Creating a Culture of Giving

John Shuck

November 12, 2004

October 16, 2005 (revised)

How much should I give to the church?

This is an important question. So glad you asked! J

I am going to offer my thoughts on this question and the larger question of giving and stewardship. The foundation for giving and for stewardship is found in Psalm 24:1-2:

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.”

Everything belongs to God. We tend to forget this truth. Because life changes slowly, we tend to forget our finitude. We fill our lives with thoughts about ourselves. We worry and fret over our stuff and what we think it will do for us. We need to be reminded that Earth and we who live on it belong to God. Stewardship means that we are caretakers, not owners. Everything that we have is on loan to us from our great-great-great-great-great-great grand children.

Not only do our descendants have a claim upon us, we are also indebted to our neighbors across the street and around the globe. Our extra coat and supply of food belongs to the one who goes without. (Luke 3:11) Giving is giving back.

As Christians, I believe that our most pressing task is to create a culture of giving. This is a radical, counter-cultural idea in a culture that emphasizes instant gratification and selfishness. The ancient spiritual discipline of first fruits giving is the way in which we create a culture of giving.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the command was given to offer to God the first fruits or a tithe of all produce. “The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” Exodus 23.19

Through this discipline, the people remembered the source of their life and their harvest and they cared for those in need. “Honor the Lord with your substance…and with the first fruits of all your produce…” Proverbs 3:9

First fruits giving (also known as tithing) is the way the Holy Spirit reminds us that we belong to God and to one another. The gifts build our community, relieve the stress of life, and contribute to one another’s joy. When we make our budget, when we pay our bills, first fruits giving is making that first payment to God. First fruits giving is giving back to God a portion of what God has given to us.

The benefits of first fruits giving are several.

*Others benefit from these gifts.

*We build community.

*We become less anxious about our own money.

*We come to realize that our joy is not found in possessions.

*We simplify our lives.

*We prioritize our values by putting our money where our mouths are.

An elder at my previous congregation (who is a seasoned first fruits giver) said at a session meeting: “I don’t want you to give until it hurts. I want you to give until it feels good.”

First fruits giving helps us to get a handle on our own financial management. Often we fall into the trap of buying as much house or as expensive a car as we can afford. The idea of tithing helps us to put our needs into perspective. Rather than ask, “How much can we afford?” The question stewardship invites us to ask is, “How much do we need?”

But why should we give to the church?

The church is that counter-cultural place that instills values. In our Book of Order we find that one of the six great ends of the church is the “exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world.” In our faith community, we are to represent God’s realm on Earth. That doesn’t mean we are supposed to be perfect. Far from it. In church, we learn how to disagree. Seriously. We learn how to disagree in a way that gives glory to God. We learn, through practice, forgiveness and cooperation.

Values are not automatic. We are not born with them. We learn them. Further, we don’t learn them once and “get” them. Instilling values of community, of giving, of joy, of right-relationship, and of peacemaking, takes a lifetime of practice. It requires a lifetime of worshiping, learning, disagreeing, serving, laughing, crying, forgiving and caring. We never finally “get” it. The getting it is in the doing it.

In this postmodern era, where immediate gratification for the individual is the highest priority, the church is counter-cultural. We value the community as much as the individual. The aroma of gratification comes to us from the slow cooker of service and worship. Through the practice and discipline of doing church we pass these values on to our children. Nothing you can give your child is more valuable or necessary. Give them the gift of the discipline of first fruits giving. Give them the gift of a community of faith.

Giving to the church is a worthy endeavor. Giving to the church is a part (but not the whole) of the larger question, how much should I give to God? We give to God by giving to charities and by giving to those ministries that do good for Earth and for Earth’s people. Part of our first fruits giving is to the church, as a part of our gift to God through charity.

Well, how much, exactly do we give when we give our first fruits?

 

First fruits giving is often called tithing. A tithe is considered a tenth. A tithe is a starting point. As our situations change, we may find that we can and wish to give far beyond this. There is a rule of thumb for managing our livelihood. It is the 10-80-10 rule. Of our income, ten percent goes to charity as first fruits. Eighty percent goes to paying the expenses of our lives. Ten percent goes to savings for the future. This is not a legalistic formula, but a discipline for managing our income. Whether the first fruits gift is ten percent or twelve or eight is less important than being consistent and making a commitment to give this percentage as first fruits.

How much of that tithe—that ten percent to God—should go to the church?

I have no idea. Once you begin (or continue) the process of first fruits giving or tithing to God, how you decide to distribute those first fruits is your joyful task and an incredibly rewarding experience. You can give where your passion is and where you feel the need is. Some give half of their tithe to the church and half to other charities. Others give a tithe to the church and an additional half-tithe to other charities.

For those interested in statistics, the average PCUSA household gives 3 ½ percent of its household income to the church. I must say that it is a delight to serve a congregation (to paraphrase Garrison Keillor) where everyone is above average. J

There is something rewarding about sitting down to pay our bills and making those first checks to those aspects of life that feed our passion, ignite our joy, and serve God’s people and God’s Earth. Tithing, or first fruits giving, is giving until it feels good.

It is important to stress that tithing is not legalism. It is not a law or a requirement. You do not have to tithe to be a member of the church, to have God love you, or to impress others. This is not a competition. No one knows what you make or what you give.

Tithing or first fruits giving is a spiritual discipline. In a culture that overwhelms us by reinforcing selfish consumerism and individualistic gratification, the spiritual discipline of first fruits giving helps us

1)  To appreciate that all of life belongs to God.

2)  To recognize that we are borrowing the world’s resources from our descendants.

3)  To understand that our neighbors in need have a claim upon our “extras.”

4)  To manage, control and simplify our lives.

5)  To experience the joy of giving our lives to God and to others.

In addition to first fruits giving, there are rewarding ways of making lasting gifts to God. We have been the beneficiaries of our ancestors’ faithful stewardship. Our beautiful, functional facility is how our spiritual ancestors paid back their loan to us. An endowment gift is a way in which we can pay back our loan to our spiritual descendants.

I will share examples of how two saints understood their long-term gift to the church. One woman has three children. Rather than dividing her estate into threes, she adopted the church as a fourth child and divided her estate equally among the four. Her reasoning goes like this: “My children don’t need my money. But they do need the church. They need a place where my grandchildren can learn values and to experience God’s love.”

One gentleman decided that he wanted to continue to give to the church after he dies, as he is able to do while he is alive. In addition to his yearly pledge, he began to contribute to the church’s endowment fund and he remembered to include the church in his will. His goal is to provide a large enough gift so that the earnings on that gift will function as a pledge and provide for the church’s operations, year after year.

I am proud to serve this congregation and I am excited about the bright future ahead of us. We have a unique and necessary mission in this place. I have heard people describe the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton as an oasis. Several people have told me that if it weren’t for this congregation, they might not attend anywhere. We might be a bit unconventional, perhaps counter-cultural, but above all, we are a giving church with open arms and open minds.

That is a mission worthy of our first fruits.

Blessings,

John