It’s official, The Burner has run the numbers: Churches should receive $442 billion dollars every year.
Follow TB down the primrose math:
116 million American households (75% Christian) bringing in an average of $50,233 and should tithe a total of $442 billion dollars. What’s the Church going to do with half a bank stimulus package every year? (BTW, maybe this is a good time to point out that starting a a church is an entry into a potential half-billion-dollar annual market. What’s that? There’s already 335,000 churches? Nevermind.)
What is the Church going to do with half a bank stimulus package every year? Rotational Sunday School? iPads for the staff? Bowling alleys and a gym for the youth? Surely all those things are valuable, so let’s think about funding buildings and staff and groundskeeping and nursery workers and technology and full-color bulletins and awesomely redundant social media networks (TB is looking at you, Unifyer.) Oh, and missions.
Taking care of the church building, the congregation and the church leadership is important, so let’s say that the average church budget puts 1% (!) towards missions. With every Christian contributing to a church, and every church contributing to mission, we end up with $4.4 billion dollars.
That’s a lot of dough–for bread.
That’s a lot of scratch–to help those scratching out a living.
That’s a lot loot–to build a “loot” of housing (sorry) for the homeless here and abroad.
This is what the Church could do: $4.4 billion dollars every year, fighting poverty, hunger, thirst, and injustice. And you could still have your bowling alleys.
But is it what the Church should do?
No–the church should do even more! Way, way, way back in the day, approximately 3300 years ago, God laid out some rules regarding tithing to the newly formed tribes of Israel. In Numbers 18, God lays out the plan for tithing: The people tithe to the Levites, the Levites tithe from the tithe to the priests. When the fields produce, everybody shares in the bounty. When there is little, all the people bare the brunt.
“A tithe of a tithe.” What a great concept–not a surprise coming from the Lord. If everybody gives, everybody has enough. Notice though, that the instruction isn’t to give away everything. There are no financial Loan Rangers here. God is the one who provides and God is the one who distributes. Nobody but God gets glory for providing for someone in need.
Some might point out that as Christians we are not required to follow OT Hebrew law. But if this is the plan that God lays out, then it’s probably still a good plan. The church members tithe to the church, the church tithes to God…? How can a church tithe?
A church tithe is equal to the same amount it expects from its congregation: let’s say 10 percent. Ten percent should be put forth into directly affecting the world in which it serves. Call it, say, a missions budget or something.
Everybody gives, everybody has enough. Suddenly that $4.4 billion becomes $44 billion–the equivalent of Warren Buffet pulling a rich young ruler and giving away his wealth.
Every year.
What could that do for the world’s needs?
Everybody gives, everybody has enough.
