Offering (Christianity)

The offering in Christianity is a gift of money to the Church which is not considered a Christian's payment of his/her tithes.

In general, the offering is differentiated from the tithe as being 1) amounts given by members for general purposes over and above what would constitute a tithe, 2) amounts given for specific purposes (e.g. mission work, building program, alms for the poor) and/or 3) amounts given by non-members regardless of amount.

In some Christian services, there is a part reserved for the collection of donations that is referred to as the offertory. Historically, the offertory takes place either in the middle of the service (or at the end) and is collected by passing a collection plate (which may be fancy, or simple). Other churches collect donations by placing a collection box reserved for that purpose (usually near the exit doors). More recently, donations are collected by electronic means, either as one-time or recurring items (New Zealand based firm Pushpay is a leader in this field).

History

Origin

In the Bible, the offering is an act of gratitude to God.[1] At the time of Moses, God gave certain prescriptions to the people of Israel. In particular, he was to bring him some of his wealth by way of gratitude for the land that God gave him for inheritance.[2] The offerings were largely agricultural products: wheat, barley, oil, animals and the amount was one-tenth of their income, the tithe.[3]

New Alliance

In the New Testament, especially in the Epistle to the Galatians in chapter 6, Paul of Tarsus reminds the believers' commitment to their pastor and the poor.[4] In this same book, the offering is compared to a seed.[5] These concepts are echoed in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 9.[5] The motivation of the donor is no longer an obligation, but must be a free choice of generosity.[6] Paul of Tarsus has made several collections in order to help people in need.[7] Moreover, the offering is presented as a support for the mission and a sign of compassion for the poor.[8]

21st century

Offering through the Internet has become a common practice in many evangelical churches.[9][10]

Using

The offering is put at the service of the Church, for example for the support of the ministers of God, Pastors and missionaries, building maintenance costs, programs, helping the underprivileged (Christian humanitarian aid).[11][12] For the affiliated churches, the offering also supports the services of their denomination(such as missionary organizations, schools and theological institutes).[13] According to a 2014 survey of 1,605 churches in the United States by Christianity Today, the top five expenditures are staff salaries (ministers) to 47%, the ministries and the support (Christian humanitarian aid) to 9%, the place of worship (mortgage or rent of the building to 7%, utilities to 7%, maintenance to 5%), the support for international missions at 5% and support for local missions at 4%.[14] A 2016 study conducted by the Leadership Network and the Vanderbloemen Search Group among 1,252 churches in the United States, in Canada, in South Africa and in Great Britain, gave similar figures.[15]

In 1948, the evangelist Billy Graham and his evangelistic team established the Modesto Manifesto, a code of ethics life and work to protect against accusations of financial, sexual and power abuse. [16] This code includes rules for collecting offerings in churches, working only with churches supportive of cooperative evangelism, using official crowd estimates at outdoor events, and a commitment to never be alone with a woman other than his wife, unless another person is present. [17]

Controversies

In the 16th century, many Protestant theologians criticized the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, for the remission of sins.[18]

The account of the widow's offering (Gospel according to Luke, chapter 21) is often used by some churches to encourage the faithful to follow her example and make large offerings, despite a precarious situation. [19] Various theologians have criticized this interpretation. [20][21] They connect this story with Jesus' condemnation of religious leaders devouring the houses of widows in the preceding verse (Gospel according to Luke, chapter 20). Thus Jesus would not have wanted to show the example of a generous donor, but rather to denounce a case of injustice.

See also

References
  1. Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker Academic, USA, 2001, p. 46-47
  2. Richard Watson, A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, Carlton & Porter, USA, 1831, p. 835
  3. James Leo Garrett, Systematic Theology, Volume 2, Second Edition, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2014, p. 410
  4. Frank S. Thielman, Theology of the New Testament, Zondervan Academic, USA, 2011, p. 492
  5. Rodney Reeves, Spirituality According to Paul: Imitating the Apostle of Christ, InterVarsity Press, USA, 2011, p. 158-159.
  6. Frank S. Thielman, Theology of the New Testament, Zondervan Academic, USA, 2011, p. 339.
  7. Michael Barnett, Janice Gross Stein, Sacred Aid: Faith and Humanitarianism, Oxford University Press, UK, 2012, p. 67.
  8. Mark L. Vincent, Matthew M. Thomas, A Christian View of Money: Celebrating God’s Generosity (4th edition), Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2017, p. 43
  9. Michael Gryboski, Millennial-Majority Churches Detail Challenges, Success Stories in Growth and Finances, christianpost.com, USA, June 18, 2018
  10. Ghana News Agency, Asoriba launches church management software, businessghana.com, Ghana, February 3, 2017
  11. Brian Stiller, Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, Éditions Thomas Nelson, USA, 2015, p. 128-129
  12. Rémy Chhem, Marc-André Morency, Le culte du dimanche à l’Église évangélique baptiste de Québec Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine, IPIR, Canada, December 13, 2011
  13. Norman Doe, Christian Law: Contemporary Principles, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2013, p. 332
  14. ChurchLawAndTax, How Churches Spend Their Money, churchlawandtax.com, USA, July 15, 2014
  15. Mark Woods, The Spiritual Discipline That Really Ought To Catch On, christiantoday.com, UK, October 06, 2016
  16. Seth Dowland, The “Modesto Manifesto”, christianhistoryinstitute.org, USA, #111, 2014
  17. Yonat Shimron, Billy Graham made sure his integrity was never in question, religionnews.com, USA, February 23, 2018
  18. Frank K. Flinn, Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Infobase Publishing, USA, 2007, p. 530
  19. Peter Dula, Cavell, Companionship, and Christian Theology, OUP USA, USA, 2011, p. 25
  20. Wright, Addison G. "The Widow's Mite: Praise or Lament", The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 44, 1982, pp.256-265
  21. John Blake, How passing the plate becomes the 'Sunday morning stickup', cnn.com, USA, June 14, 2015
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