In the Old Testament, The Levites were commanded by God to give a tithe (a tenth) of the tithes they received from Israel to a priest (for God) in Numbers 18:26 . Traditional Jewish law and practice has included various forms of tithing since ancient times, including both financial and agricultural tithing. The word tithe is not found in the New Testament. Instead the New Testament scriptures are seen as teaching the concept of "freewill offerings," give freely as you feel lead. A lot of churches base the idea of the tithe/offerings on Malachi 3:10. It is the “storehouse” concept, that the tithe belongs to the local church. Basically a good church will have a wide and varied missionary/outreach program.
Good churches will, like the storehouses of the Old Testament, accomplish many things with the tithe/money they receive: First they will use it to care for the spiritual leaders, pastors, church staff members, evangelists and missionaries to keep the church going. Second they use the money to reach unbelievers outside the church. Thirdly, they use the money to care for the needy within the church.
Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church in Lancaster, Ohio follows a similar strategy. Besides taking care of their pastor; they automatically send ten percent of what they receive in the offering to missions. Also through-out the year, they collect donations and food/household items for the needy.
Many people investing in the fund, the congregation has power to do things one person couldn’t do on his own and it invests money in valid ministries he or she might not know about otherwise. So a good church will not keep all of the financial gain for themselves but rather will be finding ways to bless others, those in need especially. But if the church is not well investing the money then it is a good idea to give to other organizations to take care of these things like taking care of the needy.
If God is leading you to help someone or a group then it is right to give to them as God leads. He will bless us for doing what we can.
June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Financial Freedom: Principles of Wise Money Management (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 31.
Bill Hybels, D. Stuart Briscoe and Haddon W. Robinson, Mastering Contemporary Preaching (Portland, Or.: Multnomah, 1990), 108.
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