Tithe Sunday Update

TITHE SUNDAY REPORT

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Tithe Sunday Stewardship Experiment on Sunday, November 19.  Thank you to those who did tithe and everyone who gave generously. On Tithe Sunday, 17 individuals or families (I.e. “giving units”) indicated their offering that morning was a Tithe. Our total offerings in church and online that morning totaled $6,491.

By contrast, our normal average weekly offering is $2,845. The 17 offerings that were tithes helped to more than double our offering and increased our available Ministry potential by $3,646! We know that tithing is not a requirement for New Testament Christians and we are completely aware that not everyone feels they can afford to tithe every week. But our Tithe Sunday stewardship experiment does indicate that if more of us did tithe (keep 90% for our needs and just give 10% for God’s work), we at Grace would potentially have $189,592 per year in additional giving to use to carry out Christ’s ministry.  In other words, if we accept God’s encouragement to tithe, we at Grace could easily DOUBLE our ministry in our community and the world.  And if we do, God promises to”open the windows of Heaven” and pour out blessings so abundantly they overflow!

Several individuals and families said they plan to continue giving a tithe in the future.  Most others said they might not be able to tithe but would be as generous as possible in their future giving. Again, thank you for participating in Tithe Sunday and thank you for your on-going generosity in your stewardship support of all our ministries at Grace.  We are thankful to God for blessing us at Grace so abundantly.

— Ralph Salzgaber (Lay Leader)