Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

I have already done an introduction to Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola & George Barna, so now i want to get into a little more of the book. besides the one chapter on tithing & clergy salaries, the book is not about stewardship, but i do think the book overall has made an important impact on my thoughts about the Church that i feel the need to write about it.

Without reading far into the book you get the notion that Barna and Viola are into the house church/organic church movement. What would anyone have against a biblically pure organic, home Church? One of the statements that caught my attention in the book was this,

“The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

It strikes me because we think that the bigger our footprint on creating religious real estate, than the bigger influence we will have in our society. History disproves this theory. The first century Christians turned the world upside down without the organizational and structural presence that we hold on dear today (Acts 17:6). Essentially what Frank Viola and George Barna are saying is, we don’t need this stuff like we think we do. Most of us think what would we do without a church building? The same goes for tithing. What would we ever do if everyone just gave as they felt led? We think everything would just fall apart.

Pagan Christianity basically takes everything we practiced about Church and throws it all away. It is very radical indeed. I think that we need something radical anyways. If you were smart you would keep your mind open to radical thoughts. When Jesus entered this earth, he was very radical. He took everything that the Jews knew about God and his laws and threw them out the door. This upset many people. The Jews had every reason to say, “but we’ve been doing it this way for 2,000 years. This man (Jesus) is a heretic.”

Put away the fancy clothes, the pews, the pulpit, the altar calls, the hymn books, the praise and worship team, the ushers, the 1-2-3 or 4 man pastoral show, the hype, the buildings, the fancy architecture, the high overhead, the order of the service, the outlined sermon, the religious heirarchy, the ordination & seminary requirements, the choir, tithing & clergy salaries. Put away all of that because it is not a biblical requirement. What do you have in Church beyond all of that? You have Church at the very roots of what God wanted it to be about. . . -Him.

One last quote from the book,

“Granted, Christ may be able to express Himself through one or two members of the church-usually the pastor and the music leader. But this is a very limited expression. “

You see what happens is we go to church, get comfortable, and we become spectators. Everyone does not have an opportunity to use their gifts and talents in the body. We are practically shut up. What Pagan Christianity is saying is that Christ is only expressed through the pastor or music leader when we come together, and this is not how God intended the Church body to function. Romans 12:6 says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them” Also in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” And in 1 Peter 4:11, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.” Lastly in 1 Corinthians 14 we can see that God set up an order in the Church for prophesying and teaching.

Typically on Sunday’s when we come together, there’s only 1 or 2 people sharing, admonishing, or teaching. I think we all need an opportunity to share. Not just 1 or 2. The way our Church is structurally set up today does not stimulate growth and participation. Actually it prohibits it. This is the heart of what Frank Viola is getting at in Pagan Christianity.

What do you think about the house church/organic church movement? Do you think there are some positives? Do you think there are some negatives?

Ever since i had picked up the book, “Pagan Christianity” and read the first few pages i eagerly waited to write about it. Pagan Christianity is one of only a few books that i have read in my life that has profoundly changed me in the way i think about Church. I am not that type of person that is easily persuaded or misled easily. I go about things with an open mind but am very, very skeptical and idealistic when it comes to revolutionized thinking about the operation of the body of Christ. I also consider myself a creative individual but at the same time methodical. I say all that about myself because i think there’s a lot to say about the book that will strike its readers at the core of their creativeness, methodology, skepticism, and ideology. Pagan Christianity is not a book for the weak or closed minded. Pagan Christianity is not for the careless or complacent person either. This book will offend everyone in some way, but with the truth presented so well by Frank Viola & George Barna you are left with no choice but to put away your offenses and eagerly read on.

For those who do not know what Pagan Christianity is about, here is an excerpt on the back cover that should give you a preface “Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted, not in the new testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles.”

There are 12 topics discussed in this book

1. Have We Really Benn Doing It by the Book?
2. The Church Building
3. The Order of Worship
4. The Sermon
5. Sunday Morning Costumes
6. Ministers of Music
7. Tithing and Clergy Salaries
8. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
9. Christian Education
10. Reapproaching the New Testament
11. A Second Glance at the Savior

Consider these chapters the main categories because inside each of these chapters are even more specific sub topics.

What Frank Viola and George Barna must have done is somehow wipe their memory of anything they can remember about the event we call “Church”. As they do that, they present historical facts and scripture to present the idea that we are pagan Christians. All our traditions, rituals, habits, things that seem so normal have now been researched to show their roots in historical pagan culture.

As i was reading this book my mind was turning the whole time, “what’s wrong with that practice?. . . How can we do without that?” But then i started thinking, “Well, why can’t we do without it?. . . there’s no reason that we must have it. . .Then why do i feel so tied to it?” Looking back I found myself defending and rationalizing our common traditions in the Church, but before long i began to ask myself why am i defending a practice that is not set in stone in the bible? Offended people are really just shocked people that have no real argument to stand with their feelings. Making a decision based on our offenses is probably the most blind sided thing that we can do, and i didn’t want to do that, so i read on with an open mind.

Pagan Christianity is the type of book that some would call, “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. Frank Viola & George Barna wipe the slate clean of what we understood to be the formula we call the Church event. You are left standing there just shocked, confused, and perplexed as everything you witnessed, and saw as Church is thrown out completely; and all that is left is an empty tub of just bare bone fellowship, and communion of a body of believers.

This book had an experience on me that i cannot express in enough words on this blog. I will bring more in the next few days because this was just my introduction to Pagan Christianity. I will probably write my thoughts about the chapters in the next post, but plan on writing a different post just on tithing and the clergy salary. I would urge everyone to read this book. This is the book that people will love or they will hate. But i guarantee you cannot put this book down after reading and not somehow be shaken up by its pages. P.S. By the way if you purchase the book make sure you buy the revised and updated version.

Have any of you read Pagan Christianity? Has it impacted you at all? Or do you think it is not worth reading at all?

The Barna Group just released some new statistics on tithing and donations for 2007. - here. Interestingly enough George Barna takes a stand against tithing as a legitimate practice in the New Testament Church. This is all kind of exciting to me, because i’m in the middle of reading the book, “Pagan Christianity” by Frank Viola and George Barna. I am about two-thirds of the way through and i can’t seem to put the book down. I will write a post about that when i’m finished it, but i just mentioned it because i had just finished up the chapter on “tithing”. Ironic. . . i guess.

I just want to highlight some things that were said:

“Whether they believe in the principle of tithing or not, few Americans give away that much money.”

I would like to point out that greed is not biased to non-tithers. I’ve heard many a times that Tithing is an antidote for greed. The reason why tithing does not over come greed is because tithing is not the master of greed. A pure heart, that is undefiled and led by the Spirit of God is the master of greed. Tithing has no power over sin, but the Spirit does. This is confirmed because although Israel had tithing completely spelled out for them, they still had to overcome their greedy hearts. Also regardless of whether our giving is plainly spelled out for us through tithing or is an unpredictable factor through spirit-led giving, we still have to listen and obey. In other words, just because how much we should give is written in black and white compared to Spirit led giving, which is not; we still have to put down our selfishness and obey one or the other.

“Strangely, tithing is a Jewish practice, not a Christian principle espoused in the New Testament. The idea of a tithe - which literally means one-tenth or the tenth part - originated as the tax that Israelites paid from the produce of the land to support the priestly tribe (the Levites), to fund Jewish religious festivals, and to help the poor. The ministry of Jesus Christ, however, brought an end to adherence to many of the ceremonial codes that were fundamental to the Jewish faith. Tithing was such a casualty. Since the first-century, Christians have believed in generous giving, but have not been under any obligation to contribute a specific percentage of their income.”

Many people are blinded to the point where they view tithing as a “principle” not a “practice”. George Barna said it right, “tithing is a Jewish practice, not a Christian principle”. There are 2 practices that come to mind when thinking about the Church. One, Baptism, and Two, the Lord’s Supper. Tithing is not one of them, nor is it a principle. I’ve said this so many times- tithing is a standard, not a principle. In the old testament we see Abraham as the first person recorded to tithe. But we are not commanded to follow Abraham’s actions, we are commanded to follow his faith.

Barna also mentions the 3 functions of the tithe. Support the Levites, fund Jewish religious festivals, and to help the poor. At this point i see the Church doing a good job of fulfilling one out of three of those tasks. That’s if you want to equate support of the levites with support of those who are ministering. If we were busy trying to build God’s kingdom instead of our own kingdom, i think we would be doing a much better job with fulfilling the other functions of the tithe (not that i want the tithe and all it’s purposes incorporated into the Church). Just hypothetically speaking.

During the first five years of the decade, an average of 84 cents out of every dollar donated by born again adults went to churches. In the past three years, though, the proportion has declined to just 76 cents out of every donated dollar.

I find this statistic very, very interesting indeed. This is saying that for the first five years since 2000 that of all the donations given, 84% of them were given to Church organizations, but since the past three years, only 76% of the total donations had been given to Church organizations. So people have been giving 8% less to their churches and giving it to some other organization. I don’t know, to me, that is a big jump. Think about it this way, imagine if 8 out of 100 people stopped giving the money to their church and instead gave it to the Red Cross. Hmmm, very interesting. Maybe a little wake up call for our greedy Church budgets. You can read more about my thoughts on the house church movement and its effect on Church budgets

“If this transition in the perceptions and giving behavior of born again adults continues to accelerate, the service functions of conventional churches will be redefined within the next eight to ten years, and conventional churches will have to adopt new ways of assisting people in need.”

That was a part of Barna’s interpretation of what the statistics are telling him. And i agree.

What’s your thoughts on the new tithing statistics and trends? Do you think Barna is on target with his analysis? Do you think this blog is on target?

 I had someone send me a sermon by Darrin Patrick. He is the pastor of a multi-site church in St. Louis and vice-president of a church planting association.
In spite of this, he does not teach tithing as applicable for today’s Christian.

News article found here.

“BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) ? Dwindling donations to the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park have prompted its high-profile pastor, Mac Hammond, to put his private business jet on the market.”

Once the pastor pays off the outstanding bills, i’m sure he’ll take the extra and buy a rolls royce. Of course, it would be used for ministry. Duh!

I wonder how many churches own private jets in America? That would be good to research, but i do not have the time for that. I don’t even know where to begin to find out that info. I know a lot of TBN preachers have jets.

There are many people that ask about the definition of the tithe compared other types of gifts. The tithe definition in its broadest sense means a tenth of one’s increase - Deuteronomy 14:22. That is the broadest definition of tithe that is accepted by most of the population. There are even more defined meanings of tithing out there. For instance some would say that the definition of the tithe by nature, goes to your local church, and is taken off of your gross income. This is because the tithe was delivered to the local storehouse in the Old Testament - Malachi 3:10, and in Proverbs 3:9 we are to honor the Lord with the first fruits of our increase.

Scholars and theologians constantly debate about the tithe definition. Mainly because the tithe’s function was prescribed in detail in the old testament, defined for the nation of Israel, and was not done so for the Church in the NT. There seems to be many holes and many opportunities for personal interpretation of how we should prescribe the tithe into the New Testament Church.

The definition of the tithe was very simple and plainly laid out for Israel. They were to gather their harvest and count the tithe out from what they’ve gathered. For instance, if you had 100 apples, you must count them out from one-to-ten, and the tenth one you set aside for the Lord - Leviticus 27:32. As is stated in the previous verse, it did not matter if that tenth one was bruised or under-sized, you still set it aside. Also, you set the tenth one aside, not the first one aside.

There were other rules under the tithe definition. First, the tithe generally went to the Levites, and in turn the levites gave a tenth of their tenth to the priestly line for the work of the temple. Next, there were generally three different “types” of the tithe. first, was the poor tithe - Deuteronomy 26:12. Second, was the feast tithe - Deuteronomy 14:22-23. Third, was the Levitical tithe - Numbers 18:24. Practically, the tithe included the poor and the Levites all the time, but those are generally how the tithe is categorized. The feast tithe was the most unique and was consumed by the whole nation of Israel as a feast celebration.

Most people argue that the total amount of tithes given by Israel equaled over 23%. I don’t follow that logic, just for the simple fact that when the bible says 10% of all your increase, generally it means just 10%. Maybe that’s too simple minded? I don’t know? Also genealogy and numbering records have shown that a 10% gift from the whole nation of Israel was plenty enough to take care of the small tribe of Levi.

Now that we got an abridged version of the tithe definition for Israel, what about the definition for the Church? Truthfully, you are asking the wrong person. I feel the definition of the tithe for the church is far more complicated than the IRS tax code. Like i said above, the definition of tithing for the New Testament Church has many holes and opportunities for personal interpretation. I’m of the persuasion that it doesn’t belong in the Spirit-led Church. I know. . . I know what you’re saying, how can the Church operate without the tithe? Well, first of all, the Church is not the nation of Israel so it has no need to operate under Israel’s strict code of laws. The Church operates under the capacity of the Holy Spirit in tune with the principles of God’s word. Yes, God’s word said don’t eat unclean meat, circumcise your sons, tithe of your increase . . . and so forth, but i said the Holy Spirit is in tune with the PRINCIPLES of God’s word.

Ha, Ha, what is the definition of a principle you ask? Well, let’s make that for another post. I know this was a quick synopsis of the definition of tithing, but without writing a few chapters and without a few hours, this seems the best i could do. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas that i missed that describes the tithe definition, we need to hear them. Please share them below.