The Wayward Church Part 2: The money trail.

Mark 10:17-22 - And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Now, imagine that you had gone to Jesus, and he told you the same thing? Could you sale your house, your car, everything you own? Could you empty out your retirement and give everything to the poor? Now, imagine your church and your pastor being asked the same thing. Would they sale their church building, land, buses, withdraw all bank accounts, and give to the poor? Would they part with their pews?  Would the pastor and staff give up their houses and give them to the poor? I asked first about yourself, before I asked about the church. Your heart needs to be right before God before we start going after the churches.

This question Jesus asked is loaded! Applying the question to your own life causes fear, anxiety, and apprehension. Why? Because when you give up everything, your day-to-day trust has to be upon God to provide even the simplest of needs. The Church is no different. Being a body of believers, and not a building on land, it should be willing to part with everything to follow Jesus. The pastor, staff, elders (if the church has Biblical governance), should be willing to clean out the church bank accounts in a second to further the Kingdom of God. Is the church willing to forsake all and follow Jesus, or are they going away from him grieved, because they have a big building, lots of land, many buses, comfortable pews, and a large bank account?

If their heart is right before God, and God allows the church to use its finances to further His kingdom, then how does a church pay for things such as buildings, land, utilities, salaries, missionaries, and so on. The answer is money collected from church members. Tithing is the most common method churches today collect money.

Tithing is one of the stickiest subjects in evangelical churches. In looking at tithing, we will stick to the Bible and call a “spade a spade”, calling things what they really are.

 Required or forced tithing is when a church requires its membership to give 10% of income to the local church, typically gross (before taxes). Optional tithing is when the church encourages the giving of 10%, but will not tie it to Biblical commands or make it a requirement for membership, deacons, elders, or staff. They often allow their members to choice where the tithe goes, not making it a requirement that it goes to the local church.

Required or forced tithing is very common, though pastors will refuse to call it that because of the negative connotations it brings. However, anytime a church claims the Bible requires believers to tithe, it then becomes forced tithing. A church does not have to “beat its members” to have forced tithing. Calling non-tithers sinners, selfish, disobedient, and making them feel guilty is forced tithing. Denial of church positions such as deacon or worship leader to non-tithers is forced tithing.  Passages such as Malachi 3 are preached on regularly (and out of scriptural context), causing members to think they are robbing God by not giving 10% gross to the local church (the storehouse).

The New Testament is mostly silent on tithing as a church practice, with the focus on giving. Therefore, those who require tithing often turn to the Old Testament and the Law. Now there are three parts to the Law: Moral Law, Levitical Law, and National Law. The law is a whole discussion on its own, but examples of Moral Law would be the Ten Commandments, Levitical Law would be animal sacrifices, and National Law would be laws to govern Israel, such as the requirements to have cities of refuge.

Tithing is very commonly mentioned in Levitical Law and National Law. Leviticus 27:31 requires double tithes if money is used to tithe, while Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and Deuteronomy 26:12 orders the tithing yearly cycles that exceed the 10%.  Basically, when you boil it down, under the Law, tithing was used to support the Tribe of Levi (who had no land and where the priests and teachers), as well as a means to provide for widows, orphans, and so on. Interesting enough, most Biblical Scholars agree that Levitical and National Tithing Laws exceeded 10%.  Even the Southern Baptist recognize this problem, so they attempt to tie it to moral law. “The incorporation of the tithe into the Scriptures recognizes it as a part of the enduring moral law of God, which applies to all those who would do the will of God in every century of time. Therefore it is a part of the religious duty of all Christians (Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists Volume 2, Page 1418). This avoids James 2:10, for I have yet to see any church obey all the tithing laws perfectly. However, tying tithing to moral law is a stretch, forcing people like the Southern Baptist to turn to Abraham giving 10% of the loot (he got from the defeat of the invading kings) to Melchizedek, king of Salem (Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7). Giving 10% is a precedent set by Abraham we should certainly acknowledge and respect. However, this does not make tithing moral law. Hebrews 7 is a great study, but nearly every single writer I have ever read state the theme is a better priesthood, Jesus, the best, last great High Priest.

Biblically, required tithing is wrong and should not be taught in any church. We are under the New Covenant. We are under Grace. In the New Testament, giving willfully is what is encouraged. Willful tithing is fine, for it gives a percent of income back to God and does have a Biblical precedent, as we saw earlier with Abraham. It should be noted, nowhere does the Bible state or imply that Abraham was required to give 10% of the spoils and return the rest to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s heart and why he did what he did is what is examined in Hebrews 7, not the 10%.

What does the Bible tell us about giving?

II Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. Notice “as he purposes”. Paul could have easily added 10% here, or mentioned a tithe, but he did not. If it was moral law, there is no chance Paul would NOT have mentioned it. Other verses on giving:

Matthew 6:3-4 – "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." How many churches track the givers? How many use their giving data to decide who will be deacons?

Luke 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Giving of one coat if you have only two is 50%. Sharing food implies 50%. Would you cut 10% off your steak, 10% off your potato, and give that to your hungry neighbor?

Acts 20:35 – "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" I have heard churches state your 10% goes to the church before you help someone in desperate need (that money comes from your pocket after the tithe). Wrong! If I was your pastor, I would tell you to go help them first, and invite them to church. God will provide the needs for the church somehow if we fall short because your money went to help someone in need. I would rather turn off the AC and sweat in the pew Sunday morning, than see a desperate neighbor in need turned away.

In summary, churches forcing members to tithe 10% gross to the local storehouses as a requirement to please God is wrong and not even close to being Biblical. Encouraging and teaching generosity, even beyond a tithe, is what the church should be doing. Encouraging members to give to neighbors in need, helping the poor, the widows, and the orphans, is what a church should do. Supporting your local church is good and needed, but it should be done willfully and generously. -  Author Joel Bouriaque  

The Wayward Church: Church Governance – Part 1

Mainstream Protestant churches will claim Jesus is the head of the church, and the Bible is its authority. This statement is absolutely correct. The question then, is the church following what they say? Does the Bible, specifically the New Testament, give us a road map for church governments?

Church autonomy: Church autonomy (autonomy means self-law) is if the local church has authority over its own or if a higher organization rules over the church. Catholics are a good example of not having local church autonomy. Rome with the Pope has a governance set up where all church authority starts in Rome and comes down to local churches. Most Protestant churches are autonomous, where the local church makes the decisions, even though they may have an international convention (like the Southern Baptist Convention) who will publish advice and have general theological guidelines. Theological guidelines, such as Jesus is God, the Bible is the Word of God, can and do dictate whether a Church can belong to the denomination. Local Church membership in a national or international denomination is voluntary.

Biblically, Church autonomy is closer to the New Testament model of the church. Churches were started throughout Asia Minor by individuals such as the Apostle Paul. He would teach the people, then set the church up with elders, and move on to start another church. Now, these churches often looked to the Jerusalem Church and the Apostles for advice and guidance, but they were autonomous. The authority of the Apostles was recognized and respected, especially in their teachings. We see letters in our Bible written to the early churches addressing Elders and Overseers. These Elders and Overseers were the authority of the church.

Local Church Governance: What does local church authority look like today compared to the New Testament Churches? Sadly, many Protestant churches follow a business model for governance instead of a Biblical model. You have a pastor as the CEO. Under the pastor you have staff, such as an Assistant Pastor or two, Music Minister, Youth Leader, and possible more. Like a business, you often see committees that are over certain areas such as finances. Often you have a Deacon body. Even though a lot of Deacon bodies weld power in today’s churches, Biblically Deacons had no authority. They were the servants of the church.

Most Protestant churches today have a single leader, the pastor, who is a seminary graduate from the denominational seminary the church belongs to. The pastor is hired by the congregation after a vote, typically following the pastor search committee that recommended him to the congregation. The pastor then hires his staff, who are under his authority. The pastor can be fired by the membership or the deacons if they have a deacon body welding authority.

A corporation has a CEO, who is elected by a board of people that owns the majority of stock in the company. The CEO typically is a graduate from a top Ivy League school of business. He then hires his staff around him, with the boards blessing for CFO. Committees are formed to study quality, foreign investment, etc… Often, the inter working's of corporations and churches are eerily similar, with similar goals in mind, growing, and profits.  

So Biblically, what should the model for church authority look like? The first and primary is the Elders. Notice, Elders is plural. Elders are a group of men that are the shepherds (pastors), the overseers, and the teachers in the church. Let’s look at two verses that mention Elders, and notice, plural!

James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

Titus 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Some would argue the pastor and staff are the Elders. However, most of these churches have a system where the Senior Pastor is over the staff in authority. Elders are all on equal footing.

1 Peter 5:1 says, To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Notice Peter puts himself on equal footing with the Elders. In 1 Timothy 5:17 we see that at least some of the Elders are preachers and teachers. 1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

If a church wants to look like the early churches started by the Disciples of Jesus Christ, then they need to get rid of their business model of leadership. The ruling body should be a group of elders who meet the qualifications as spelled out in 1 Timothy. These elders should select a body of men as deacons, who will be the servants of the church. The elders care for the spiritual need of the flock (members) while the deacons see to the physical needs of the members. Members have no say in the governance of the church. The church is not a democracy. However, with that said, Elders are to care for their flock (members). Listening to the membership is important to being a good Elder.

In part 2, we will look at the next big problem in today’s churches, money. The church should be full of prophets, not profit (I use the word prophet as one who speaks for God using the Bible, not a fortune or future teller). Like leadership, profits in the church resemble the way a business is run. We will get more into that in The Wayward Church, Part 2.