You should give 10% to the church. You should give all that you can to the church. You should give 10% off everything that you bring in – including gifts, bonuses and refunds. There is a lot of confusion about how much should be given to the church and why it should be given in the first place.
Why Give a Tithe?
The tithe was started by Abraham back when he gave 10% of the spoils of war to Melchizedek. The tithe was continued through out the Old Testament as a way for the priests – the Levites – to maintain their portion of the kingdom of the Israelites and also to run the temple of God. All other Israelites gave 10% of their increase to support the Levites and the temple. Today the 10% is counted on by most church organizations as a way of running the ministries and missions of the church.
Tithe is meant to be 10% of all the blessings that come into your life or all the increase. It is then poured back to God as a way of honoring His blessing.
Offerings are also mentioned first in Genesis when Able and Cain make an offering to God. It is intended to be everything above the 10% tithe. It includes offerings off the first fruits, in celebration of births and for a number of other reasons spelled out through the Old Testament.
Offerings also belonged to God and it was considered stealing from Him not to follow through with the offerings laid out by the law.
The term “alms” comes from the Greek word for pit and it is Old or Middle English for money or food given freely to relieve the suffering of the poor. This is the introduction of charity.
Tithe, Offerings or Alms
All that I have is God’s that He has provided to me to be a steward over. It is my duty to use those “talents” and blessings to provide the tithe, the offerings and even the alms.