Financially supporting your church...

I had an opportunity to visit Houghton College this past week and attend a conference on preaching put on by William Willimon, a Methodist Bishop and author of about 60 different books.

It was a really good conference, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and will be passing along some of the things I took from it in the next few days. When I got home, I was looking on the internet for one of Dr. Willimon's books when I discovered he had a blog. This quote is from an April 28 entry...

Tithing is practiced by few. The median annual giving for an American Christian is about $200, just over half a percent of after-tax income. 5 percent of American Christians provide 60 percent of the money churches and religious groups use to operate. “A small group of truly generous Christian givers,” say Passing the Plate’s authors, “are essentially ‘covering’ for the vast majority of Christians who give nothing or quite little.”

I'm sure that this holds true in most churches. I know that there are very few who tithe in the Almond Union of Churches, yet tithing is Scriptural. Why do cling to the grace and mercy parts of the Gospel, ignore the commands, and still assume we're doing okay?

The Gospel includes all that we need to be right with God. But we can't pick and choose which we want to follow. We really should be open to all of it...