All this got me to thinking about the challenge we constantly face as a church to fund the work of the ministry. Weekend retreats, summer camps, supporting missionaries, ordering gospel tracts, updating office equipment, paying staff, providing discipleship and counseling materials are all part of church life and ministry. Yet finding enough money for ministry is tough.
Let me share with you a few bottom-line figures. Our General Fund annual budget is $348,000. Our Missions Fund annual budget is $150,000. This gives us a total budget of $498,000.
However, our actual giving thus far for 2008 results in a weekly deficit of $1,000/week for the General Fund and $500/week for the Missions Fund, which means that if this trend continues, our annual giving would total $420,000. This is about $78,000 short of our total budget. Make sense so far?
Now, I did a little calculating based on our church demographics. We get alot of people from all over: Weymouth, Braintree, Quincy, Hanover, Holbrook, Hingham, Abington, Milton, Rockland, Randolph, plus some other towns further out (Bridgewater, Hull, Mansfield, etc.). Probably about half our congregation comes from the Weymouth/Braintree area, and the other half come from the other towns on the South Shore.
With this in mind, I calculated the median income for Weymouth and Braintree, averaging the two together and letting that represent half the congregation. Then I combined the median income for pretty much all the other towns represented in our directory and averaged it out, letting that represent the other half of the congregation. (The two averages were very close, as it worked out.) As it works out based on the above formula, the average annual household income for our congregaton would be $60,000.
Now, get this: If everyone who has a church envelope tithed according to their income, our church's giving receipts would total $840,000 per year! Throw in the loose cash (non-envelope offerings), and we'd be taking in about $875,000 per year!
Think of what could be accomplished with that much money, simply based on our present challenges and objectives:
- Getting the Columbine family to Senegal
- Increasing support for our present missionaries and bringing on new missionaries
- Bringing on a full-time Associate Pastor of Adult Ministries
- Finishing the roofing projects and other critical repairs
- Building a new Welcome Center between the sanctuary and school building
Without looking at any individual names or envelopes, I got the following statistics from 2007. Out of 140 envelopes, 117 gave less than $6,000/year (tithe based on median income for our area). That's 84% of our envelope-givers! Furthermore, 30% (42 out of 140 envelopes) gave less than a thousand dollars for the entire year.
In one sense, these are certainly discouraging statistics. On the other hand, they can be quite encouraging. How? By considering the tremendous strides that could be made in ministry -- world missions! capital improvements! staff additions! discipleship resources! -- if we simply tithed our income, trusting the Lord to provide for our needs.
My purpose is not to get into a debate of the Old Testament tithe versus New Testament giving. I'm simply using 10% as a rule of thumb, remembering that grace always takes us to a higher level than the law. Consider the possibilities! Step out in faith!
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. --Luke 6:38
Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns till be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. -- Proverbs 3:6
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. -- Malachi 3:10