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>Americans love spending money on things >our priest, our deacon, and our deacon's wife How much do you tithe per week? Don't kid us by implying they'd give y

>Americans love spending money on things >our priest, our deacon, and our deacon's wife How much do you tithe per week? Don't kid us by implying they'd give you that support if you weren't a paying customer.

tathougies 8y ago
Nothing? At the time they helped us out, we had just joined the parish. Then we went on a six month hiatus because we were too depressed, but the other deacon invited me to drink beer, because he hadn't seen me in a while. Didn't even have to pay for the beer. Of course, as somewhat active members of the parish, we help out a lot. We volunteer for the marriage prep ministry, and I often help the men's club out with various improvement projects, by contributing brute strength or woodworking skills. Not all 'tithing' is monetary. FWIW, it helps if you find a parish that is associated with a religious order, where the members are vowed to poverty. Diocesan priests tend to be the ones with the most monetary ambition.
ajdlinux 8y ago
I can only speak for my own religious tradition (Protestantism, Australia) but as the son of a minister and a lifelong churchgoer, I've never seen money come into it. I think the trope about money-hungry evangelists certainly has some truth to it in some parts of Christendom, but when it comes to money the church as a whole really isn't the stereotype that some make it out to be. Growing up in a church ministry household, the only time I ever heard my father talking about specific individuals and their financial support for the church was in situations such as when someone died and left a bequest they had to sort out. I imagine he probably did get some idea about the generosity or otherwise of some of our parishioners just through knowing them sufficiently well, but I don't think he'd ever let it show. Of course, if my dad wanted money, he'd have stayed in accounting. As a software engineer, I was earning more only one year out of uni, even with only Australian-level engineer salaries, than he's ever earned at any point in his whole career.
- mikec3010 8y ago
  I'm not saying they're money hungry, but it's extremely uncouth to show up every Sunday and not contribute. I was pointing out that these free services aren't actually free.
kbutler 8y ago
In my experience as a lay minister, I've generally seen an inverse relationship between contributions (time/effort/involvement, not just financial) and support needs, though there are definitely exceptions. It may be that the involvement strengthens resilience or strengthens the support network, or an inverted cause and effect, etc.

tathougies 8y ago

Nothing? At the time they helped us out, we had just joined the parish. Then we went on a six month hiatus because we were too depressed, but the other deacon invited me to drink beer, because he hadn't seen me in a while. Didn't even have to pay for the beer. Of course, as somewhat active members of the parish, we help out a lot. We volunteer for the marriage prep ministry, and I often help the men's club out with various improvement projects, by contributing brute strength or woodworking skills. Not all 'tithing' is monetary. FWIW, it helps if you find a parish that is associated with a religious order, where the members are vowed to poverty. Diocesan priests tend to be the ones with the most monetary ambition.

ajdlinux 8y ago

I can only speak for my own religious tradition (Protestantism, Australia) but as the son of a minister and a lifelong churchgoer, I've never seen money come into it. I think the trope about money-hungry evangelists certainly has some truth to it in some parts of Christendom, but when it comes to money the church as a whole really isn't the stereotype that some make it out to be. Growing up in a church ministry household, the only time I ever heard my father talking about specific individuals and their financial support for the church was in situations such as when someone died and left a bequest they had to sort out. I imagine he probably did get some idea about the generosity or otherwise of some of our parishioners just through knowing them sufficiently well, but I don't think he'd ever let it show. Of course, if my dad wanted money, he'd have stayed in accounting. As a software engineer, I was earning more only one year out of uni, even with only Australian-level engineer salaries, than he's ever earned at any point in his whole career.

mikec3010 8y ago
I'm not saying they're money hungry, but it's extremely uncouth to show up every Sunday and not contribute. I was pointing out that these free services aren't actually free.

kbutler 8y ago

In my experience as a lay minister, I've generally seen an inverse relationship between contributions (time/effort/involvement, not just financial) and support needs, though there are definitely exceptions. It may be that the involvement strengthens resilience or strengthens the support network, or an inverted cause and effect, etc.