Move over worship wars. There’s a new battle brewing in North America’s churches, this one focused on the Sunday morning offering. Fewer of the faithful carry cash these days, and for younger worshipers, writing a check is as old school (and annoying) as email. But tradition dies hard. Stewardship stalwarts cling to their collection plates [...]
Damned if you tithe and damned if you don’t
September 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Lost in the kerfuffle over Mitt Romney’s tax returns is a sorry story about how Americans’ (including good church folks) have come to think about charitable giving. When a family of limited means is faithful in tithing a full 10 percent, we cheer. Nothing beats a good widow and her mite story for warming hearts. [...]
Generosity in quotes
August 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
“Most of us have heard a sermon or three about generous giving and tithing. It is far more rare to hear messages about dealing with the challenge of living in a society (and at times, a church culture) that treats covetousness as a virtue. It may be rarer still to admit that each one of [...]
Remembering my father, who taught me well that generous matters.
June 17, 2012 By 4 Comments
Over the years, I’ve been blessed by stories of godly parents and grandparents who both talked the talk and walked the walk of generosity. This includes the following tale told to Thom Jeavons and me as we did research for our book, Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry. A woman recalled learning about tithing [...]
The 10 percent solution to what ails our country
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The long-term impact of declining church attendance is obvious – at least to me. As fewer people find their way into America’s churches, fewer people are giving as an expression of their faith. Empty seats in houses of worship translate almost immediately into fewer dollars contributed to all kinds of charitable causes – both faith-based [...]
Generosity in quotes
January 25, 2012 By 1 Comment
“Paul thinks everything we have is the result of God’s grace, that the material and the spiritual are tied together, and that our responsibility is to see that God’s grace is such that our duty is to pass the grace — we get in order to give. God rescues us and we respond materially, and [...]
So what that evangelical leaders are divided over tithing?
April 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
My friend Devin Manzullo-Thomas over at The Search for Piety and Obedience tipped me off to waning loyalty to the biblical tithe among evangelical leaders. In a survey sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals, 58 percent of respondent said they do not believe the Bible requires a tithe, while 42 percent said they do. Interestingly, 95 percent [...]
