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By Fred Jackson and Jody Brown
July 22, 2003
(AgapePress) - A report suggests churches are beginning to pay a price for catering to a generation that focuses more on what a church can do for them rather than what they can do for God through their church.
The Barna Research Group reported recently that tithing declined by about 62% last year. Howard Dayton, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, believes part of the problem is a lack of proper teaching in churches on what God's Word says about money and possessions.
Thom Rainer of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth agrees. He tells Baptist Press that over the last 30 years, many people have approached church with a consumer mentality -- in other words, a selfish outlook that asks what the church can do for them.
And he says as churches have focused on meeting those demands without challenging people about their service for God, tithing has dropped.
Rainer says leaders must understand "we have dumbed down membership to where it means nothing." He believes, however, that this can be turned around by encouraging young people to think more about the mission of a church and what they can do to help accomplish that purpose.
Tithing and Stewardship
Dayton's organization says although some ministers may feel that spiritual development does not require them to teach on stewardship, the Bible says otherwise. The group's website points out that except for the subject of love, the Bible's most discussed subject is money, possessions, and management.
"After emphasizing the fact that God owns it all and that we are merely stewards of His possessions, the next most important biblical principle regarding financial stewardship that ministers should present is the principle of the blessings of tithing," the group says.
Crown emphasizes that tithing is for believers' benefit, should come from the heart, and is not meant to be done with a "spirit of fear."
"The principle of tithing is centered on the fact that God is looking for the right attitude in a person’s giving," Crown states in an article titled What Ministers Should Teach. "If there is not willingness to give back to the Lord a portion of what He has entrusted, then giving tithes upon tithes would not make a difference."
One of the first standards of giving found in the Bible is the tithe, a word which means "tenth." And while it is often said that the tithe is Old Testament "legalism," Abraham tithed more than four centuries before the Law was given to Moses (Genesis 14).
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