Statistical studies on Charitable Giving / Check out Malachi 3: 8-12 – subsection titled “Do Not Rob God”.
I have enclosed two George Barna studies on charitable giving. In addition I will note that in AFA’s “The Stand” – Dec24 issue , page #7 under “Church giving on decline”, a study by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research concludes:
- A mere 10% of evangelicals tithe / “Of those who give, … the average donation to the church was just 2.8% of their income.” / Concluding sentence: “Perhaps the giving issue is like the canary in the coal mine. It’s a warming of greater problems inside the evangelical church.”
- And within the first Barna study below, you will see that the study found that less than half of Christians can decisively say what the tithe is.
I will save y’all the trouble of looking up the Malachi verses, at least through verse 10 of the section:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in the house, And try Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.'” Malachi 3: 8 -10
Help me out on this:
I try to avoid anything that treads on the turf of “prosperity gospel”, but is there anywhere else in the Bible that the LORD says essentially: “test me on this”.
Some reflections generated through prayer:
- The tithe is from “first fruits” therefore I shouldn’t say: “I don’t have enough to tithe”
- The tithe is only a standard that is meant to be exceeded if at all possible.
- Particularly now that we are “retired”, another standard: our volunteer time should be a minimum of 10% also, excluding sleep.
- In computing our “standard tithe mark”, we include not only social security but 4% of our net worth. Where did that come from? At least historically speaking, if one draws only 4% of an investment base, the base has an extremely high probability of not running out before death.
- This blog has a category of posts titled “charity giving”. We allocate a significant portion of our direct charitable monetary contributions to charitable organizations. Why? It is our opinion, that the best of the best charitable organizations are much better stewards than our church homes over the years. If I can use an analogy: They are like Navy “Seals”- lean, mean fighting machines!
- We vet these charitable organizations extensively in making a Final Cut each year. The analysis includes their audited statement filings to the fed each year. Just one key metric of many: How much of our contribution goes directly to the need? (which excludes: administrative costs; fundraising, etc) Having said that, ‘our pastor and staff need to be paid, the light bill needs to be paid, etc. But then, we have been in large churches where I ask myself: Do we really need a dozen associate pastors? (slight exaggeration but not much). Or, do we need all this facility with the elaborate basketball court included ? Or, all these fancy catered meals? Are we coming to meet for the food? (etc. etc.).
- So, why the “charity giving” category in this blog? Plain and simple, it takes a village ; I would like to hear from brothers and sisters; Who are y’all’s favorite charities and why?
- Final note: Of course, we love our kids and our grandkids, but if we get called home with funds left over, they are not going to inherit all of it, not even close, God forbid! Warren Buffet (current or future christian?) was asked : How much are you leaving your kids? He didn’t say “None of your business”, but shot right back with: “Not enough that they are going to feel comfortable!” (Amen, he truly loves his children and grandchildren!)
Blessings!