Here is a video linked from Youtube about an interview from Reuben Armstrong talking about pastors deceiving others about money.
Baptist Press News: Generous Stewardship
I read an article today in the Baptist Press by Kenneth Hemphill titled, “Generous Stewardship“. Ken, makes a statement that is very true and consistent among individuals today. He says that the average couple is spending more than they earn, and are getting themselves into dangerous debt. He was pinpointing that personally, we are spending more on ourselves and that our church finances are struggling because of it. I agree with Mr. Hemphill, but what I am disappointed in is his lack of foresight on the issue.
Let’s take a look at the church as a whole. After all, it is an example to the believers as well as the unbelievers of how we should serve Christ. Let’s look at the debt that our churches are in. Let’s see how much we are spending on ourselves, our facilities, our programs, and entertainment! I think in every individual’s case, we only follow the leadership that is set before us. In that case, our debt is in direct correlation to the debt we see our churches getting into. Whose fault is it? Well, of course, every individual is responsible, so we’ll answer for how our own choices have affected others.
Our churches and leaders keep making excuses that we need to collect ministry debt to continue our pursuit of God’s calling. But on the flip side, why aren’t individuals allowed to make the same excuse for our own family? Instead, my things and possessions are considered to be purchased in light of a self-centered heart and poor stewardship. If my vision and goals are the same as my local church then what’s the difference between my debt and the church’s debt?
Helping the local church out with debt seems to be acceptable, but helping individual finances tends to be a bit more taboo. Is it concerning that many leaders feel the Spirit calling the church in a financial direction, but the followers are blocked from spiritual discernment to financial support?
Let’s look at the scriptures and Israel for an example. Israel was required to give a tithe by the commands of the law because their calling came from the law. Can you also see how our giving is commanded by the Spirit because our calling comes from the Spirit? A pastor should not receive instruction from the Spirit and yet use the law to support it financially. It would be hypocritical for the Holy Spirit not to empower financial discernment upon individuals whom he’s asked to perform a task.
I could go on with example after example, illustration after illustration, verse after verse, but this is just food for thought.
Starving the Needy to Feed the Vision
If I were to say to my kids, “tonight, we’re going to skip dinner so that mommy and daddy can save up for a house”, do you think that I could be reported to child affairs? I guess the same goes for how our churches operate. They neglect the immediate needs of their fellowship so they can fulfill their future goals. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with these visions and goals per se, but why have we neglected the immediate needs of our fellowship? You can’t nutritionalize and keep your family healthy by living on a vision. Visions and goals are good and all but let’s face it, I’m not skipping my dinners to fulfill them.
One of the bad doctrines that stem out of “The pursuit of Goals” is the enforcement of tithing. Many leaders call their church to follow in their footsteps as they are being led by the Spirit to build. This raises much suspicion because the people must give by a mandated law to a cause that claims to be inspired by the Spirit. But how can the Spirit give a commission on building expensive structures, without the ability to commission potential givers? Can you see how using the law to fund the call of the Spirit obstructs the spirit of discernment? This is how cults are formed and people are deceived. All someone has to do is say, I had a vision from God, and now you should support this vision, no questions asked.
Let’s have some accountability with our visions and our giving. If the Spirit is prompting the pastor to purchase a nicer complex, then I believe the Spirit should be the entity that prompts the support as well. If a pastor knows that our giving is open to discernment, he’ll probably think twice before he neglects the needy to feed the vision.
Challenging First Fruit Tithing
As I was going over some news about tithing and offerings in the church, I noticed how more and more churches are allowing debit and credit card payments for the tithe and offerings. In the back of my mind, I’m wondering what the pastors think about the financial fees that the church pays for using a visa or master card. I’m wondering if they are going to start telling their people to pay 11% of a tithe just to cover the fees. Obviously, the credit card fees are deducted from what the churches receive so that they won’t be receiving a full tenth.
Also, the churches who tithe to other charities from what they receive; I’m wondering whether or not they will be willing to give a tithe from their first fruits (before the finance charges). It would be interesting if they could justify giving a tenth from after the finance charges are taken out, and not justify the congregation from giving a tenth on their net income.
My logic and questioning here sound so bizarre and almost funny, but I guarantee many of the churches have pondered these questions. It blows my mind when tithe teachers say that “we shouldn’t follow the exact law of the old testament tithing, but follow the general rule of giving 10% to the Lord’s work”. It blows my mind because we say that the tithe is a “general” rule but we’ve gotta ask questions about, finance charges, should I do this on net or gross, what about profits, increase, first fruits, at the beginning at the end of the week, how should I, when should I, where should i . .. . in front of the church, behind the church, at the info desk, should I give cash, checks, or credit cards, what about my retirement money, what about my pension, what about my disability, can I give to the church, can I give to my pastor, what about charities, what about my bills, what about my debt workman’s comp, insurance payouts, food stamps, unemployment income, tax returns, rebates, . . . and bla bla bla, and on and on the questions come. Tithing is not a “general” rule or principle for that matter, when you’ve gotta hire a financial guide just to figure out how, when, and where you should tithe.
Even though our leaders have substituted Spiritually empowered giving with an Old Testament law, they still expect the Holy Spirit to intervene.
Giving Freely or Willingly?
What’s the difference? What do I mean what’s the difference? What’s the difference between giving freely and giving willingly? Maybe there isn’t a difference. I have to admit that they both are very similar, but in regards to the definition of how you should give, they are different. The actual dictionary definitions do not explain much of the difference. They both practically use the word in the definition, which doesn’t help. So if we use the bible(NKJV) to help us see the difference maybe we can understand what the difference is.
1 Cor. 9:17 – For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
Matt 10:8 – Freely you have received, freely give.
The concordance definition of willingly states this:
1) unforced, voluntary, willing
2) of one’s own will
3) of one’s own accord
The Concordance definition of freely states this:
1) freely, undeservedly
Willingly implies- cheerfully making the choice to do what someone has asked you to do. But it is not obligatory in the fact that you are forced to do it. You don’t have a will when you are forced to do something. Now freely on the other hand implies that the giver wasn’t given a command or asked to do it, but gave it for practically no cause.
Many tithe teachers think that freely in the bible means that we shouldn’t feel that we have to give a tenth, but we should give out of love and because we want to give, and we are under grace now. In actuality, though they are explaining willing giving, not free giving. No one is ever forced to give up a tenth of their income. God doesn’t hold a gun to everyone’s head and gives them no choice. if the tithe truly is commanded by God, but He does not force us to do it, then you cannot freely give it. You must willingly give the tithe. Why this is so important to understand is because giving freely has nothing to do with tithing. The Bible allows us under the new covenant to freely give the tithe, but we are not under a command to do so. You are free to give any amount that you see fit, including 10%, because there is no exact command from scriptures. Although we have no command in scriptures to give a specific amount, that doesn’t mean that we don’t receive instructions from the Holy Spirit. So, now we are presented with an opportunity to give willingly because there are still commands coming from God about giving.
When the Holy Spirit asks you to give a certain amount, are you willing to give out of love and because you want to give? Do you want to give willingly? It’s your choice.
Big Budgets Puts Pressure on Tithing
An article for the Christian Post, titled, “Religious Needs Drive a Market for Borrowing” goes over some speculation about the amount of borrowing that churches are doing lately. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with “churches” borrowing, I just hope that they counted the cost before they go into debt like that. The amount of borrowing that churches are doing do not go away overnight. They are 30-year mortgages, that would seem in my opinion, outlast the lifetime of some churches. I know my church had started our church with a 16 million dollar facility over a year ago. Now, it’s down to 8 or 9 million. I hate to say that churches are wrong putting that much money into buildings, because i know there is a need for a safe social place for teens and young adults to hang around. Most of us don’t complain about the money that was put into the YMCA because most of us don’t think twice that all of the money that was used to support the YMCA came from churches. The YMCA foundation was built to combat the social peer pressure and social illness that worldliness had to offer.
I think it’s dangerous that we are banking on future attendance of our congregation. I think our church started sweating a little bit because we had about 3 active NFL players that gave tithes in our congregation when we decided to build our building. Now one of them was traded, another became retired, and the last one i think left. Right after all that happened, it was amazing to hear the amount of time that was spent on teaching about tithing. I don’t really know why the number of tithing sermons became more often. That was just my guess. So anyways, you can see that many churches are somewhat betting on at least the attendance of their people.
I hope things work out for the churches that do spend lots of money, but more than anything, i hope that what they are doing is not all about money, but about people.