Issue of the Tithe

From the beginning of my employment, the tithe was a constant staff conversation. The topic of the tithe was particularly popular when there was an issue that involved the worship team or its members.
On my team there were a few individuals, who I was informed of by my Pastor, who did not tithe. Whenever these “non-tithing” individuals would express their concerns or opinions the leadership would respond with a “their opinion doesn’t matter because they don’t support the church with their tithe” attitude. It didn’t matter that these individuals practiced 4 hours a week at the church for two services that only amounted to about an hour’s worth of playing time, or that these team members rarely, if ever, missed a service and loved what they did. The louder these “non-tithers” complained the more the leadership discussed the likelihood of establishing a no-tithe, no-play policy.
I was never an advocate for this rule and always tried to skirt the issue, which of course gave the leadership the impression that I was a weak leader, but by that time I knew better than to openly oppose the leadership in any way. In my opinion, the tithe is a very personal thing between the individual and God. Any Pastor who keeps track of who tithes and how much they give as a way of keeping a checklist of spirituality, dependability, or worth of an individual within their congregation is legalistic and abusive. It wasn’t until 2009 that I saw just how closely the leadership was keeping tabs on people’s tithes, particularly mine.
My husband and I typically paid our tithe in one lump sum around the 15th of every month. We had been doing it that way for months. At the beginning of August my husband and I had decided that it was time for us to leave the church. We didn’t know how and we didn’t know when. All we knew was that we hoped it meant taking a job out of state and that is exactly what we were trying to do. When we made that decision we also felt lifted from our obligation to tithe to the church. Because of the situation that was quickly developing (I will explain in a later post) we no longer felt that we could financially support the church so when the 15th rolled around we didn’t write our customary check. Later that month we wrote a small check, but it was less than a quarter of what we usually paid as our tithe. After that, we no longer paid our tithes to the church.
Around the first week of September, during a random discussion about the worship team, the Pastor again mentions that there are “certain individuals” on my worship team that are not tithing as they should. I remember that as he said the words “certain individuals” he was wearing his reading glasses and he lowered his chin and looked over the top of the rims as he said those words. It was evident that he was speaking about me. He then went on to explain that by not tithing that these individuals were in jeopardy of not receiving their full blessing from God and if they were struggling financially they should always pay their tithe first and let God provide the rest. I walked away from the conversation fully knowing what individuals, me and my husband, he was talking about. I walked away letting him think I didn’t have a clue as to what he meant, but inside I was seething. I had just witnessed one more manipulation tactic and method of control, but by this time God was letting me see the ugly truth and the truth of the matter really stank.