Giving

Do Pastors need to educate their congregation about biblical principles concerning giving? That’s one of my recommendations in my new book, Making the Most of Your Money in Tough Times. There is growing evidence that the Christian church needs to recapture a biblical perspective on finances, and especially giving.

A number of years ago, Barna Research did a study of giving by Christians and found that less than ten percent of born-again Christians give ten percent to their church. Now I know that we are no longer under Old Testament law where the tithe is mandatory. But it is clear that the early Christians often used the tithe as a baseline for their voluntary giving. Today, we aren’t even close to that baseline.

You do have to wonder about our priorities when less than ten percent even give a tithe. Consider that a majority of Christians spend more for presents at Christmas than they give to the church and Christian organizations throughout the year.

I might add Barna Research found that age and annual income were significant indicators of giving. For example the older you are, the more likely you were to tithe. Also, the poorer you were the more likely you were to tithe. A person who makes $20,000 a year is twice as likely to tithe as a person who makes $40,000-50,000 year. And a person who makes $20,000 a year is eight times more likely to tithe than a person who makes $75,000 a year.

Do those statistics bother you? They bother me and are worth reconsidering. You have to wonder about priorities. We seem to be more willing to lay up treasures on earth instead of investing in God’s work and laying up treasures in heaven.

I hope you will take a moment and consider what you might do to support your church and worthwhile ministries. That might even include the radio station that carries this commentary. Let’s reevaluate our financial priorities and try to get our spending and giving ratios back in line. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.