satisfaction within your church is involvement. The more you are involved the more it becomes a calling. One of the things that Baptist Churches are known for, is their business meetings. They usually have the congregation sit together and vote on budgeting, support, maybe some new carpet. This is one of the reasons why Baptist’s are the strongest supporters of the doctrine of tithing. Here’s why. If the congregation is involved with decisions during these business meetings, on where their tithe and offerings could be directed, then they will be less likely to question further use of it, because of the complacency in their own decision. We are all guilty of this passiveness in one way or another. Take political voting for instance. The party that we’ve voted for, is the party that we tend to overlook questions about. Can you see how participation and direct involvement in any ministry naturally leads to greater satisfaction? Outside of the financial input, where i think conventional churches have taken the wrong turn is in the shortcuts. Many people attend these mass services, but walk out un-involved. You can’t expect the pastoral staff to be totally responsible for this, nor can you put all the blame on the members attending. Cell groups, life groups, and small groups help, but all the advertising and money is put into the mass, sunday service. Sunday service is not where most of the merchandise is sold. It’s sold during the weekday in smaller fellowships. When selling a product, mass-mailing is the shortcut form of advertising. So, if people receive the advertising of the conventional church, and find the best merchandise is in the house church, then that’s where their money is going. Even though most of the advertsing dollars goes into the conventional church.

Conventional churches are going to have to find more effective ways to get everyone involved and participating. I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe its taking offering in the small groups and using that exclusively for outreach or other funds in the larger church. Whatever it may be, the first place they’ll begin to notice it, is in their pocket, and that’s where it’ll get their attention.