Christians don’t give away enough money
November 11, 2008
I was just reading a review of a book “Passing the Plate, Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money”. I can’t say much about this book because I haven’t read it, but I was taken by one line in the review, which is apparently backed up by real data:
[in America] If just the “committed Christians” (defined as those who attend church at least a few times a month or profess to be “strong” or “very strong” Christians) would tithe [giving away 10% of their income], there would be an extra 46 billion dollars a year available for kingdom work.
Tithing and financial generousity is a very strong value of mine and it frustrates me when Christians and churches will ignore the poverty of the world (and even their own backyard), to serve their own wants (as distinct from ‘needs’).
I’m currently battling with the concept of savings and investments and what it means for me. Jesus said in Matthew 6:
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Does this mean that we shouldn’t keep some money aside and plan for the future? I’m not sure. But it certainly implores us to ask the question. If Jesus was sitting on a fat savings account with lucrative investments, could you really see him ignoring the plight of the poor and homeless by protecting his ‘nest egg’?
I can’t.
I think Jesus is telling us not to worry about the future, but certainly doesn’t mean for us to ignore it completly either. In the story of building on a solid foundation, we see a guy who definately planned ahead. Anxiety is not going to help anything, because it’s all in God’s hands.
American Christianity is just the same as “Christianity.” We are affected by the culture we live in. Only in America would we build a multi-million dollar adition to a building, while thousands of people die yearly simply from not having clean drinking water. The Crystal Cathedral? The Compaq Center, er, Lakewood Church? Jesus was a carpenter, but I don’t think he would build those.
How many churches raise money to send a few kids on a “mission trip” for a week or two? It costs thousands of dollars to send each person overseas to hand out tracks and come back with a t-shirt. A local pastor in India could run his entire church for a year on what we spend sending short-term mission trippers for part of a summer.