Many Christians don’t want to talk about the tithe, but we really should. I’ve been teaching financial stewardship for about three years now, and I have come to realize that the tithe is probably the most important tool we have to change our community.
I’ve been teaching the tithe simply as a measure of obedience to God and as a way to release money’s hold over your life. But the last time I taught it to the women in the Total Life Recovery Program at the Women’s Community Correctional Center, I visualized a new dimension of the tithe for the first time.
I’ve long known that the tithe was originally intended by God to support the Levites and the widows and orphans (Deuteronomy 14:22-29), so during this class, I decided to show the women how it worked. We created a fictional church; the stats looked something like this:
Church membership – 2,000 working adults
Average income - $3,000 per month
Tithe (10%) collected – 2,000 x $300 = $600,000 per month
On seeing this figure one of the women commented, “What’s the church going to do with all that money?!”
“I’m glad you asked,” I replied. And I broke it down.
Let’s say that after the senior pastor, you add one staff member for each 200 people. So our church would have 11 staff members. Their average salary should equal the average salary of the church as a whole, so the monthly staff salary would be 11 x $3,000 = $33,000. Let’s figure facility costs (rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.) at 10% of the monthly income, $60,000. Let’s pay a tithe to the denomination, another $60,000. This totals $153,000, leaving us with a balance of $447,000 per month, or $5,364,000 per year. What is the church going to do with all that money?
Deuteronomy 14:29 says, “… and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied.” Jesus said, “‘For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’” (Matthew 25:35-36) Paul said, “And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” (Titus 3:14) Put this together with the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Now you know what the church is going to do with that money!
God gave the church, not the government, the responsibility for social welfare. When the church members give a tithe, the church can take care of the homeless and the hungry, fight drug use, rehabilitate prisoners and addicts, train the jobless, and serve in many other areas where the government fails to make lasting change. The government bandages wounds where the church is capable of bringing healing. Isn’t it time for the church to make a real difference?
If you are a church leader, develop a plan for how your church is going to help bring about social change and evangelize. Involve your congregation. Ask them to support this work with their tithe.
If you are a church member, ask your pastor what your church is doing to bring about social change and to evangelize. If they don’t have a plan, ask if you can help draft up one. Then support the plan with your tithe.
If you are currently unchurched, start looking around for a church that has a social welfare and evangelism plan that corresponds with your own passion. Get involved; start giving your tithe somewhere that will use it wisely.
If we all do our part to enable the Church to do its part in social welfare, we will free the government to use our tax dollars on the things they do best - take care of the roads, provide police and fire departments, other infrastructural systems. A wisely given tithe can lead to better spent tax dollars.
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