Less
Tithe a "Deeply Spiritual Problem" Say SDA Church Leaders
"There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not
sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified
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Less Tithe a "Deeply Spiritual Problem"
Say Church Leaders
Since the 1970s, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has
seen its tithe, or members donating 10 percent of their earnings to the church,
drop 75 percent, per capita, adjusted for inflation, says Benjamin C. Maxson, stewardship director for the Seventh-day Adventist
world church.
Adventist
Christians may not be alone in this seeming trend. Barna
Research Group, Ltd., an independent Christian research firm in southern
California, says the number of American households who give at least 10 percent
of their income to their church has dropped by 62 percent in the past
year--from 8 percent in 2001 to just 3 percent of adults during 2002.
About 30 percent
of Adventist Church members worldwide give tithe. In parts of Africa and South
America as few as 10 percent give tithe.
Tithing is related
to spirituality, says Maxson, who is not worried so
much about a reduction in tithe as of the spirituality of Adventists around the
globe. "My concern is for the spirituality of the church. Finances are a byproduct. They will take care of themselves when the
spiritual condition is correct," he says.
"All our
studies show that a majority don't have an assurance of salvation and do not
have a walk with God--no daily devotions," he says, citing the Value
Genesis study conducted by the Institute of Church Ministry at Andrews
University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in the late 1980s,
in 1993 and again in 2002.
In the 1970s, 70 percent to 80 percent of members attended church
regularly and 65 percent tithed. Now 45 percent to 50 percent of members
regularly attend church and 30 percent tithe, according to Maxson.
Roy Ryan, an
associate treasurer for the Adventist world church, points out the spiritually
dedicated Adventists in Korea. As a church employee and professor there in the
early and mid 1990s, he says the tithing rate was
about 70 percent. "It's always been one of the most faithful areas of the
church. It's a praying church."
Annually, tithe
brings the Adventist Church US $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, says Maxson.
He points out
that tithe is measured differently across denominations. Some say 10 percent is
something to strive for. "We say it's a place to start," he says.
In Argentina
during the recent economic crisis tithe went down but not equal to the local
economy. "Adventists continued to be faithful even during a time of
economic crisis," says Maxson.
The cure is a
"serious discipling program," he says.
Another factor he cites is secularization of church culture.
Erika F. Puni, the church's stewardship director for the South
Pacific region, agrees. "I would concur with Maxson
that the real issue behind the decline in tithe receipt is spirituality or the
lack thereof," says Puni, who also serves as
personal ministries and Sabbath School director for the region.
Tithe receipted
by the church has been declining for at least the last 25 years when compared
to income, according to Puni, citing research of the
church in the North New South Wales, Australia, region by Robert McIver and
Stephen Currow in 1999 and 2000.
Puni quotes research
saying, "'This steady decline can be explained if the tithing behavior of
the various age cohorts remained relatively stable. As each of the younger
cohorts aged, they made up a larger percentage of wage earners. That they
tithed at a lower rate means that over time the rate of total members who tithe
decreases.
"'This
downward trend appears likely to continue for at least the next 15 years, after
which time tithe will still decline relative to attendees' incomes, but at a
much lower rate.'"
"It should
be noted," says Puni, "that in the last 10
years--particularly in the late 1990s--within this region,
political unrest and other related events in Papua New Guinea, Solomons and Fiji had a real impact on our church members'
ability to return God's tithe."
A small increase
in tithing in Europe may be due to the increase in currency values--specifically
the Cypress pound, says Bill Olson, stewardship director for the Adventist
Church in the Trans-European region, based in St. Albans, a town outside of
London.
Olson says each
church region ought to have a full-time stewardship director. "It's a matter
of priorities," he says, implying that nowadays technical things tend to
take up the finances--IT and Sun Accounts. "There's always money, but it's
a matter of where you want it." Olson also serves as the region's
treasurer and trust officer.
He encourages
pastors to visit members in their homes, a practice he feels he had the most
success with himself, and discuss three things: their spiritual walk, educating
their children or grandchildren in Adventist schools, and their giving habits
and returning the "Lord's tithe."
Tithe figures in
Southern Africa are up slightly, according to Nceku
Moses Msimanga, stewardship director for the church's
Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region, based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Msimanga says church leaders there have started what they
call, "Eight Focus Issues." Two issues in the church campaign are
"spirituality" and "self-support." "This has made a
tremendous impact on our tithe returns," says Msimanga.
"On
spirituality, we promote a heart-to-heart relationship with Jesus Christ ... We
start with the heart." Msimanga says that if the
church aims only at pockets, it may amount to robbery.
"Self-support
says, I can do it. It promotes self-esteem and removes a dependence syndrome.
It trains one to be self-reliant and see the potential in oneself. More and
more people have moved from the receiving end to the giving zone," says Msimanga. "There is still room for growth but the
arrows are pointing upward."
He says
countries in the region are going through a tough economic phase. "Our
currencies are softening each day and the cost of living is rising higher and
higher."
However, Ryan
says "when there's a link spiritually with the Lord, there are links in
other ways too."
Source:...ANN
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States -- Entered Oct 31, 2003
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