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If was simple in Jesus' days. People just met in homes, or in public. No costs there. Just use the outdoors or existing indoor locations. We'd benefit from a return to such simplicity. Then we could donate and tithe 100% to others, rather than losing the money to paying for buildings and utilities and material stuff.
We are in danger of our little church closing someday, and that discussion has come up in the conversations about property tax for non-profit organizations that use municipal services. My thoughts are should we come to that, the church would simply have to find another way to meet and operate. It can be sad to lose a place you are attached to, but in the end, it is only a building made by humans.
If was simple in Jesus' days. People just met in homes, or in public. No costs there. Just use the outdoors or existing indoor locations. We'd benefit from a return to such simplicity. Then we could donate and tithe 100% to others, rather than losing the money to paying for buildings and utilities and material stuff.
It may have been simpler in Jesus' day, but there weren't quite as many Christians at that time as there are now. It would be pretty hard for things today to work like they did back them.
You have left churches that told you what they were using it for? I know people that have left churches because they didn't think the churches needed their gift. There's a fine line to walk there.
No, I have left churches who seem to always be "Give, give, give (Pity you're bleeding) GIVE!" It's not what they are using the money for, it's constant barrage of various projects which I feel they shouldn't "Shotgun" them. Focus and then refine. If they aren't getting a good response for one area, drop it and go back to the beginning.
There are many place one can "give" money hat will help and probably do more than leaving a wad of cash with some church that has huge mortgages and expenses unrelated to feeding the poor, housing the homeless and caring for the marginalized.
Tithing and donating to a church charity or charitable works aren't the same thing. There is no requirement for either, and no need for those who are poor to donate anything to either category. Most solicit aggressively because the amounts vary widely from one service to another; these aren't subsidized operations and churches depend on its members to keep the doors open.
Having said that, churches should direct their charity to their own members first before running around throwing it at other stuff. Some should be saving the excess money if any, not constantly expanding; that sounds more like an ego trip and vanity on the part of management.
There are many place one can "give" money hat will help and probably do more than leaving a wad of cash with some church that has huge mortgages and expenses unrelated to feeding the poor, housing the homeless and caring for the marginalized.
A church does more than feed the poor. The church worships God, studies the Bible, offers counseling, etc., along with charity.
Doing a bit of math, if everybody attending a church tithed 10%, annual church revenues would be about $442,000/congregation.
That is a reasonably substantial amount of money, enough to pay a religious leader and maintain a building.
'Median' doesn't mean much; what's the median income in a homeless shelter with 100 people in it when Bill gates walks in? The wealth is widely spread unevenly.
Adjusted for real inflation, $61K a year isn't much. They certainly can't afford to pay 10% after taxes and other living expenses. Small churches do manage to survive;many times it's due to donations from wealthier congregations and pastors mentoring them, or rich donors setting up trusts, or similar funding sources. Some pastors like Billy Graham and Joel Osteen do that, since they quit taking salaries from their church as soon as their book sales and private incomes got large enough to sustain them and their families, will sponsor smaller churches or make emergency funds available to them, or maybe pay off their building bonds for them, etc.
'Median' doesn't mean much; what's the median income in a homeless shelter with 100 people in it when Bill gates walks in?
Well, since median is the point at which half the group is above that number, and half the group is below, the median income would only shift by a couple of bucks when Bill Gates arrives. He would be in the group of 50 highest earners, there would be a group of lowest earners, and that one guy in neither group represents the median.
Plus, when we talk about medians (or averages, which is what you really meant), they mean a lot when you spread it over a population of 330 million people.
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Adjusted for real inflation, $61K a year isn't much. They certainly can't afford to pay 10% after taxes and other living expenses.
What does inflation have to do with anything in this case? $61k is 2017 household earnings, so inflation hasn't had a significant impact on this number.
Whether a tithe of 10% is a reasonable number is another question entirely, and whether most Christians tithe that amount is yet another questionable assumption. I don't care that much, I was just curious as to what it would come to if everybody did it.
Well, since median is the point at which half the group is above that number, and half the group is below, the median income would only shift by a couple of bucks when Bill Gates arrives. He would be in the group of 50 highest earners, there would be a group of lowest earners, and that one guy in neither group represents the median.
Plus, when we talk about medians (or averages, which is what you really meant), they mean a lot when you spread it over a population of 330 million people.
What does inflation have to do with anything in this case? $61k is 2017 household earnings, so inflation hasn't had a significant impact on this number.
Whether a tithe of 10% is a reasonable number is another question entirely, and whether most Christians tithe that amount is yet another questionable assumption. I don't care that much, I was just curious as to what it would come to if everybody did it.
Ah, so you don't really understand math or statistics. That's okay, lots of people don't.
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It would be pretty hard for things today to work like they did back them.
