Percentage Giving

In my last entry I wrote about tithing, or giving 10% of net income to the church. I mentioned that it took several years to reach my goal. Here is a suggestion of how anyone can painlessly achieve tithing over a period of time.

Look at your paycheck. The amount you receive after taxes is NET income. Multiply that amount by 26 if you get 26 pays per year. If you are paid twice a month, multiply by 24 or by 12 if you are paid only once a month. This is your annual net income.

Now multiply your annual net income by 10%. This amount is a tithe. Divide by 52 weeks a year. This is what should be contributed to your religious organization each week. I doubt that anyone attends services every single week of the year. I sometimes have to double up if I miss a Sunday here and there. The goal is to have that whole tithe paid in by the end of the year.

You might be thinking ...wow! I can't afford to give up that much of my yearly income. This is where percentage giving comes in. Start by multiplying your net income by 1%. Compare that to what you gave to the church last year. Is this number less than what you gave? If it is less, then is it possible to make a commitment to give at least 1% in the next year?

If you gave more than 1%, then keep multiplying your net income by increasing percentages until you get close to what you actually gave. This calculation will tell you where you are on the path toward tithing.

The point is this...figure out where you are and make a commitment to increase your giving by small percentages each year until you reach 10%.

I have often thought that finance committees should host a "Calculator Sunday", where parishioners would be given an inexpensive calculator and guided through the math right during the worship service. Gimmicky...sure it is, but I think it would drive the point home that a lot of people give less than 1% of their income to the church. My hunch is that, at the very least, this exercise would turn out to be thought provoking and might even result in increased giving.

I don't think the average person gives much thought to the cost of operating a church. For many, the only contact they have with the church is attending worship for one hour a week. We have become consumers and have the expectation that the church will provide inspiration and support at little or no cost or commitment from us.

Most of us have to live on budgets at home. Any organization we work for has a budget. In most cases, funds are not unlimited. Some churches have endowments that yield income to a certain degree, but the vast majority of religious organizations depend on the contributions of the members. Some denominations exert more pressure than others to contribute, but most are at the whim of the congregation. We want to be "fed" but are unwilling to contribute to the food budget.

Take stock of your giving by going through this simple exercise. Then ask yourself..."Does my level of giving reflect what I a receiving?"

Stewardship

I choose the name, "God's Gardner" because the seeds of faith were planted early in my life. From that time on, I have continued to gently sew the seeds of faith wherever and whenever I can. The church has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. During childhood, my aunt took me to Sunday School. When I was old enough to walk to church alone on Sunday mornings, I did so. When I learned to drive, I took my grandmother to Sunday evening services. I guess I have always felt the call to serve God throughout my life through participation in worship, church programs and missions. The church has been and will continue to be a strong thread in the fabric of my life and I believe that I should support her financially with my tithe.

The fall season is stewardship time. Religious organizations use a variety of methods to convince their members to part with hard-earned dollars. Budgets are created for the coming year and annual reports are produced. I worked toward tithing for several years. It didn't happen all at once. It took me years of increasing my pledge by a greater percentage until I reached my goal of giving 10%. Tithing is Biblical. Malachi 3: 10 reads, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this", says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough of for it"

Here is how I do it. First I "render onto Caesar what is Caesar's" (taxes) then I give 10% of my net income to my church. I don't look at it like I am giving up 10%. Rather I remember that I still have 90% left to do with as I please. Some months it is hard when unexpected expenses tempt me to hold back from the church. After all, no one is going to send me a threatening bill from the church! What I give is between me and God, right? RIGHT!!

This is where my trust in God comes in. When I give to God as he expects, I do not want for anything. The more faithful I am to my tithe, the more blessings I receive. One woman put it this way, "The more I shovel out, the more God shovels it back in...and He has a bigger shovel!" Somehow, bills get paid and needs are met with some to spare. But I think it is important to keep this perspective...I don't tithe because I want to receive in the future. I tithe out of gratitude for blessings I have already received. Thanks be to God.

Oh, I am human. I still worry and fret sometimes about finances. But when I start doing this, I draw myself up short and recite Matthew 6:26..."Look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" This has become my mantra in tight financial times.

When I look around at the affluence in the area I live in, I cannot help wondering what would happen if all of those splendid households tithed to the churches they attend. There would be no more worries about meeting operating expenses. Missions would be mightily supported. Instead of deficit spending, there would be more abundance than we could imagine. But instead of bringing the whole tithe into the church so that she can do wondrous things in the world, most just build bigger barns and keep it for themselves. I wonder if their faith lies in their own ability to accumulate and display wealth rather than depending on God to sustain them.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven." It is no sin to become rich from honest endeavors. The sin lies in what we do with our wealth. It grieves the heart of God when some of his children go hungry and live on the streets in the shadow of the great wealth of selfish others. "What you do onto the least of these, you do onto me," says the Lord.

Think about this. What miracles could be achieved if the wealth of the world was tithed?