Tithing

This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"

John Campea's been pushing all the buttons, first talking about the Church of Amway, and then suggesting that our tithes might be better used to help the poor/needy/hungry/unfortunate. One person has suggested that John is backsliding. While I don't doubt that (how could you do otherwise in Hamilton? just kidding, John), I think John's on to something. Tithing should not just equal support for buildings, programs, and Sunday morning events. That's not to put down the church. It's just to say the church needs to be less about buildings and programs and Sunday morning. Instead of 90% overhead for staff and institutional maintenance, how about a majority of the money going to impoverished churches and to the poor? Some could still go to the needs of the local congregation (elder support, etc.) but much, much less. Is that backsliding?