Whether they believe in the principle of tithing or not, few Americans give away that much money. In 2007, the research revealed that just 5% of adults tithed.
Not surprisingly, some population groups were more likely than others to have given away at least ten percent of their income. Among the most generous segments were evangelicals (24% of whom tithed); conservatives (12%); people who had prayed, read the Bible and attended a church service during the past week (12%); charismatic or Pentecostal Christians (11%); and registered Republicans (10%).
Several groups also stood out as highly unlikely to tithe: people under the age of 25, atheists and agnostics, single adults who have never been married, liberals, and downscale adults. One percent or less of the people in each of those segments tithed in 2007.
Among all born again adults, 9% contributed one-tenth or more of their income. The study also showed that Protestants were four times as likely to tithe as were Catholics (8% versus 2%, respectively).
[blockquote] Among the most generous segments were evangelicals (24% of whom tithed); conservatives (12%); people who had prayed, read the Bible and attended a church service during the past week (12%); charismatic or Pentecostal Christians (11%); and registered Republicans (10%). [/blockquote] Gosh, Barna has us pegged and we didn’t even get surveyed! 😉
My wife and I have tithed all of our marriage and I find it very freeing. There is a freedom that comes from knowing that money is not our master, but that God is.
One question that I resolve to ask people who come before the COM is “Are you tithing?” “If not, do you think it important and how do you plan to get there?”
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
All those numbers are just pathetic. What kind of self-centered people have we become when “24%” of us are the largest group of givers.
It is no wonder that God cannot bless this nation when it refuses to give even a 1/10 of what it has to Him.
When we have given the most, God has given us the most – and when we have chosen to abstain from giving (because our finances were too tight) we have only gotten into more dire straights.
We give what we have because we trust God will provide. If we are NOT giving… it’s something to ponder.
[i]Several groups also stood out as highly unlikely to tithe: people under the age of 25, atheists and agnostics, single adults who have never been married, [b]liberals[/b], and downscale adults. One percent or less of the people in each of those segments tithed in 2007.[/i]
I think it’s ironic that the liberals, who tend to favor aiding the poor, are lumped into the group of those unlikely to tithe. Is it because they expect the government to take care of these problems, and not the non-profit organizations or churches?
Does this study corroborate the findings in Arthur C. Brooks’ _Who Really Cares?_? If so, the long-standing, widespread notion that “liberals” are more compassionate and generous has to be questioned.
Jesus said it, and it is so very true. Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. I do not know how someone can say on one hand that God is real, and then refuse to at least tithe. I remember going to a church growth meeting a few years back, and David Rosenberry speaking about stewardship. He said something to the effect that giving is where the rubber meets the road for a Christian. It is clear as a bell where your priorities are.
Very early in our marriage my husband and I met with a financial planner. After reviewing our circumstances, she advised us to abandon tithing and instead offer our time and not our 10% to the church. We left that appointment and never went back.
Years later in our TEC parish I had a discussion with a church member during our service on Altar Guild. Our parish priest at the time was encouraging the parish to work towards tithing. This member was incredulous that the priest would suggest such a thing–it was impossible for her to consider, and she asked what I thought about the matter. I replied that my husband and I already tithed. The conversation ended very quickly after that–both of us shaking our heads at each other I am sure.
Unfortunately, we have not always been wise in our financial planning. But we have never regretted tithing.
I am thankful to have had my parent’s life-long example in their tithing which helped me see it as normal. God has enabled us to strive to tithe for the 23 years of our marriage, although sometimes we don’t want to do it. I see it as a form of humility and dependence before God, the bringing in of our first fruits to Him, just as fasting is a form of dependence on God.
I remember one sermon where the minister’s repeated key line was “It’s Not Your Money!” meaning it’s all really God’s money, so giving 10% or more should come first. Sometimes it is very hard, and some people should just start where they are and try to increase by 1% every year or something like that (i.e. moving in the right direction.)
It took more faith for my husband to tithe because he grew up in a non-Christian family, so I really appreciate that about him. My in-laws, who are lovely, kind people, would probably be horrified to hear the percentage we give away and would view it as very improvident 🙂
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.†Isaiah 55:8
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.” Proverbs 3:5-7
Jim Elliot, martyred missionary to the Auka Indians, said it well: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what cannot lose.”
Wonderful quote, CharlesB.
Another reason for the TEO to drive away the evangelicals, conservatives, born again, and other categories all of whom are much more likely to give in higher amounts to the church.
I do something I learned from my parents: I set up a second checking account, apart from my primary one. I have a payroll deduction that automatically deposits 10% of my gross pay into this second account. That account is my tithe — some of it goes to my church, some of it goes to other charities, but every penny in that account is given away.
I find this helps (at least for me) in a couple of ways. For one thing, I never “see” the money in my normal cash flow, so it takes away the sting of deciding whether to spend it on giving or something else. For another, I always know how much I can afford to give — it’s the balance of that account. I just have to decide how much goes where.
I really appreciate the comments that have been posted thus far. Just would like to remind us that the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society’s “official” statement is that the tithe is the [b]minimum[/b] standard of giving for us. [url=http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=1982-A116] Acts of Convention: Resolution #1982-A116[/url]
Being the son of the man who managed to get “minimum” added, I know that his perspective was consistent with Cathy_Lou’s (#8) priest and the biblical statement we used to use: “all things come of Thee, O LORD, and of Thine own have we given Thee.”
Re the stats: Paul was conservative; he prayed, read the Bible and attended church every week (driving a considerable distance); and was a registered Republican. He was also a CPA and so he understood money, and fiscal responsibility and accountability.
Why, I thought the Episcopal Church teaches that you have to only give .007 of your income, and that’s enough. Isn’t that an official part of church doctrine?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0jtY1fj0nJ8
Jim tP, I wish that guy would give up his day job. ;–) To be fair, he says these millennium development goals are institutional not personal, and they’re .7 percent (not double o 7)… So we’re talking about the institution’s commitment vs an individual’s personal stewardship. Point well taken though: everything is in flux and subject to “revision.”
RE the mdgs: The gentleman to whom I referred earlier, I believe, would say that the very people who are not willing to contribute their own money (according to the survey: liberals and democrats) are in fact quite willing to commit the funds of those of us who do tithe.
#14: In fairness to Father Matthew, I’ve always suspected his video was done tongue-in-cheek. There is more than a hint of sarcasm in the whole thing. However, it does illustrate well the absurdity of TEC making the MDGs the centerpiece of its beliefs.
Most Americans would be happier if they (1) gave away more money and (2) spent less on themselves. Both parts of that process offer a blessing. There is a joy in giving, and it goes beyond any calculation about treasure in heaven.
There is also a joy in stepping back from consumer culture. We don’t need most of what advertising tells us to buy, nor dowe need to keep up with the Joneses. In choosing to spend less on ourselves, we affirm our independence from materialism, Madison Avenue, and (for some of us) peer pressure. That is liberating in itself. It also makes giving psychologically as well as financially easier.
Like exercise, the pleasure of giving and the pleasure of disciplining our consumption grow with the doing.
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Kudos to DPChalk for the 1982 resolution [#12].
Tithes
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 [b]Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.[/b] 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then [b]exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.[/b] 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
28 At the end of [b]every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,[/b] 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. [Deuteronomy 14:22-29 NIV]