Do people really tithe?

What people do with their money is a very personal thing. We cannot know how many people honor and practice the tithe as a spiritual discipline. We teach the tithe. We encourage the tithe. We model the tithe. How much people give is a matter of prayer.

However we can say this. The average pledge in our church last year was $3,000. Many people, especially people new to faith, often treat their contribution to the church as just another charitable donation, similar to their support of the United Way or their local PBS station. We often see many new pledges of $1040. (Take $20.00/week multiply by 52 weeks/year.)

We arrive at our average pledge figure by taking the amount of money given by many "charitable givers" adding that to the amount of money given by our "tithers" and dividing by total number of people who pledge.

Many people in our congregation honor the tithe by pledging 10% of their income. Others have made a commitment to work toward a tithe by increasing their pledge over a period of two or three years.

Note that people do not tithe casually. Their commitment grows out of profound conviction of the power of God at work in the world and in their own lives.