There are three words that often get mixed up when we talk about our financial giving in the church context: offering, pledging and tithing. The goal of this article is to clarify each and enable you to make intentional, prayerful decisions about your financial giving.
A tithe literally means one-tenth (1/10). Throughout the Hebrew Testament, the people of God were taught to give a tenth of their possessions to God. In an agricultural context, this meant that a tenth of the harvest and a tenth of all new livestock was given to God. The tithe was considered “God’s portion” and used to support the priests (who were the only tribe who did not receive any inheritance
lands), the widows, orphans and the poor in their midst, as well as to extend hospitality to the strangers amongst them. Today, when we talk about tithing, we mean the commitment of giving one-tenth or 10% of our income to God. There is much discussion as to whether this is of our gross or net income. As with all
matters of giving, you are invited to prayerfully make that decision with God.
A pledge is an estimate of giving, sometimes called “a statement of intent.” A pledge differs from a tithe in that it can be any amount or percentage of your income, including 10%. You could pledge, for example, $520 for the year ($10 / week) or $5,200 ($100 / week). Pledging involves planning ahead for your giving and enables you to make conscious choices about spending the money you have in ways that reflect your faith and values. At CCUMC, we encourage proportionate giving or basing your pledge amount on a percentage of your income. This enables each of us to keep tithing as a goal and practice raising our giving percentage each year. You can begin with 1% or 2.5% (which is the equivalent of pledging your first hours pay on a 40 hour work week.) If you are new to tithing or pledging, start with a percentage that fills you with joy, and keeps you conscious of God as the true source of your well-being. If we choose a percentage that is too low, the act becomes so effortless that it slips from our consciousness and becomes a habit rather than a practice.
Receiving your pledge or tithe allows the Board of Administration and Trustees (BOAT), the church’s governing board, to do for this faith community what you do for your household: plan wisely for the use of our resources in support of the mission and ministry to which God has called us. As such, we strongly urge you to return your Stewardship Response Card on Sunday, Nov. 21st.
So what of offerings? An offering should be distinguished from our pledge and our tithe. One way to think about it is as freewill giving, something given for a specific or general purpose over and above your pledge or tithe, something given out of your abundance. For example, you might write a check to UMCOR towards disaster relief one Sunday or decide to contribute $20 in cash just because. These are offerings over and above the pledge you have made. We do so as acts of thanksgiving and generosity.
Having distinguished between offering, pledging and tithing, you are encouraged to have intentional conversations as a family and with God about your giving. You should know that your pledge amount may be changed, increased or decreased at any time during the year, at any time as your financial circumstances change. This can be done simply by contacting a pastor and/or our Financial Coordinator,
Adrienne Fong. Finally, we also recognize that many families “split” their tithe or pledge – giving to multiple worthwhile, important organizations that do God’s work. For all the ways you give and all the places you give, thank you.
Please consider meditating on these words from an Episcopalian hymn:
A world in need now summons us to labor, love, and give; to make our life an offering to God that all may live; the Church of Christ is calling us to make the dream come true: a world redeemed by Christ-like love; all life in Christ made new.