Give Until it Helps
Some suggestions for year end giving and beyond for responsible and concerned Adventists.
by Jack Hoehn, November 10, 2015: Those who love the Seventh-day Adventist Church and wish to see it prosper in its God-given mission to spread the gospel and prepare people for the second coming of Jesus are looking for ways to support the changes and advancement Adventism needs. Most of us had no vote at the past General Conference, but each Sabbath and now at year end as many of us tidy up our accounts and plan our year end giving, we want to be positive and constructive for the Adventism we wish to leave to our children and their world.
The Fall 2015 issue of the print magazine Adventist Today had an article, “After the Darkness Light!” (Post Tenebras Luxis) starting on page 36 of that excellent journal. You may subscribe to Adventist Today below to get the complete magazine, but let me quote to you from that article:
“I want the General Conference [of Seventh-day Adventists] to be a lean and clean administrative organization, which coordinates the Lord’s work but does not control it by finances or doctrines. The only way I know to make this happen is to withhold support from the darkness that has come upon our church and to instead fund the sources of light. My subscription (and gift subscriptions for my children) to the Adventist Review (which is now a GC house organ) is going away, whereas my donations to Adventist Today and Spectrum will continue. My church budget offerings will keep up, and my tithe will go to the places the Lord tells me to send it.”
CHURCH BUDGET
The real Seventh-day Adventist “church” is mostly the place you attend each Sabbath, consisting of those you learn with, pray with, sing with, or cry with as we strive to live a Christian life in our home towns. The first place to give is to “the church” and you can give most or all your stewardship to the work of God in your town. These funds stay in your church and do not support any of the administrative structure that goes from Conference to Union to Division to General Conference when given as “tithe” by SDA church policy. If your local congregation is not following the new insights God is sharing with Adventism, then you may wish to find a congregation that does, and transfer your support and your membership there. Or give to projects that express the changes and movements you know your church needs to make.
TITHE or “Unrestricted Operating Funds”
We all can choose to send our support only to conferences and unions that have voted for gender equality in ministry. A list of those who have taken formal action supporting gender equality in ministry follows below. Or we can send gifts to our own conferences with a letter specifying that this donation is for “unrestricted operating funds for the “XYZ Conference,” with the stipulation that none of these funds or a percentage of them will be sent on to any higher organization of the church administrative structure.” This would support the ministry in your conference, but not fund the higher organizations.
Or you could send your Conference a gift as a restricted trust fund: “For use only to support women in ministry or women in training for ministerial positions in this conference.” This could help reluctant officials in your conference seek out and support more female pastors and interns in your conference or union of conferences.
| COLUMBIA UNION CONFERENCE 5427 Twin Knolls Road Columbia, MD 21045Treasurer: Seth Bardu Tel: (301) 596-0800, ext. 540 sbardu@columbiaunion.net |
PENNSYLVANIA CONFERENCE 720 Museum Road Reading, PA 19611Treasurer: Ron Christman Tel: (610)374-8331 rchristman@paconference.org(Their president was very courageous during the GC in speaking out for gender equality.) |
| PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE OF SDA PO Box 5005 Westlake Village, CA 91361-2701Treasurer: Theodore R. Benson Tel: (805)413-7232 treasurer@puconline.org |
SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE OF SDA PO. Box 79990 Riverside, CA 92513Treasurer: Verlon Strauss Tel:(915)509-2200 info@seccsda.org(The only conference wise enough to have elected a female pastor as president.) |
| NORWEGIAN UNION OF SDA P.O. Box 124 3529 Royse NorwayTreasurer: Johann E. Johannson Tel: (011) 47-3216-1670 johann.johannsson@adventist.no |
DANISH UNION OF SDA Postboks 15 2850 NAERUM DenmarkTreasurer: Bjorgvin Ibsen Tel: (011) 45-58-7777 bjorgvin.ibsen@adventist.dk |
| SWEDISH UNION OF SDA Box 536 SE- 101 30 Stockholm SwedenTreasurer: Ronny Hermansson Tel: (011) 46-08-545-297-75 ronny.hermansson@adventist.se |
(There may be other Conferences or Unions that have taken similar public actions supporting gender neutral ministry, but these are those who have taken a public stand that I am aware of as of November 9, 2015.) |
WOMEN IN MINISTRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND
TEAM (Time for Equality in Adventist Ministry) founded a scholarship to train women for pastoral, chaplaincy, and religious educational ministries in 1991. They have had modest amounts of funding for female students to study theology in Adventist schools in their own home country or continent. 
They also offer postgraduate scholarships for women to study theology on the graduate level at any appropriate intuition. Details and application forms for female students are available here. If you know a young woman of any race, nationality, citizenship, or marital status who feels called to ministry but unable to finance her education, encourage her to apply for a scholarship.
If you wish to promote gender equality in ministry, you can donate a scholarship from $150 to $2,000 US Dollars or multiples thereof here. They are a non-profit organization and donations are tax deductible.
Or you can send a check to:
TEAM
P.O. Box 7816
Langley Park, MD 20787-7816.
For more information go to their website: https://timeforequality.net
(Warning: please note there are other unrelated sites with the same name “timeforequality” at .org and .com which are NOT related to the timeforequality.net site we are featuring.)
ADVENTIST SCHOOLS
Contact the Advancement Services or Donor Services department of your alma mater or SDA school near you. Ask them if they have any established funds or scholarships devoted to equality in Adventist ministry that you could support. This could be a scholarship fund for female students wanting to go into Adventist ministry, chaplaincy, or religious education. (Hint, you could call it The Ellen Fund!)
Or ask them about setting up a scholarship for study of possible alternatives to young earth creationism for Adventism. You could set up an “Advanced Creation Studies Scholarship” to support continuing education for science teachers, theologians, and their advanced students interested in studying alternative ways of understanding the doctrine of Creation beyond young earth creationism.
Adventist University of Health Sciences, Orlando, Fla.
Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Mich.
Burman University, Lacombe, Alberta
Kettering College, Kettering, Ohio
La Sierra University, Riverside, Calif.
Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif.
Oakwood University, Huntsville, Ala.
Pacific Union College, Angwin, Calif.
Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tenn.
Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, Tex.
Walla Walla University, College Place, Wash.
Washington Adventist University, Takoma Park, Md.
Or go international with the same goals. Here is a website with links to all SDA Universities in the world. Find one you have a voice with, and challenge them by supporting the goals of gender equality in ministry and progressive Creationism in harmony with science instead of at war with science.
SCIENTISTS WHO ARE CREATION FRIENDLY
I would like to suggest two organizations that offer a Christian alternative to the young earth creationism our church is presently tied to.
I consider them valuable resources for Adventists and possible alternatives to our present unhealthy dependence on a short age of the earth. They each sponsor websites and books and sometimes meetings and lectures that would be valuable for SDA members, scientists, pastors, theologians, students, and administrators interested in understanding how to coordinate scientific truth and Biblical truth. They are donor supported and a gift to them or the purchase of information from them would be a faithful stewardship use of the funds God has given you.
You might consider taking one of their courses on line or at a conference, or why not sponsor your pastor and their spouse to attend as an enrichment course? This would be a wonderful way to support the ministry in a practical and helpful way.
REASONS TO BELIEVE – led by Christian Astronomer Hugh Ross, is Biblical and science friendly. They offer courses and on-line resources, and publish many useful books that you may wish to study and share with others in your church family. Their approach is what is called old earth creationism or progressive creationism.
Reasons to Believe – Where Modern Science and Faith Meet.
THE DISCOVERY INSTITUTE—is not religious, but is run by many Christians who understand that Intelligent Design is a scientific approach to reality that opens the door to belief in a Creator. Again they have on-line resources, books, and conferences valuable for all Creationists trying to harmonize science and the Bible by listening to both. 
They do not call themselves creationists because that is a Biblical approach to science, but their scientific theory of Intelligent Design is very comfortable with the God of the Bible. They are very good at producing visuals explaining ID, and several of our Seventh-day Adventist scientists have cooperated in making those videos. They offer nothing to support a short age of the earth, but they offer a huge amount of support for creation showing a Designer. Send your pastor and spouse on their summer ID cruise! Vacation and growth in wisdom and knowledge at the same time!
The Discovery Institute – Center for Science and Culture.
Independent Adventist Journalism
Finally, you are reading this article because you or someone else cared enough about Adventism to donate time, talent, and money to support a free voice for our church. If you don’t subscribe or donate to Adventist Today, you really should. Even if you don’t agree with all you read, the value of an independent voice not controlled by any of the administrative arms of the church is health for them and reassuring to us who are members of the church.
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(And after you’ve been most generous to Adventist Today, also remember to send a gift or at least a subscription to our beloved competitor, the good people producing Spectrum.)
Jack,
Excellent suggestions! Thank you for sharing them.
One of the complaints I have been voicing for many years is how the maturing of the church in different parts of the world has reduced the need for overseas workers from the countries where the church is older because it has reduced my connection with “over there where God is working.” So as the church has centralized and the flow of specific information about projects “over there” has diminished, so has my giving for what few projects I hear about. I am sure that I am not alone in feeling that way, so I hope following your suggestions will help people feel connected to God’s work “over here.”
For those concerned about the Divine propriety of personally-directed tithe funds, Ellen White’s personal practice is revealing and encouraging. http://www.4hispeople.info/studies_tithe.html
The blessing of tithing apparently includes the directing of its use by the person tithing, at least in the personal experience of Ellen White.
Self-directed tithing is widely reported to be practiced by those supporting the so-called ‘self-supporting’ ministries that have proliferated within the Seventh-day Adventist church in recent decades.
This said, were tithe to be fully self-directed in such a way that it fully bypassed all local conferences, the church would surely financially collapse within a few months, if not weeks.
As a recently retired local church treasurer of long standing commented, “If the church wants to gather wool, it must feed the sheep.”
I’m a little concerned about people who send their tithe to where ever when there are only two places it should rightfully go. The first would be to the conferences where it should be used for supporting the ministers and the upkeep of our churches at least if you are to follow the biblical examples of what was historically used for. The only other place it should go is to your local pastor to do with as they see fit and again this is a biblical practice based on the precedents set in the O.T. If we follow the biblical example the conferences should be asking for monies above tithe to support them because the closest thing to a modern temple is the local church given the services rendered to the believers. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we flipped things to how it should be rather than how it is now.
I’m a lot concerned when anonymous people tell me they know more about where my tithes should go than the Bible or Sister White do. I just can’t remember the chapter nor verse that says “only to your conference?”
You misunderstand me. When I say it should be sent to the conference I am referring to in a perfect world where it is used as it should be. It currently isn’t being used properly so local churches suffer the consequences. I agree with the link Bill sent that it should be used to support those who are truly doing God’s work. Personally, I know and trust my local Pastor and let him decide where in the local budget it should be used and because I believe this best fits the model laid out in scripture (it has helped my Pastor run multiple programs that wouldn’t have been possible without doing this). There may be situations where you know of someone in need of support but it should always be used for supporting those who are doing the work and not to a cause. The reason for the anonymous post is to protect others and not myself.
Jack:
I construe the advice you have given in this article to be “responsible giving”. A faithful steward will take good care of his master’s property. I remember a few decades ago we were having a discussion on faithfulness in tithe-giving,and a relatively well educated leader of my church remarked that he did not care if, when he paid the tithe, the conference officials would throw it into the sea. He said he was only interested in being obedient to God in paying the tithe. Lots of the faithful members agreed with him, but I did not. I thought he was simply a hirling, observing the letter of the law . Of course, a large number of our members are paying tithes to avoid the curses mentioned in Malachi, but they do not correctly identify the storehouse. They thihk it is the conference office or the church only; and they simply pay as their duty.
If the church members are better stewards the conference officials wil also become better stewards.
The Adventist church has defined the meaning of “storehouse” but Scripture does not direct it to a conference as does the church. There is no reason that “storehouse” does not mean wherever there is need and in most congregations, there are many needs of which the conferences are unaware. Missions begin where we are and the needs are seen. The community where the church is located will see the SdA church has responding to local needs which has a far greater influence than thousands of miles away. “Mission” has always meant “foreign missions” in the church.
Tithing was never taught as a specific doctrine in the NT:
“As long as the readiness is there, a man is acceptable with whatever he can afford; never remind what is beyond his means. This does not mean that to to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves; it is a question of balancing what happens to be your surplus now against the present need” (2 Cor 8:12-14).
This is NOT how the church has taught tithing: we should give tithe FIRST, and God will bless us with more than enough. (From the OT where tithe was given to the Levites who depended on giving for their sustenance.
Kudos to Jack and his excellent ideas for all of us.
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” — Micah 6:8, NRSV
In Jesus’ time, the steward was the manager of the household. The steward was not the owner of the assets, but a responsible administrator of the owner’s property.
Giving money for the work of the church is one very important aspect of stewardship, but it is not the whole of stewardship. When stewardship is reduced to financial giving, the richness of a biblical symbol is dismissed. When financial giving is magnified to the whole of stewardship, the richness of a whole life committed to Jesus Christ is missing.
Christian giving is a responsive act. It represents gratitude to God. It is a symbol of self-giving. Therefore, giving is not a once-for-all event, but a regular part of life. It is a spiritual discipline that reminds us who we are and whose we are.
Jesus often related faith to the ways people managed their possessions. His example is worthy of following in our era.
In a culture that is so affected by economics, it is imperative that the gospel relate to this dimension of our individual and corporate lives. Theological reflection and spiritual struggles around the power of money and possessions are critical matters for living in these days.
Thank you Jack!
Jack these are excellent ideas! Thank you for this gift and valuable information.
Christian giving is a responsive act. It represents gratitude to God. It is a symbol of self-giving. Therefore, giving is not a once-for-all event, but a regular part of life. It is a spiritual discipline that reminds us who we are and whose we are.
Jesus often related faith to the ways people managed their possessions. His example is worthy of following in our era.
In a culture that is so affected by economics, it is imperative that the gospel relate to this dimension of our individual and corporate lives.
Theological reflection and spiritual struggles around the power of money and possessions are critical matters for living in these days.
Giftedness is an important dimension of stewardship. We are called to name our gifts, to help call out the gifts of others, and to give our gifts to God as an offering.
Jack, you have here some wonderful suggestions for responsible giving and tithing in the SDA church. Where I live here in the Caribbean, you would be branded a trouble maker, and be accused of trying to divide or destroy the church. You will not be elected to any office in the church-not even Sabbath School teacher/lesson coordinator. You will be regarded as a member not-in-good-standing. In my experience, it was an unpardonabe sin simply to mention in Sabbath School that the portion of the tithe which the pastor received, is spent on the very things the nine-tenth is spent on in the hands of the giver: rent, transport, shopping, etc. That was the last time I addressed the SSchool from the Superintendent’s platform.
We are taught that tithe-paying brings a blessing; but what blessing will a contributor receive when the tithe is deducted from his salary, without his consent, before he is paid his monthly salary?
Tithing is a smart way of financing the church programme; but when it is wrested from the member, and used mainly to satisfy the needs of the pastors and preachers, it is misused. When it is used now to discriminate against our women folk in ministry, the situation becomes untenable. It is unwise to pay the tithe to people who will misuse it. The blessing comes with the wise use and conscientious giving of the tithe.
This forum provides an avenue of expression to [people who may have ideas and suggestions worthy of communication, but will not be permitted in regular SDA media for some reason. Why, then, are some people afraid to give their real names? Giving their names will lend authenticity to what they say! Is it that some people do not have confidence in themselves?
“Giving their names will lend authenticity to what they say!”
Why concern for authenticity? Are these people you speak of Jesuit internet robots infiltrating the remnant church?
Just be objective. Discern the relevance of the input/concepts/ideas. I have shared some insight/quotes from SDA conference officials/pastors and Spirit of Prophecy during Sabbath school..without saying I was quoting them.. and get countered because I am a layman. Yet if they know I quoted from SOP or a pastor they would be silent because then they would be accounted guilty of attacking the church.
How many SDA are paranoid about the church organization crumbling? Jesus said the gates of Hell will not prevail…What is His church anyway.. 18 million lukewarm Laodiceans??
Is this gang mentality..or people who are involved in institutional/denominational idolatry?
Read page 608 of Great Controversy…things are just warming up in the Adventist church.