In a recent post Does Anyone Really Know What Tithing is? Does Anyone Really Care? by George Bullard he revealed the multiple definition of tithing out there in the minds of our people. He writes:
Just ask any group of church members and you will be totally confused.
A focus group of a dozen or so people sat around a conference room table having a conversation about tithing and generosity. The people in the room were there because they had identified themselves as tithers. Each person was asked to write down their definition of tithing.
The result? Someone out there knows what tithing is, but I am not quite sure many people agree on the definition. Here are some of the answers. Which one is the correct answer?
- “Tithing is giving 10 percent of my income to the Lord.”
- “Tithing is giving regularly to the work of God’s church.”
- “Tithing is giving 10 percent of line 22 of IRS form 1040 to your church.”
- “Between my church, my civic club, and various other great causes contributing 10 percent of my income.”
- “Tithing is pledging a certain amount of money to my church each year and being faithful to fulfill that pledge.”
- “Tithing is making an online contribution to my church using my smartphone during the offering time each week I am present.”
- “I am not quite sure why I got invited to this meeting. My intention is to tithe but I do not have the money now. I give what I can, and hope I can make it up later when I have more income. Perhaps I can leave my church some money in my will.”
- “I work for a Christian ministry who requires me to make a regular contribution to them. I consider this part of my tithe and give the rest to my church.”
- “I give 10 percent of my take home pay that shows up in my bank through automatic deposit. Someone suggested to me recently that I ought to tithe the gross rather than the net, and the amount my company pays for my fringe benefits. I hope they are wrong because I could not do that.”
Which one of these is tithing? See, that is the problem. The average Christian–even though they may claim to be tithers–have no common understanding of tithing.
It begs the question. Do we need to go back and reinforce the concept of tithing? Or, do we need to go forward and create a culture of generosity? HT
Additional Resources
5 Reasons People Are Not Giving To Your Church
10 Highlights on Church Giving to Share with Your Church Board
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