Seminary PL39: Giving in the Bible

This is the eighth post on church administration in my "Seminary in a Nutshell" series. In this series, I first did a section on the Person and Calling of a Minister. Now this is the thirty-ninth post in a section on the Pastor as a Leader (see at the bottom).

The previous post looked at church budgeting. This post is about giving in the Bible.
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1. The idea of giving of your flock or crop to God stretches back in time well beyond the time of Israel. In Genesis 14, when Abraham is returning from a successful battle in which he has taken spoils, he gives a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek, the priest of "El-Elyon." At that time, God was not yet known by his name YHWH and so those who worshiped him simply knew him as "the highest God," in Hebrew "El-Elyon." [1]

This practice of giving a tenth not only signified one's thankfulness to God but also provided food to the priests of God as well. Leviticus 27:30-32 indicates that the Israelites were to give a tenth of their crops and a tenth of their flocks and herds to the LORD. Apparently if you wanted to keep the food, you could give shekels (money) worth 120% the value (Lev. 27:31).

It is currently popular to suggest that when you splice together all the passages in the Law on the tithe, you end up with something like 23.3% worth of tithe. [2] This is in fact how some later Jews interpreted these passages. For Josephus, writing in the late first century AD, a first tithe was for the Levites (Num. 18:21-26). A second tithe was to be eaten at the festivals (Deut. 14:22-27). Then a third tithe was for the poor of your village, every third year (Deut. 14:28-29). [3]

However, most experts on the original meaning of the Pentateuch believe that differing versions of the same traditions appear in different books of the Law. For example, we have the 10 Commandments not only in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 6, but also scattered in passages like Leviticus 19.

So when we look at Leviticus 27:30-32, Numbers 18:21-26, and Deuteronomy 14, we probably should not think of different tithes but different traditions about the same basic concept. Some standardization of the tithe no doubt took place after the exile.

2.  In late 1800s America, tithing became the model for churches to support themselves. It was not the case previously. For example, Methodists funded their churches largely by charging for the pew in which you sat. The "Free" Methodist Church was in fact founded in 1860 in part as a church where you could sit anywhere for free.

But around the turn of the century, the model of "storehouse tithing" became popular, based on Malachi 3:10: "Bring the whole tithe into the house of storage." Malachi, written perhaps in the late 400s BC, criticized Israel both for not bringing all their agricultural tithe to the LORD and for bringing defective sacrifices to his altar (1:8).

This model was used at the end of the 1800s to argue that the church should be supported by giving a tenth of a person's income to the church. There was some opposition to this movement at the time, especially by those who felt that a tenth wasn't enough. Because many groups believed that the Lord was going to return any day, some argued that Christians needed to surrender everything to the Lord, not just a tenth.

3. Jesus does assume the tithe in relation to his Jewish audience (Matt. 23:23), and we can wonder if Matthew's Jewish Christian audience in Palestine tithed. Presumably this would have been an agricultural and herd/flock tithe for agricultural families rather than a money tithe. The giving of most Jews outside of Jerusalem was the "half-shekel" tax they sent yearly to Jerusalem, not a very large amount of money.

However, the New Testament never applies the tithe in relation to Gentile converts. The New Testament does teach that Christians need to give to support its ministers and to help others from their surplus. It even honors those who give all that they have to the community of faith. But it does not instruct a specific amount, placing the specifics of Christian giving into the category of personal conviction or of membership in specific church groups.

4. What are the New Testament principles in relation to giving. First, we have already looked at 1 Corinthians 9:9-10, where Paul suggests that churches are obligated to support materially those who minister to them. The Pauline model of giving seems to be that a church should share whatever abundance of blessing God gives it.

2 Corinthians 8-9 suggests a model where God at times blesses one segment of the church and at other times blesses another. When one group is blessed, they should give of their excess to those in need. Then when the situation is reversed, the giving will reversed. We are talking more than ten percent here. The model is that all of your excess is available for those in need, especially those in the church.

We should keep in mind how different the economics were in New Testament times. Most people barely had enough to live--they were on a "subsistence" living. Excess was thus anything above what you needed to eat. I know I could easily eat individually for $300 a month. My excess is way more than 10%. The bulk of my income is excess, although most of us get ourselves entangled in mortgage payments, student loans, and much much more.

The earliest church of Acts 2 shared their possessions in common. Groups that are planning for Jesus to come back any day often go completely communal. Some of those that did so in the late 1800s and early 1900s ended up without anything for their people to live on. There is nothing unbiblical about using a core of resources to generate a continuing stream of blessing for others.

Nevertheless, Acts holds up as a model the idea of sharing any excess we might have with those in need. Paul tells of how Peter and James wanted him to remember the poor (Gal. 2:10). Galatians 6:10 implies that this spreading of good is not limited to the people of God.

5. In the end, nothing we have is ours. It all belongs to the Lord. We are but stewards of it. So do we love the Lord with all our income? Do we love our neighbor as ourselves with all our income?

Next Week: Pastor as Leader 40: Capital Campaigns

[1] Jacob also promises to give Yahweh a tenth of all God gives him at Bethel. The name of YHWH may be an after-the-fact reference to God's name, since Exodus 6:3 suggests that Jacob only knew God as "El-Shaddai," "God Almighty," and that the name YHWH was only revealed at the time of Moses.

[2] E.g., https://www.gotquestions.org/tithing-Christian.html

[3] Josephus, Antiquities, 4.67, 226, 240; cf also Tobit 1:6-8.

Leadership in General

• Categories of Leadership
• Styles and Traits of Leaders
• How does God lead
• Leadership Pitfalls

Strategic Planning

• The Mission, Great and Small
• Identifying Mission
• Casting Vision
• Vision Statements
• Thinking Missionally
• Evaluating Strengths
• Identifying Core Values
• Setting Goals
• Leading Change
• Evaluating Progress/Resetting Goals

Church Management

• Managing the Church
• Leadership in the Early Church
• Leadership Structures in Church History
• Church Position Descriptions
• Leading Healthy Teams
• Good Communication
• Hiring, Recruiting, and Firing

Conflict Management

• Causes of Conflict
• The Third Mark of the Church
• Basic Conflict Resolution
• Leadership and the Gentile Mission
• Navigating Disputable Issues
• Athanasius: No Compromise!
• Zwingli: No Compromise?
• Tillich's Protestant Principle
• Preventing Group Exit
• From Out Group to One Group

Church Administration

• Habits of Effective Administrators
• Time Management
• Project Management
• Leading Meetings
• Risk Management
• Muzzling Oxen and Burying Talents
• Church Budgeting

Seminary PL38: Church Budgeting

This is the seventh post on church administration in my "Seminary in a Nutshell" series. In this series, I first did a section on the Person and Calling of a Minister. Now this is the thirty-eighth post in a section on the Pastor as a Leader (see at the bottom).

The previous post looked at some biblical passages of interest in relation to using a church's resources. This post is about budgeting and the finances of a church.
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1. In the denomination to which I belong (The Wesleyan Church), the "fiscal year," the finance year, the budgeting year, runs from May 1 to April 30. [1] A church's finances should thus be audited yearly thereafter, in May or June. In smaller churches, the books are usually kept by a volunteer treasurer. In larger churches, there is usually a paid staff member who keeps the books, a "director of finance" or "chief financial officer" (CFO).

One source suggests that the process for approving a church budget for the following year should begin at least four months before the next fiscal year. [1] In the church to which I belong, the board mostly voted on next year's budget in February, which some follow-up discussion in March.

The bulk of the budget planning can be done by a special budget committee or, in the case of the church to which I belong, a standing finance committee. In the church to which I belong, of a size between 1000 and 1500, the finance committee works with the director of finance to propose a budget that the broader board then adjusts or approves. In a smaller church, the board might play a more detailed role and the drafting of a proposal entrusted to the pastor/treasurer.

2. Most church boards will want to receive a monthly report that gives a sense of where the church is in its spending. This usually includes a breakdown of basic categories (a complete line item is probably overkill, although the treasurer should be able to provide it), the proposed budget for that category and the "year to date" expenditure in that category.

A good treasurer will know the typical ebb and flow of giving over the course of a year. So a church usually receives more in December than January because people are wanting to get some last minute charitable giving in so they can take it off of their taxes. Many churches in Florida lose a sizable portion of their congregation in the summer, as retirees head back north to Michigan and other places. So a good treasurer will know that the summer will be lean giving months and the winter much fatter.

A majority of church goers do not tithe. If 20% of your church attenders tithe, you are doing well. Personal giving information should be kept in strictest of confidence and pastors should resist the temptation to shame a congregation. Very few individuals should be privy to individual giving information. In some cases, a pastor may not want to know so that it does not interfere with relationships.

If the spending gets well beyond what it should be to date, expenses should be tightened. If individual ministry areas have a budget, each area might be asked to cut their budget by a certain amount. Financial expenditures can be curbed by cutting any number of corners (e.g., office supplies).

3. In 2015, churches of less than 200 in attendance had an annual budget of between $100,000 and $300,000. [2] Churches from 200 to 500 attendees ranged mainly between $300,000 to over $750,000 in budget. Churches of 500 to 1,000 ranged mainly between $750,000 and $2,000,000. Churches of over 1,000 tended to have a budget of over 1.5 million.

The percentages spent on various areas seem to be fairly consistent regardless of church size. The biggest expenditure of a church budget is often the salaries and benefits of the pastoral staff. A typical church might spend 45-50% of its budget in this area. This amount includes everything from base salaries to housing allowances to insurance to pension.

A number of resources suggest that a healthy ratio of church staff to church attendees is 76:1. [3] For every 76 people attending your church, you have one FTE or full-time equivalent of a staff member. A full-time equivalent (FTE) adds up part time staff. So if you have two part-time staff at 29 hours each, you might consider that the equivalent of one full-time person. [4]

The typical pay raise each year for the top-staff at a church is around 3%.

4. About another 20% of a church's budget might typical go for expenditures having to do with facilities and the debt thereon. So hopefully a church is not paying more than 10% of its yearly income on a mortgage and debt service in general. Then another 10% might go to utilities and maintenance of property.

5. Most churches have ministry related and outreach expenditures. This can include giving to missions far away or missional projects closer to home. The typical church spends at least 10% of its intake toward outreach or mission in some form or another.

The Wesleyan Church has a rather large (and complicated) expectation for contributions of local churches toward the denomination at large and its educational institutions. For the first $500,000 of a church with normal status, 2.75% goes to the denomination at large and 3.25% goes to the denomination's educational institutions. [6] The district in which that church is located then takes a cut as well. As such, a local church in the Wesleyan Church can find itself paying 10% of its income to the denomination.

6. The typical church has at least 2% of its budget in cash reserve. Perhaps it would be more ideal for an organization/individual to have at least a month's worth of reserve (a little over 8 percent).

7. When setting budget for the next year, there is a balance to find between realism and optimism. On the one hand, if a church never pushes itself to give more, it is unlikely it will. On the other hand, one personality segment of your church is likely to get frustrated if a church is always failing to reach its giving goals, even if it manages to end every year in the black.

Know thy congregation. Not every year needs to be a stretch year, but not every year has to end in budgetary defeat either.

Next Week: Pastor as Leader 39: Capital Campaigns

[1] Here is an annual report for a local church reporting attendance, income, and giving to the larger denomination of The Wesleyan Church.

[2] D. Martin Butler, Foundations of Church Administration: Professional Tools for Church Leadership, B. L. Petersen, E. A. Thomas, and B. Whitesel, eds (Kansas City, Beacon Hill, 2010), 67-79.

[3] "How Churches Spend Their Monday: An Executive Report," Church Law and Tax Store, 2014.

[4] E.g., "Salary, Staff, and Budget Trends of Large Churches," Church Law & Tax.

[5] While the Affordable Care Act is law, it is conventional to keep part-time staff under 29 hours so that an organization is not legally required to provide health care for them. In that sense, two part-time staff at 29 hours each is not really the financial equivalent of one full-time employee.

[6] Monies used for loans, received by bequests, given to missions, and so forth are subtracted from the income number. Income beyond $500,000 is then graded in the percent on which USF-EIF (United Stewardship Fund-Educational Investment Fund) has to be paid. From $500,000 to a million in income, the 6% total goes down to 4%. From 1 to 2 million, it goes down to 2%, and there is no assessment on funds over 2 million.

Leadership in General

• Categories of Leadership
• Styles and Traits of Leaders
• How does God lead
• Leadership Pitfalls

Strategic Planning

• The Mission, Great and Small
• Identifying Mission
• Casting Vision
• Vision Statements
• Thinking Missionally
• Evaluating Strengths
• Identifying Core Values
• Setting Goals
• Leading Change
• Evaluating Progress/Resetting Goals

Church Management

• Managing the Church
• Leadership in the Early Church
• Leadership Structures in Church History
• Church Position Descriptions
• Leading Healthy Teams
• Good Communication
• Hiring, Recruiting, and Firing

Conflict Management

• Causes of Conflict
• The Third Mark of the Church
• Basic Conflict Resolution
• Leadership and the Gentile Mission
• Navigating Disputable Issues
• Athanasius: No Compromise!
• Zwingli: No Compromise?
• Tillich's Protestant Principle
• Preventing Group Exit
• From Out Group to One Group

Church Administration

• Habits of Effective Administrators
• Time Management
• Project Management
• Leading Meetings
• Risk Management
• Muzzling Oxen and Burying Talents

Budgeting Like a Farmer (the Joseph Plan)

I don't know much about farming or how farmers budget, but I've often imagined that they have to be very disciplined. I've imagined that they get most of their money for the year during a somewhat narrow window of time. Then they have to be disciplined to spread that money out over the rest of the year.

I suspect most of us would find that a bit difficult. Most of us, I suspect, spend it if we have it. Few of us are disciplined like I remember a professor friend of mine several years ago. He budgets for the whole year and then spreads it out over the whole year. So if he plans on spending $600 on Christmas, he'll put aside $50 a month somewhere for the whole year.

I also imagine that Christmas is deeply stressful in many families for whoever keeps track of the money. I wonder how many of us actually track how much we spend. Even talking of $600 for Christmas seems wrong to me, a sign of a culture with its priorities out of whack. But I'm sure many of us spend over a thousand each year--and I'm not talking about people on six figure salaries. What's worse is that many of us probably haven't even added up how much we spend. We may have no idea that we have spent 2% of our yearly take-home pay or more on Christmas.

Anyway, I wish I could say I budgeted like a farmer or like my disciplined professor friend. It's the Joseph plan--put some away in the fat years in preparation for the lean. It might even be worth having a separate account that you kind of forget about until the winter of our discontent.

I'm going to try to do better this year. How about you?

I know, I know, you are already good at this. :-)