Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Barna’s statistics recently came out about giving trends over the past year. I just recently posted my thoughts about that as well. Here is the question, Why is giving down? Is it because of a bad economy? Is it because of gas prices? Is it because pastors aren’t preaching tithing enough? Probably due to the backlash against tithing, i’m sure pastors are preaching more about tithing. they have to keep up with the grandeur religious empires. After all it’s all about building the kingdom of ?_______?

Tithing is a simple solution for stewardship in a church. All a pastor has to do is make sure his people know they are required to tithe, and then increase the number of people. Viola! you have your church a steady budget to grow with. It’s very easy. The more people, the more offering you get. If people start questioning the use of the money, just make them happy with free coffee and donuts for a week or two. I think i’ll make a blog post about how to fool people into giving more money. Anyways, so all that a pastor has to do is make sure his people know that tithing is important to your relationship with God, and then make sure that you have lots of people. On the other hand, if you had Spirit-led giving, you couldn’t get away with that. A pastor would need to make sure that his people are in a right and full relationship with God. Once they were in that position, then the giving would follow suit. Not only that it verifies that the church leadership is going in a direction that the people are being called by the Spirit to pay for.

So why is giving down? Maybe it’s because pastors are less concerned with the relationship that their congregation has with God and are more concerned with keeping their empire flourished. I don’t know. For those of you out there, that are just gritting your teeth about my attitude towards pastors, just take a deep breath, because i greatly recognize that many pastors have kept their church on the right track.

Why should it matter that the economy is bad or that gas is $5 a gallon. If the people of God are right with God then why should our giving struggle?

I just finished the book, “Tithing: Low-Realm, Obsolete & Defunct” by Matthew E. Narramore. Overall this was a good and informative book. After you’ve read so many books and heard so many sermons on tithing that you hear so much of the same expository notes. But there were some new insights in this book, as well as some old insights that were said well.

What Narramore says about tithing, in that it is low realm obsolete and defunct is in principle saying what pro tithers themselves have been saying but not admitting. What do i mean tithers “say” that tithing is low realm? Well, considering they claim that tithing is for new believers to start at, then i would assume that their opinion is that tithing is low realm for a majority of people. If a majority of people cannot be governed by a tithe, then why make it a stepping stone into the financial courts of stewardship? When tithing was introduced to Israel in the law it wasn’t introduced as a beginner’s course.

So enough about Israel and the law. What About Abraham? Here’s are some things about what Narramore had to say:

“Consider Abraham’s relationship with God compared to our relationship with God through Christ:

• Abraham had not been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit
• Abraham had not been born again and spiritually re-created with God’s own divine nature in him.
• Abraham was not a son of God with the same standing as Jesus Christ in God’s family.
• Abraham was not the temple of God. God did not dwell in him.
• Abraham id not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead him.
• Abraham did not have access to all authority in heaven and earth through the name of Jesus”

Narramore had mentioned more than this, but i thought these were the strongest points. I enjoyed the overall tone of Narramore’s book. It really focused on Spirit-led giving. I guess first of all it broke down tithing and then topped it off in the end with how Spirit-led giving should replace these low-realm, obsolete, and defunct standards of giving.

Another portion of Narramore’s book says this,

“Sons of God have the nature of their Father. They also share his objectives. They live to accomplish his desires, not something separate of their own. That is why they don’t need laws, rules, and principles of giving. They don’t need a standard of 10 percent because they have already committed 100 Percent. . . They aren’t locked into a mindless routine like tithing because they have the Spirit of God in them who is greater and wiser than any generic system of giving. . . Children and servants cannot live like sons. . . [servants] they have to be told what to do. They have to be regulated and monitored by others. They must have laws to direct them and punishments to reprove them. They must have rewards to motivate them. They haven’t internalized the family objective so they have to be treated as hirelings.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14)

That was said so well, so what more could I add? Matthew Narramore truly understands the spiritual implications of tithing. Once the spiritual deficiencies of tithing have been enlightened in someone’s eyes, there is no turning back to tithing. You received the same feeling when you converted to Christ. It was almost a feeling of, “Oh! Now i see!” Once you get that revelation in your mind, there is no possible way you can reject it. You also begin to wonder how you never saw this before. Here’s another excerpt to explain it more:

“Sons of God have the same relationship to the Father that Jesus has. Since tithing is not part of Jesus’ relationship, now that he has been resurrected, it is not part of their relationship. Since they are one with Jesus, they don’t tithe to him either. They are joint owners of all things together with Christ by their spiritual union. Tithing was ordained for a different kind of relationship with God-not for sons.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; (Romans 8:17)

I have one more quote that i will put here but i want to emphasize that we are joint owners, and we have the same spiritual union with God as Jesus His Son. So how does profound relationship with God effect our giving to Him? I believe our giving should reflect the same way that Jesus Christ gave of himself. Here’s the last quote:

“Christians will be immature as long as they are kept under laws. Following laws will keep them from learning how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. In order for them to grow up, someone must take away the carnal things they rely on to direct their lives.”

How can tithing be carnal and immature? Simply because our giving is not governed by the Holy Spirit. Instead it is regulated by the standards of mankind.

Think of tithing as a security blanket for the one giving the tithe and the one receiving the tithe. First, as the one giving the tithe, it is easy to appease the conscience once you’ve reached the mark that your peers are all shooting for as well. Second, for the receiver, it is more comfortable to rely on a consistent amount of income. You don’t have to worry about the Spirit calling people to give elsewhere. All you have have to do is make sure they understand that tithing is a minimum requirement and there you have a stable offering to budget from. After all who really lives by faith anyways?

So the book is called, “Tithing: Low Realm, Obsolete, & Defunct”. You can purchase it at the website here. What are your thoughts on Matthew E. Narramore’s book?

I had recently written a blog post about a book by Bill Clinton called “Giving”. It interested me to write about this again because of the tax returns that had surfaced showing the giving records of the Clinton’s. It somewhat amazed me that his giving had been below the tithe. I don’t understand a person who writes a disciplined book about giving but is sitting on 99 million after only giving 10 million. Some who don’t know, Bill Clinton grossed 109,175,175, and gave 10,256,741, which is just below the 10% mark. You know what another amazing thing is his book income was, $29,580,525!

How can you only give 10 million back when you claim to write an authoritative book about giving? The people that were fooled into buying his book are . . . well. . . just a bunch of suckers. Hey, i’m not a supporter of the tithe minimum when it comes to giving, nor am i a person to talk about how much you are suppose to give, but if you are going to teach others on how to give please, oh please do not rest your fat behind on 99 million and write a book that makes you look like a sacrificing philanthropist.

Here’s a website that displays the statistics of Clintons taxes

How many of you have been out to see the documentary on intelligent design by Ben Stein? I went to see it last week. It was very practical and i enjoyed it. Anyways, that’s not the point of the post here. The point i want to bring here is how the Church amid their tithing rants, and obligatory giving has expelled grace giving. They allow no opportunity for the children of God to use any discernment or spiritual intelligence when it’s time to give. Instead, many pastors preach on Sunday morning, that 10% of your overall income belongs to this organization. No discernment allowed. No Spirit guidance. No and’s, if’s, or but’s about it.

The children of God who are reborn in his Spirit are not allowed to exercise the gift of giving. Churches say that we are allowed to practice Spirit-led giving with offerings, but first we must meet the tithing obligation. Is there any spiritual gift like the gift of giving where we have a minimum requirement before the Spiritual gift takes effect?

Many pastors think that if we were left up to grace giving without a standard to uphold, then everyone would would stop giving. This is not just a judgment on human kind, it is also a judgment on the Spirit of God. Isn’t the Spirit capable of calling and equipping people to perform ministry? There is no command to feed a certain amount of poor people. Also there is no command to witness to a certain amount of unsaved. Neither of these endeavors have ceased just because there is no minimum requirement that we had to meet.

From a science and evolution/creation standpoint it takes an insurmountable amount of faith for scientists to take their reasoning and allow an intelligent being to initiate creation. In the same light it takes faith on behalf of churches and pastors to allow the Holy Spirit to direct people in giving rather than rely on a law that enables a predictable amount of income each week. With grace giving, the amount is unpredictable, and it shows how tithing has been the security blanket for church budgets and pastoral salaries for ages.

Grace giving has been expelled because it makes pastoral salaries, and church budgets nervous. Pastors, if you truly want your congregation to be led by the Spirit, then let’s begin with your pocket book. Church accountant, . . . same thing.

In my many discussions about debates about Tithing, if the debate lasts long enough eventually this question always pops up, “Since you don’t believe in tithing, how much do you give under grace? Is it more than the law or less?” This question is the most ignorant question i receive in the tithing debate. Typically this means that they’ve run out of arguments, or they are sick of repeating the accusation that i am throwing out the Old Testament. This is why i bring you 10 ways to respond when a tither wants to know how much you give, just because you are against tithing.

1. Grace givers could also ask the question about how many of the tithers are actually giving cheerfully and godly? My assumption would be that the percentage is lower than those that give gracefully.

2. What is the average that believing tithers give? According to statistics on barna.org, it doesn’t seem like tithers are giving what they should either.

3. Greed is not biased to those who practice grace giving. May I remind you that Israel fell to the cloak of greed while under the tithing law anyways.

4. The Mormon cult gives more than any religion or denomination but that doesn’t confirm their theology.

5. The steward in Matthew 25 who gave 100% of his 2 talents back to his master was still considered a bad steward.

6. It was only the Pharisees who were interested in shortcomings of others while expressing how they elegantly obeyed the OT requirements.

7. I’ll let God be the one to tell you what He’s received from me.

8. I give nine-and-a-half percent. (just to throw them off)

9. Most of the time I keep 0% of my income. God seems to find a use for all of it.

10. Is it common for you to base scriptural truth on the performance of mankind?

Just randomly thinking today . . .

. . . Stewardship isn’t defined by what you give it’s defined by what you’ve kept. (hmmm, a good quote for those lavish televangelists)

. . . The tithe used to help the poor, but in these days it has created even more.

. . . In Matthew 25:25, the servant who gave 100% back to his master, was still considered a bad steward.

. . . It’s ironic that we trust that the Spirit will bring in some priceless souls, but can’t fathom Him bringing in a few bucks. That we leave up to tithing.

. . . Is The Spirit in charge of offerings, but not in charge of tithes?

. . . As long as one seeks counsel from the Spirit in his giving there will always be a spiritual battle. But as soon as we’ve replaced the Spirit with our own standards, then the Spiritual battle has already been lost.

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?

Just remember that the greatest gift ever given was given freely, cheerfully, and gracefully.