Church Member Gets Shocking Letter From Pastor
I don’t have much time to write about this one, but here’s a news article that talks about a Church who is kicking out an 80 year old, social security paid, single woman because she only paid her tithe twice this year.
I hate that churches can keep their non-profit status after pulling stunts like this. The Church acts just like the IRS.
I would not do what has been done here. That said…
We are talking about MEMBERSHIP not ATTENDANCE.
Membership comes with privileges in most churches, i.e., voting rights. If this community has decided that tithing (or giving SOMETHING) is part of what it means to be a member, i.e., having a role in deciding how church funds are spent, selecting a pastor, etc., I don’t think that this letter is the big outrage it’s being made out to be.
The lady apparently can still attend, still partake of potlucks, still be in the quilting bee… she just doesn’t hold the full rights of MEMBERSHIP.
And if you are going to have an institutional church, as America has come to know “the church,” you are going to have a distinction between members and nonmembers.
Again, I do not care to be a member of a church that would do this, and I do not believe that Christians are held to the OT tithe. But I think there has been some media sensationalization of this story for their own purposes.
Comment by Ed — April 19, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Ed,
Thanks for your comment. I would disagree. First, since when did God have minimum requirements in giving to be a part of his kingdom? Second, the poor can’t afford to tithe, so should we just kick them all out of our membership?
Sure, each church should be autonomous and independent but that isn’t a good enough cause for others to overlook how they govern part of the body of Christ.
Comment by tithe — April 19, 2008 @ 11:03 am