If all the believers in a church can pay their own tithes, what will the church be like?
Several senior pastors have given some thoughts:
“The debt of our church (millions of yuan) could have been solved already.”
“We could have had the ability to build a church successfully instead of going through so many difficulties. ”
“The church will be ‘magnificent’!”
Recently, I visited a landmark church in a provincial capital city in East China, in which almost all the believers are paying tithes.
The construction of the new church where the musical instruments, sacred tables, benches, and other supplies are all of high quality cost more than 10 million yuan, and church co-workers are well paid. There are all kinds of talents in the church, some of whom used to be corporate executives in society. The church has done plenty of charity work and helped many vulnerable groups in a practical way. Instead of being in debt, the church has formed the Matthew effect. The number of believers and contributions become more and more.
The former financial manager of the church said that almost all believers are tithing. Even during the epidemic, the church’s tithing was not affected-most believers chose to tithe online, while others kept saving the money for tithing and finally gave it in one time after the church resumed gatherings.
This financial co-worker was impressed by an old sister who paid her tithe. When the church resumed gatherings, the old sister went directly to the financial office with her bag. She opened the bag, then took out the cash inside several times, saying, “this is my tithe, this is my son’s tithe, this is my daughter’s tithing...”
The sister has been ‘staring at’ her children’s tithes while insisting on tithing herself. She asked the children to give the money for tithing to her so that she could help to give the church all the money on her behalf. When some of her children said that they would pay their tithes themselves, she replied that it could be done but the remittance record should be sent to her after tithing.
Another old sister went to the financial co-worker, saying that there was good news that she would give 1 million yuan to the church. It turned out that the old sister and her husband had sold an apartment located near key high schools, and the money was shared between their several children and them. One-tenth of the money of the apartment that had been sold plus the part gotten by the old couple totaled 1 million yuan, which they were going to give the church. The financial co-worker was worried about the opposition of the old couple’s children, though, the two said calmly that it was their property and their children wouldn’t have the right to oppose anything.
Why can this church do so well in tithing? Several co-workers told the Gospel Times (an online Christian media in China) reasons. First, this is the duty of believers. Second, doing so will get greater blessings from God.
In terms of charity, this church has done considerable things. Many churches in China have beggars outside their gates when they worship on Sunday. The church co-workers would learn about beggars, find out and help those people who really needed help when they were in a similar situation. One of the beggars, with the help of the church, lived in a nursing home. Several years have passed and he still enjoys the favor of the church now.
- Translated by Stephen Huang
