Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994 TAG: 9401220176
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Every clergyperson I know is one of the top three givers in their church," says Maryann Doyle, a fund-raising consultant to churches.
One of the first things the Rev. James Kidd says he has tried to do at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Conn., "is to put my own money where my mouth is."
He tithes 10 percent of his income to the church and gives an additional 5 percent to outside charities.
"Don't give until it hurts. Give until it feels good," he preaches to his congregation. "I tell them it feels really good."
But even at churches such as Asylum Hill that have strong stewardship programs, many no longer feel compelled to follow the ancient Jewish and Christian tradition of tithing.
Instead, in a trend that has cost churches billions of dollars a year, religious giving as a percentage of income has been on an almost uninterrupted downward spiral for more than two decades, from 3.1 percent in 1968 to 2.5 percent in 1991, according to empty tomb inc., a research organization based in Champaign, Ill.
The biblical warrants cited for the practice of tithing go back to the 14th chapter of Genesis when Abraham gives a tithe of the spoils of his recent battle to the high priest Melchizedek, according to the Anchor Bible Dictionary.
Among other references, in the 14th chapter of Deuteronomy, the faithful are instructed to tithe seed, grain, wine, oil and firstlings of herds and flocks. In Leviticus 27, tithes are said to come from the seed of the land, the fruit of the trees and every 10th animal of the herds and the flocks.
While many of the tithes refer to specific agricultural products, Jewish and Christian leaders over time tended to include all products and eventually money as being covered by the tithe, according to the Anchor dictionary.
At Shiloh Baptist Church in Hartford, the Rev. King Hayes refers to the admonition in the Book of Malachi in encouraging congregation members to tithe.
The biblical base for tithing is one of the first subjects new members are taught in religious education classes. Tithers are called up separately and place their contributions in a special box during the weekly collection.
"The tithers are the financial sustainers of the church," says Hayes, whose church maintains a soup kitchen and food pantry for the neighborhood.
Still, he estimates that about 35 percent of the congregation tithes. And that is a figure most churches would envy. Many churchgoers give an average of 1 percent to 2 percent of their incomes to their house of worship.
How do you disperse a threatening crowd? Take up a collection, goes the joke in a recent issue of The Joyful Noiseletter.
Kidd offers this variation: "When you come around for money, you always clear the [membership] rolls."
If it is any consolation to clergy today, there is a long history of reluctance to pay tithes.
In Malachi's time, the prophet protests the people were robbing the Lord by not bringing their full tithes.
If they did tithe, Malachi said, "God would open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing."
by CNB