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Feeling the pinch?: Churches urged to teach the tithe Mary Jacobs, Aug 28, 2009
2009 DESIGN PICS PHOTO
Economic circumstances today may offer churches a “teachable moment” regarding the practice of tithing, say United Methodist clergy.
By Mary Jacobs Staff Writer
Four words that many United Methodists will likely hear in church soon: stewardship, pledging, gifts, giving.
Two words you might not hear: tithe, tithing.
Churches are launching their fall annual stewardship campaigns at a time when unemployment hovers around 10 percent and financial markets remain shaky. Many pastors may even hesitate to preach about the biblical teaching on tithing: giving 10 percent of one’s income to God.
“There’s a likelihood that many pastors will shy away from the concept of tithing,” said Dan Dick, director of connectional ministries for the Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church and author of Beyond Money (Discipleship Resources, 2006.) In a poor economic climate, he said, many pastors “will get more apologetic and cautious about putting ‘pressure’ on people to give.”
The denomination’s Book of Discipline prescribes that each annual conference, as part of its responsibilities in the area of stewardship, is to “educate the local church that tithing is the minimum goal of giving in the United Methodist Church.”
And the 2004 Book of Resolutions affirms the 2000 General Conference’s adoption of “a program for teaching and preaching for spiritual growth in giving, with an emphasis of setting tithing as a goal for every person in The United Methodist Church.”
But the reality is that giving by United Methodists averages less than 2 percent of annual incomes. And a survey of all Americans conducted by the Barna Group in 2007, showed that only about 5 percent of adults tithed. “Whether they believe in the principle of tithing or not, few Americans give away that much money,” the report concluded.
So where’s the disconnect?
“We’re not teaching our pastors how to talk about money,” said the Rev. Melvin Amerson, who co-wrote Celebrating the Offering (Discipleship Resources, 2007) with his brother, James Amerson.
“Pastors don’t feel comfortable sharing their faith as it relates to giving, so members fail to receive instruction and insight into biblical giving,” he said. “That’s why we have so few tithers.”
Stewardship experts say that hesitancy stems from a misunderstanding of the principle itself. “I think this is a little bit of a ‘shame on us,’” said Mr. Dick. “The church took a good spiritual principle—tithing—and turned it into a financial tool.”
Jennifer Tyler, a member of First UMC of Richardson and CEO of the stewardship consulting firm Tyler Associates, says the disconnect is nothing new.
“I think it’s rooted in the fear of suggesting that people step up to return that 10 percent, and that stems back to a lack of understanding as to the ownership of our resources to begin with,” she said.
“It’s difficult for people to let go of what they think of as their own.” While the economy may affect how much people are able to give, it’s no reason to abandon the idea of tithing, says Missouri Bishop Robert Schnase.
“I see this as a vital teaching moment,” he said. What’s gotten us into this economic situation is spending beyond our means, he said, which exposes underlying spiritual issues.
“These economic circumstances afford us the opportunity to ask some questions we’ve been avoiding for a long time,” Bishop Schnase said, “about our values, about contentment and what makes for a flourishing life.
“When we’ve got people who are 40 who feel like failures because they are not millionaires, and 60 percent of the population spending 110 percent of its income each year, those are not just financial issues. Those are spiritual issues.”
Brian Hammons, lay leader of the Missouri Conference, says that avoiding the topic could shortchange church members on the blessings of tithing. Several years ago, he and his wife felt God’s leading to “step up” toward the practice of tithing.
“We thought, ‘How in the world can we ever do that?’ he recalled. “But we committed to it. We just focused, made that a priority, and other things came next. Things just worked out. Unexpected sources of finances came to us.
“Every week, we write that check and we realize that God has once again provided. It really is a spiritual blessing.”
The challenge for pastors this fall will be to preach boldly, without seeming insensitive to the economic reality that many people currently face, or resorting to desperate pleas for money.
“The recession invokes fear,” said Mr. Amerson. “As believers, we walk by faith. We have to trust that God will supply all of our needs during good times and uncertain times. We have to stand by that faith during this economic crisis.”
Bishop Schnase says United Methodists need to redefine what tithing really means. “The switch in our minds has to be, this isn’t about the church’s need for money, this is about developing a spiritual capacity for giving,” he said. “That focus is true any time of life and in every economic circumstance. In fact, it’s almost more true now.”
To truly understand the principle of tithing, Mr. Dick said, church members should go back to the earliest biblical teaching, which appears in Deuteronomy 14.
“Originally, the tithe was not an offering to support the religious institution,” he said. “It was a spirit act to celebrate all that God provides and to care for neighbors.” Tithes were “consumed” by the people who brought them in a kind of harvest celebration. Every third year, the tithes were gathered for distribution to widows and orphans.
Over the centuries, Mr. Dick said, the church has turned the tithe “into a fundraising tool to fund the ministry of the local and general church. But the whole concept of tithing isn’t about legalism, it’s about stepping up to do the right thing.”
So how should pastors teach about the tithe during stewardship campaigns this fall, while many people in the pews feel burdened by economic strains? Mr. Amerson proposes the idea of “holistic” stewardship programs that include more than just giving.
“We need to teach people how to be good stewards of their money,” he said. “We need to teach them about saving, about avoiding excessive debt, and about contentment.”
Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist megachurch in Ohio, uses such a holistic approach with great success. The church’s annual stewardship program “has proven effective in liberating our people from the bondage of debt while simultaneously increasing the outreach of our church’s mission in exponential ways,” pastor Mike Slaughter writes on the church’s Web site.
“It’s not enough to teach our people about the joy that comes from sacrificial giving,” he writes. “We must also aggressively help them to deal with the oppressive burden of debt.”
Ginghamsburg’s stewardship program emphasizes the concept of contentment as a way to overcome American consumerism.
“We live in a culture where the advertising industry has devised powerful, sophisticated methods to induce consumers to buy,” Mr. Slaughter writes. “The more TV you watch, the more you spend. The more you shop, the more you spend. But 1 Timothy 6:6 says: Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Mr. Slaughter says that pastors and lay leaders should already be practicing tithe themselves before they can preach it. He admits he didn’t tithe until a seminary professor issued a sharp challenge to his class one day.
“Are any of you cheating God?” the professor asked. “If you are not giving God the full tithe, you are cheating God. I ask that you have the integrity not to go into vocational ministry if you cannot obey God in such a simple matter.”
The Slaughter family has tithed faithfully ever since.
Bishop Schnase encourages pastors to shift their focus from obligatory giving to “extravagant generosity,” one of five tools described in his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Abingdon Press, 2007). Conventional stewardship appeals may modify behavior, he says, but teaching generosity is more likely to change hearts: “It creates a kind of distance from the money monster.”
Even for those who are not in a position to give, stewardship campaigns present another opportunity in hard times: They lay the groundwork for stronger long-term financial commitment that will pay off when the economy improves. Giving at the local church level tends to decline during recessions, but increases in the years following, according to data from the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration.
During the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, for instance, giving dropped 2.43 percent from 1978 to 1979, and again by another 3.11 percent in 1980. But then giving increased an average of about 1.9 percent every year through 1989.
“This is a real opportunity to rethink the spiritual depths of tithing,” Bishop Schnase said. “It’s a real growing opportunity for disciples and for churches.”
Ms. Tyler agrees. “Generosity is not a matter of how much money we have; it’s a matter of the heart.”
2009 DESIGN PICS PHOTO
“There’s a likelihood that many pastors will shy away from the concept of tithing,” said Dan Dick, director of connectional ministries for the Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church and author of Beyond Money (Discipleship Resources, 2006.) In a poor economic climate, he said, many pastors “will get more apologetic and cautious about putting ‘pressure’ on people to give.” 
“The recession invokes fear,” said Mr. Amerson. “As believers, we walk by faith. We have to trust that God will supply all of our needs during good times and uncertain times. We have to stand by that faith during this economic crisis.” 
