(This editorial is in response to the COGOP Finance Committee’s report to the upcoming General Assembly, which will be meeting in Nashville, TN in Summer 2008).
Shame on you, Finance Committee of the Church of God of Prophecy.
Your latest report to the upcoming General Assembly has many ministers, members and lay members up in arms about your new proposals, and rightfully so.
It is not practical to ask of your churches to send ten percent of their total tithes to International Offices, AFTER the individual members of those churches has given their tithes to their local and state leadership. In doing this you shortchange the local pastors of what is rightfully theirs. Unless the International Offices is a church in and of itself, and unless IO has a direct hand in the day-to-day matters of the local church, it is un-Biblical to ask tithes and rob individual churches of money that should be supporting the pastor.
If anything, the pastor should tithe back to the local congregation, since that’s where his income is coming from. The Word says to tithe to those over you in the Lord. Accountability to everyone in the church is necessary, so tithing to the local church would also address the problems you have stated in your report of your belief that some pastors are not tithing faithfully.
The financial strain on smaller, more rural congregations is profound, and by the revised financial guidelines your committee has proposed, the strain would be nearly impossible to overcome. I cannot support the current document proposed as a Biblical guideline for cheerful, responsible giving.
It is impossible to build a physical building from the top down — laws of physics and simple science dictate so. So why try to build a spiritual institution the same way? Why is there so little focus on local churches coming from International Headquarters? I’m not saying HQ has to get involved with every single church, but for your own organization’s sake, please cede more control over administrative and financial decisions to your local church bodies and state/regional leadership.
Also, I am concerned that you paint with too broad a brush when speaking of ministers not paying their tithes. Since when has it been Biblical for people to answer to man instead of God for not paying tithes faithfully? In my humble opinion, your approach is too harsh and you risk alienating those who are paying tithes and giving offerings cheerfully.
The COGOP Financial Committee is not the Internal Revenue Service. Demanding tithes from ministers and churches with an iron fist, is about as logical as asking a penguin to fly.
All in all, my personal belief is that the COGOP as an organization is in need of a massive overhaul. There are serious flaws in the structure of the finances, polity, and overall structure of the church. If we wish for the COGOP to be relevant to ministry today and tomorrow, we need to stop adapting yesterday’s style to everything and move forward in grace and spiritual liberty.
Although I am not a current member of COGOP, my prayers and well wishes are with the organization and its members, and I wish to see the church grow like never before.
But for that to be done, there have to be some changes. Major changes.
Excellent post.