WHERE OH WHERE DOES MY TITHE GO?

Ever wonder where your tithe money goes when you drop it into the collection plate?

Well, this break down below might help you get an idea of where it’s being spent. Of course, not every church is the same. There are a few that might spend a little on the poor or help support missionaries, but even those churches would only give around 3% under that category.

60% of the Tithe goes to:
Pastor Salaries
Health care
House payments (Housing allowance)
Children’s Tuitions
Vacation pay
Cars (Vans, maintenance, registration, etc.)
Utilities
Travel costs
Entertainment (Pastor’s lunch, catered meetings, etc.)
Seminars and conference costs

35% of the Tithe goes to:
Church mortgage
Audio visual equipment
Fellowship food and drink
Music instruments

5% of the Tithe goes to:
Youth group materials
Sunday School curriculum

0% of the Tithe goes to:
The poor
Evangelism
Missions
*Special Offerings are usually taken for these concerns.

Next blog: Where Oh Where Did The New Testament Tithe Come From?

THE GATES OF BILL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST HER

by Keith Giles

“But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." - (Matthew 16: 15-19)

The Christian Church is resilient and irresistable as long as it remains built upon the right foundation. Even the Gates of Hell aren't strong enough to withstand the advance of the Body, according to our Lord Jesus.

So, when we read that the current economic downturn threatens to cripple the American church it makes me wonder – “What is our Church built upon?” If we were built upon Christ and His identity as the Messiah, I believe that nothing could shake us or weaken our effectiveness.

As the article in the link points out, “organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.” So, the decline of the American Church is nothing new. The Great Recession we’re in now only accentuates the problem. In America, the Church has aligned herself with a political agenda, and has embraced a business model, rather than to take a New Testament approach.

Usually whenever I point these things out I get the most vehement responses from my brothers and sisters in Christ. They either defend the business model of church or the political solution, or they deny that such an association exists. Others simply insult me for attacking the Bride – as if calling God’s people to a more New Testament approach is somehow an act of violence rather than an appeal to repent and be healed.

I’m honestly flabbergasted by the Church’s lust for the business model. If it had brought us any real fruit over the years I could understand our attraction for adopting the Bill Gates’ philosophy of ecclesia. However, most pastors will readily admit that the current model of traditional church hasn’t produced better disciples, more loving followers of Jesus or an increase in moral or ethical advancement in the Body. If anything we see the opposite. Not just in the church, but those outside the church are increasingly turned off by our “bigger is better” approach and our constant focus on money as a fuel for growth or a benchmark of God’s approval.

Being bigger doesn’t correlate to deeper faith, more earnest discipleship or transformed lives. Attracting a crowd isn’t a required skill for those who seek to follow Jesus and put his words into practice. Scoring converts isn’t a fulfillment of the Great Commission to teach people all that Jesus commanded and make disciples of all nations.

Just think about the environment you work in. Does your workplace inspire a sense of family? Does it foster a pervasive sense of belonging to a greater cause? Does it help you generate a stronger sense of love for your co-workers? Does it inspire you (or anyone else) to adopt the mission statement into a way of living life? Do you ever find yourself wishing that your church family could be more like your workplace? I simply cannot understand why we would look to an organizational model for the Church when it accomplishes nothing for the Kingdom and only succeeds in growth at the expense of others.

This is why the Church in America can, with a straight face, demand that pastors sign non-compete clauses before they’re considered for the pulpit. We wouldn’t want to invest in this person, and the success of our church, only to have this charismatic individual leave and start his own franchise down the road – taking key investors (tithers) with him.

These behaviors do not encourage church growth, they inhibit and discourage the planting of churches in a community based on the need for success - and this definition of success has nothing to do with making disciples or serving others or meeting the needs of people within the community. No, in this new business model of church, success is strictly defined as growing larger and increasing the size of the bank account.

Because we have built our American Church on the business model, we are now suffering right along with every other business as our economy slows down and spending is at an all-time low. Churches are laying off ministers, cutting youth budgets, selling their buildings and liquidating their assets. What will we do now? After nearly two thousand years enduring persecution and the lions of the coliseum, even the Gates of Hell itself, will the Church now be overcome by the Gates of Bill? Will we finally be defeated by our own greed and misplaced values? No, I don’t think so.

If anything, I believe that more and more churches in America will discover, the hard way, that they really can be the church they were called to be without a building, or a paid staff of professionals, or a thirty thousand dollar sound system. In fact, many others have already discovered this. Not only have these followers of Jesus discovered their ability to be the church outside of the American business model, they’ve also discovered that they can actually grow the size, and the quality, of their congregations by empowering them to be the church in their community and take responsibility for their own spiritual growth and the well-being of one another in the Body.

Truthfully, the majority of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the globe are already experiencing exponential growth, new conversions to the faith, and powerful moves of the Holy Spirit completely apart from paid staff, million dollar structures or a business plan. All they have is the New Testament, the indwelling presence of Almighty God and a simple faith in the Son of God that nothing will stand against the power of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Sounds like a great business plan to me.

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A.W. Tozer on Corporate Christianity

We in the churches seem unable to rise above the fiscal philosophy which rules the business world; so we introduce into our church finances the psychology of the great secular institutions so familiar to us all and judge a church by its financial report much as we judge a bank or a department store.

A look into history will quickly convince any interested person that the true church has almost always suffered more from prosperity than from poverty. Her times of greatest spiritual power have usually coincided with her periods of indigence and rejection; with wealth came weakness and backsliding. If this cannot be explained, neither apparently can it be escaped.

The average church has so established itself organizationally and financially that God is simply not necessary to it. So entrenched is its authority and so stable are the religious habits of its members that God could withdraw Himself completely from it and it could run on for years on its own momentum.
- A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership

Thanks to Alan Knox for pointing out this quote to me. Great stuff.

RE-POST: CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY

CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY
By Keith Giles

As a society, we are conditioned to find our identity in what we own or purchase. As Christians, we are conditioned to express our faith through the sanctified products we purchase, own or consume. This is the perversion of Christ into Capitalism and an expression of faith through consumption of products. It is wrong.

A good friend sent me an article he found that provided an intriguing historical perspective on our evolution from artisans to consumers. I've pulled out the quotes I found most fascinating below:

"A Short History of Consumption
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the relationship between people and the goods that they made was broken. No longer did peasants plant, tend, and harvest their crops; now agricultural workers labored over someone else’s crops in exchange for wages. No longer did artisans design, plan, craft, and sell; now factory workers repeatedly carried out a single step in the production of a product, again in exchange for wages."

"In short, people were no longer producers, they were now consumers."

"Our identities were no longer tied up with the work we did, but with the buying power our work left us with."

"So people found their identities not in their work but in the things they could buy by working."

"People became consumers, not just in the way they got what they needed but in who they felt themselves to be."

"Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy"

*Full article HERE


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The entire article is mainly looking at consumption from an environmental impact perspective, but the points made about our lifelong indoctrination to consumerism as a society are very eye-opening to me. Especially in light of the ongoing series of articles I've been writing lately regarding the evils of the Christian Subculture over on my weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground].

Here's what I think we need to understand, as followers of Jesus, regarding the observations made in this article above.

CONSUMPTION IS SELF-EXPRESSION
We, as a society, have made consuming and purchasing products part of our identity structure. This is why people will fork out $30 for a t-shirt with some corporate logo and walk around as a billboard for them, not because they love that company or product, not because of their loyalty to the brand, but because they think that logo makes THEM look cool. It says something about them, and so they willingly become walking advertising...and they PAY for the privilege. Amazing.

CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
Honestly, this really does help me to formulate a clear picture of what's going on in the Christian subculture. We're finding our identity as "Christians" in the products we purchase. These products brand us and identify us as a subset of people. Instead of finding our identity in Christ by the way we relate to Him daily, obey His teachings, and emulate His example of service and unconditional love, we now identify ourselves as Christians by our t-shirts, bumper stickers, books and CD collections.

ARTISTS AND CONSUMPTION/IDENTITY/EXPRESSION
It's also fascinating how this shift in our society stems from the devaluing of artisans in our culture. People now express themselves by what they own or purchase more than by what they create with their hands or their imaginations. Artists within our society are influenced by this consumerist identity structure. Artists of faith are compelled to create art that can be sold, or that conforms to the acceptable Christian marketplace. Art in this context is devoid of pure self-expression, unless that expression conforms to the acceptable branding and messaging of the sacred market.

More from the article:
"The rise of consumption as our primary interaction with the rest of our society has had profound effects. For example, social status is obtained and marked by the things we buy and use. A car, for instance, is not just a way to get from one place to another but has to “say something” about who we are — and even the lack of a car says volumes. Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy: the t-shirt with the logo of our band or team, the bamboo towels that show our environmental commitments, the alternative album that shows off our indie cred, the designer shoes that place us as part of the trend-setting elite, the minivan that shows us to be part of the dependable, hard-working, family-oriented suburban middle class, and so on."

SUBCULTURE AND IDENTITY
The Christian Subculture has a market. That market embraces a brand. That brand has a message connected to it. That message serves the market and encourages ongoing participation in that market. It means providing reasons to continue purchasing these products day after day and week after week. The market serves itself. It exists to keep itself in business.

The Christian Subculture provides an oasis made of soothing products that help us escape from the Big Bad World that is "Out There". It's a sacred version of "Calgon-Take Me Away!" only our message is more pervasive. It's not just one soothing bath to calm our fears of being trapped in a world of sin, it's music and movies and clothing and books and toys and key chains and license plate frames and decals and candy and pens and pretty much every conceivable object and piece of product that can ever be branded with our message. It's nearly a complete world unto itself, and it's exactly what Jesus prayed to God would never happen to us. (see John 17:15)

THE CART THAT PULLS THE HORSE
I'm not against art or music or expressions of faith. Most of my favorite musicians are believers and their music contains references to our Lord and to faith in Him. Many of my friends are Artists who paint and sculpt and create art to communicate a Kingdom reality. The issue is not that creating art or any sincere expression of devotion to Christ is wrong. What is evil is the marketplace we've created to showcase product. In the beginning the market existed to serve the Art, now the Art exists to serve the marketplace. We have lost focus. Making money is now the main objective. Evangelism or edification or worship is secondary at best, if considered at all.

During my six years in the Christian Music Industry I slowly began to realize the sickness of it all. At first I saw the industry as a way to spread the Gospel and to provide a voice for talented musicians of faith. But soon I realized that it didn't matter if your music ministry was responsible for leading thousands to Christ each year. What mattered was record sales. If your CD's weren't selling at least 20,000 units per sales cycle you'd be dropped from the label in a heartbeat. It was, after all, a Record BUSINESS, and like every business making money and selling product is the very bottom line. Ministry is incidental, and sadly only useful in the context of marketing the product to your target audience, in order to drive more sales.

Like the money-changers in front of the Temple that Jesus chased away with a whip, the original idea was a good one; To provide animals for sacrifice so that people could enter the Temple and participate in the worship of God. However, when money got in the way the original vision was corrupted and the Temple became a marketplace which obscured access for the common man and made a mockery of real worship. The same is true today.

BACK TO JESUS
The tension still remains between the clear command of our Lord to "Go into all the world.." and a subculture that bears His Name, yet encourages a full retreat from the World and identifies membership based on purchasing the acceptable, branded product. The product carries a message that we should fear those outside of our group. It encourages non-involvement with the culture. It makes minimizing contact with those outside the subculture a preferable reality.

If Jesus modeled radical inclusion and commanded us to be known by our love for everyone, especially those who hate us, and a subculture emerges with His Name on it that encourages us to be radically exclusive and creates behavior by which we are known for our intolerance, hatred and condemnation of those outside our group, we must make a choice. Do we choose Jesus or do we choose the man-made subculture with his Name on it?

I choose Jesus.

If Jesus clearly teaches something, and another organization or person teaches the exact opposite we call that "Anti-Christ". To me it's plainly obvious that the Christian Subculture is "Anti-Christ" because it contradicts His message of inclusion, involvement and meaningful relationships with sinners.

I've said it before and I say it again; "Death to the Christian Subculture!"

BRINGING A CHANGE
Where can we fashion a whip and drive out the money-changers from the Temple? It's difficult because we now deal with this on a massive scale. Participation in this market-driven Christian Subculture is pervasive and intangible. There is no physical structure to kick over. There is no clear method for applying the whip necessary to drive them out.

All we can really do is to begin, one person at a time, to disassociate ourselves with this subculture. Stop participating. Stop identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus based on your purchases. Stop pandering to what the Christian Marketplace finds acceptable and palatable. Make Jesus your single source of Truth. Ask God to show you where you have replaced a Jesus way of life with a carefully branded subculture way of life. Escape the false notions of "Sacred" and "Secular" and just start living, as a disciple of Jesus, in this World (the only World), right now.

I declare a personal War against the Christian Subculture.

kg

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NOTE: Originally published here in October, 2007 and republished here for your edification.