Should I give less to church if i volunteer?
You might answer this in your [Generous] series but what are your thoughts on equating serving in the church to tithing? I recently heard a couple of people say “since I do so much for the church in a volunteer capacity, I don’t need to tithe as much”. - Anonymous
Hi there, Anonymous,
As you know, it’s a week since you wrote to me, and I’ve been thinking about why your question unsettled me so much. Today I think I’ve figured out why…
There’s an underlying assumption in the statement made by the people you quote. It’s something like, “we have decided the debt we owe to the church can be paid with service as well as with money”. This is what I don’t like - the idea that financially supporting the church is some kind of debt to be paid.
On this view, the church is seen as a kind of service provider and the congregation are consumers. The debt is accrued through use of the church’s ‘goods and services’ which is paid for in ‘tithes and offerings, or in the case of your example, offerings and volunteerism. Church here is like a restaurant in which the customers can pay with cash and/or dishwashing.
This is horrible!
I’m aware that at some private schools, annual fees can be discounted if parents volunteer at events, working bees etc. This is an example of volunteering to help pay-down a debt.
But let’s be clear: nobody at Red Door is ‘in debt’ to the church.
There may be a theological misunderstanding at the root of this, so let me speak to that.
The misunderstanding might be based on a misapplication of the Old Testament Law. In the OT, the people of Israel were required to give a tithe (that is, a tenth) of their seed, fruit, and flocks to the Lord [Lev. 27:30–32]; [Deut. 14:22–24]. The people gave a tenth to the Levites (priests) to support them [Num. 18:21–24]; cf. [Neh. 10:38; 12:44], and the Levites, in turn, were to give a tenth to the chief priest [Num. 18:25–28]. Those who didn’t tithe were threatened with a curse, while those who did tithe were promised blessing [Mal. 3:8–10].
When we add these required tithes together, the total was probably somewhere around 20 percent per year!
But here’s the thing, Christians aren’t required to tithe. We are not living under the Old Covenant, nor residing in the Old Covenant Land, and are therefore not obliged to give in the same way the people of Israel were. The Apostle Paul is emphatic about this:
“Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not the old way of the written code.”
His instructions to the churches on giving and generosity bear this out, for example:
“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
So maybe we can help the people you spoke to by recalibrating the way we think about giving in the first place. Financially supporting the church is not an act of the Law - it’s not a debt to be paid. It’s an invitation to cheerful giving - to joyfully joining Jesus in the building of his kingdom.
One final note on giving in light of our freedom from the Law…
(I’ll pick this up in week three of the Generous teaching series.)
Short and sharp:
• We are not ‘in debt’ to the church
• We are not required by the Law to give a tithe
• Our financial support of the church is between us and God
• The pastors at Red Door have no idea who gives what
However, it’s my belief that if you are a middle-class person living in Melbourne in 2025, you should be giving at least 10% of your income away. Again, this is my own view, not the Law. I think 10% should be the minimum we give away because:
a. The need to fund gospel ministry is great
b. The needs of the poor are great
c. The only antidote for greed is generosity
d. We greatly overestimate how much money we need
I hope I’ve answered the question you asked, Anon.
Please tune in to the rest of the Generous series as we learn more about gospel-shaped-giving.
Love, JS
