Teaching the tithe can be tough. But for one of the fastest growing churches in the nation, doubling down on their committment to irrational generosity meant reexammining what it means to lean into this core tenet of the Christian faith.
According to Innovation Leader Bobby Gruenewald, no church benefited more from the concept of irrational generosity than Life.Church itself. Though they don't run giving campaigns, Life.Church saw amazing responses when they started teaching the tithe with trust, humility, and vulnerability.
How does Life.Church approach tithing?
When the offering basket is passed around at Life.Church, adults in serious need of food, clothing, or shelter are encouraged to take cash from the offering. "Once it's in the bucket, it's God's," Sam Roberts of Campus Operations once explained.
Being open-handed with gifts encourages more giving as the circle of trust and community grows. Because Life.Church leadership passionately believes in the tithe as a biblical truth, not just a means of encouraging their church to give, they came up with the Three Month Tithe Challenge from Malachi Chapter 3.
In this program, people agree to tithe regularly for three months. If at the end of that time they don't feel like God met their needs or provided for them in some way, Life.Church returns their gifts. By being honest and transparent, Life.Church invites more and more people to experience the joy of giving and God's resulting provision.
Walk through the ways Life.Church teaches the tithe to encourage irrational generosity by watching the short video below:
Like Bobby, Sam, and the rest of Life.Church leadership, Kindrid firmly believes that giving blesses the giver even more than the person receiving the gift. Interested in learning about how other churches approach the tithe?
