July 17, 2003
FSM 331FM01/99
Copyright © 1999 by The Family
Dear Family,
We love you very much! Thank you for so lovingly ministering to His sheep as well as faithfully giving your tithes and offerings to the Lord and His work. We hope that all the Word and tools, as well as the shepherding and counsel you receive from your reporting offices, are a help in your big job of winning the world for Jesus.
We know that each of you give your tithe as unto the Lord, knowing that He will continue to open the windows of Heaven and pour out His blessing upon you. Throughout the Letters Dad made it clear that the tithe was used to benefit the whole Family, and that whatever we paid in tithes the Lord would more than repay. Along with the Lord's request that we tithe, Dad's example and encouragement has given us all the faith that it is the Lord's will and that He will bless us for giving our tithes and offerings to Him and His work cheerfully.
Some of you, though, have put forth sincere questions concerning certain nuances in tithing that you are not sure how to handle and couldn't find specific counsel on in the Letters. To give you more direction on tithing, etc., after praying and counseling and asking the Lord to speak to us, we have compiled the following "Questions and Answers" FSM from questions from the field concerning tithing.
We pray these answers will make it easier for you to know what the Lord requires in the way of tithes and offerings. God bless you!
Love,
Your WS team
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal.3:10).
Q: Why is there a minimum tithe of $100 on most fields and $50 on poorer mission fields rather than a standard 10% across the board, regardless of the amount of income? Does the $100 minimum apply to both Charter and Fellow Members?
A: The reason Dad originally established the minimum tithe years ago, and the reason it continues today is simply that WS could not continue to provide the many pubs and services you now receive without sufficient income from you to do so. WS provides many publications and services that most churches or denominations never even consider giving to their congregations. We don't know if you're aware of it or not, but in today's more Bible-believing and practicing denominations, most church members tithe to their churches just like you do. But in most cases, what they usually get for their tithe is their preacher's one-hour weekly sermon, their church building, and sometimes a weekly four-page bulletin, which is often more of a social calendar than a spiritual feeding. That's it! Everything else costs extra! If they want to read a book written by their pastor or by the founder of their church, they buy it. If they want a music tape produced by their church or denomination, they buy it. If they want a video produced by the church or denomination for their children, they buy it.
We are unable to continue to supply this greatly increased amount of feeding and inspirational material without asking for this minimum tithe.
We are now trying to supply you Fellow Members with as much of the Word of God and the inspirational tools as we possibly can, which has been most everything over the past couple of years. For 1998 you Fellow Members have received 42 GNs! WS has also continued to increase the amount of books and other pubs, tapes, videos and other services tremendously, as Peter pointed out in his Victory Review '97 GN.
So we're sure you understand that for us to continue to supply you with this increase in pubs, books, tapes, videos and other services, which is nearly on par with what the CM Homes receive, we must ask of you the same minimum tithe as that required of CM Homes. Therefore, upon receiving this FSM, Fellow Member Homes in First World countries are now required to send a minimum tithe of $100. Countries where the minimum tithe is still $50 are: Mexico, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS countries, all countries in the ASCRO area (including India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma, the Philippines, etc.), and China.
Please remember though that this does not mean that you should send in $50 or $100 (depending where you live), if your tithe is more than that. You should send in 10% of your cash income, regardless of the amount. However, if 10% of your cash income comes to less than $50 or $100, you should send in the required minimum of either $50 or $100.
Thank you and God bless you for continuing to give your tithes so faithfully to make it possible to publish the Wonder Working Words for a waiting world, as well as provide the Family with the Word and tools that it needs for its inspiration and spiritual growth.
Q: I know there are good reasons behind the minimum tithe required for all Homes now, but it's been tough to come up with it every time. I don't think we are the only ones, and that it is particularly true with pioneer teams and small Homes. We find ourselves working hard to try to get the minimum tithe together at the end of every month as though it'd be another bill that needs to be paid, rather than the actual percentage according to our income. I wonder if it would be possible (or a good idea) to lower the amount of the minimum tithe required at least during the first three months or so, as a way to help pioneer teams make it. In Mexico it is not very easy. The economy is bad. This past month was particularly hard. We barely had enough to cover our living expenses, neither could we come up with the minimum tithe required. I'm working on it and I'll be sending as much as possible.
A: We understand that it can be hard to meet the minimum tithe during the first months pioneering a new Home. Any pioneer Homes such as the one above may appeal to WS via their CRO office for an exemption from the tithe minimum of $100 [or $50 as it would now be in some countries], and tithe only their actual income for the first three months if they are unable to meet the minimum.
Q: In November we had no actual cash income. We had a baby coming, so couldn't get out much, and we lived on reserves. So we sent $50 from our cash for our tithe. Well, the mailings were great, but the fact is that we had to cough up the funds. I know the Lord will bless and we have no problem with this. I like to give, I'll give my all, if I have it. It's expensive to have a Home here in Eastern Europe. We can cope with the rent, but then it's also the tithe, as for us nationals raising $500 a month doesn't happen, so our $50 minimum tithe [minimum tithe for this poor mission field] is well over our actual 10%. To raise $500 is the equivalent of 23 monthly salaries here. If we talk about having indigenous works and Homes, especially in CIS countries, where nationals would be taking care of everything themselves without foreigners, like we do now, the minimum tithe is a heavy burden.
A: Again, Homes facing such hardships can appeal to WS via their CRO office for exemptions if unable to cover the tithe minimum. If granted permission, they would only need to tithe their actual income. As the Charter states, "WS may lower the minimum [tithe] in hardship cases."
Q: Should we tithe material gifts and provisioned items or only our cash income?
A: Only cash gifts. In Old Testament and Early Church periods the tithe was 10% of everything that the Lord supplied. In other words if someone donated a plot of land or a herd of cattle, you were to give 10% of the land or cattle to the temple. However, some years back Dad exempted the Homes from this requirement to make it easier for you. So WS does not require that you pay a tithe on your material gifts or provisioned items, but only on all your cash income.
Actually, you might be interested to know that provisioning is the ministry-supporter checked the most on the TRF by the Homes worldwide, meaning it is, on the average, the top support source of the Family. So by tithing only your cash income, the Lord and WS are requiring far less than 10% of your total income, and WS does not benefit from 10% of your provisioning.
Q: Some brethren in the U.S. who receive food stamps believe that they do not need to tithe them.
A: Food stamps in the U.S. are not cash. So unless you can somehow legally convert your food stamps to cash, it is not necessary for you to tithe them.
Q: My family and I were recently planning to go back to the West to visit our relatives. This was quite costly. Our relatives were going to pay for it and we tried to get the cheapest flight possible. I had a question about whether this money should be tithed or not. The question I had was because this was a lot of money for the relatives to get together and it was not a donation to the Home or something the Home was going to benefit from, it was like asking the relatives to pay the tithe. If they bought the tickets for us in the West or if they sent the money straight to the airline company for the tickets, they would not have to pay the tithe, as we don't pay tithe for gifts received in kind. So doing it that way would save our relatives a lot of money. At the time I was having a battle about this, and I went to the Word and used the HomeARC to find out what the Word said on the subject. What I found was how all through the Letters, the tithe was something that was used to benefit the whole Family and that whatever I paid in my tithes, the Lord would more than repay. This gave me faith that it was His will and that He would also bless our relatives even though they had to pay a bit more.
A: Yes, all cash gifts should be tithed. However, since Family members have traveled extensively over the years, many have had experience finding good discounts on flights. So perhaps your finding cheap airfares will more than offset your tithe, and the resultant expense to those who would have purchased the tickets for you will be even less. And, amen! We agree that He will more than repay in every way. God bless you!
Q: Is it necessary to tithe the money we receive from selling our car that we intend to use to purchase a new car, even though we tithed the original income used to purchase our first car? And what if when I sell the car I make a profit on the original price I paid for the car? Do I tithe the profit?
A: The Lord certainly blesses giving, but the answer is no, you are not required to tithe again on the sale of goods purchased with funds you previously tithed. However you should tithe any profit made from the sale. Also, if the car was originally donated to you and you sell it later, you should pay your tithe on whatever amount you receive for the car before purchasing a new car. The underlying principle is that any new cash income should be tithed.
Q: Do we tithe income that was a gift from other Family Homes? Some say no, because the Family member who gave the donation to you had already tithed it. Others say yes, because it is your personal income and therefore as such should be tithed.
Q: Another question came up about the money that a Family member gets each month from one of the Homes for "rent" on the house they are using that is in his name. To make a long story short, this member's mother gave him a house some years ago and it's been used by the Family ever since. He has now asked the Home to pay him rent each month (which is still fairly cheap by System rent standards). However, since this member is getting this money from a Family Home, he reasons that he doesn't need to tithe it since the Home already tithed their income.
A: Any new cash income your Home receives should always be tithed. Just because another person, be they Family member or not, has given their tithe to the Lord from their income, that doesn't free you from the obligation to give your tithe.
Q: Up until this point we have been tithing the full amount from the sale of tapes and videos. If we sell a video for $12, we tithe on the $12. We are of the understanding that it is scriptural, according to the Old Testament to tithe on the increase of something you are selling? With the tapes and videos we seem to be tithing on the full amount (gross income) that we receive for them, even though a part of that is really not income (the seed corn) as this goes straight back into buying more stock. Would it be fair to say that we could tithe only on the increase (net income), as otherwise it seems we are tithing on money that is already tithed on (the seed corn which bought the tools was tithed money). Perhaps we should deduct the seed corn from the gross income first and only then tithe on our net income. Otherwise the seed corn money gets tithed over and over again. Below is a model of how it would work (see box below):
A: Deut.14:22 says, "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year." So we agree that it is scriptural for you to tithe the profits on the tools and not the seed corn, if the original funds used to purchase the tool stock were originally tithed (which they should be, since all cash income should be tithed). In other words, in calculating your tithe on income received from tool distribution, you may subtract the seed corn first, and then tithe 10% on the rest.
Q: I was about to tithe a cash gift, which was a designated gift to buy a certain object (a radio, or TV). A sister told me that I don't have to tithe such money, as it's for a designated purpose, and we don't have to tithe material gifts, such as food, or furniture, computers, etc. She even mentioned that brethren ask their sponsor to designate it so that they won't have to tithe it!
A: As mentioned earlier, according to the Bible, you should be tithing on everything you receive and not just cash. But WS is exempting all Homes from having to tithe on material gifts as a form of help to all the Homes in general, and because it would be difficult to administer collecting tithes of material goods. But it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible or the Charter that designated cash gifts should not be tithed. The best thing to do would probably be to let your donors know that you are very religious about giving your 10% tithe to the Lord—that on any cash gifts they give you for the purchase of food, utilities, furniture, vehicles, computers or whatever, you would have to give God His 10% before you purchase whatever it is they are giving you a donation to buy.
"I'll guarantee you right now, as I've told you before, that if you will put God first and put His tithe first, He will see to it that "The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail"! He will "pour out such a blessing there will not be room enough to hold it" and you'll have no complaints because you had to pay God first (1Kgs.17:14; Mal.3:10)" (ML #934:7).
Q: When an FMer rejoins the CM Family should his savings be tithed since he has been tithing his income while still an FMer?
A: No. If these funds have already been tithed once when he was FM, it is not required to tithe them again, because they are not new income for him.
Q: I've met a few families that mentioned that they send WS the $100 tithe minimum and the rest of their monthly tithe to other Homes as a gift. Could this be one reason that WS' funds are sometimes lacking?
A: Yes, that could be. The Bible says that a full 10% tithe should first be given to the Levites (WS) for their upkeep and to be used in whatever way He directs them to use it (and all of it goes back into pubs and servicing the Family). Each Home and disciple—whether CM or FM—is on the honor system with the Lord, and we're sure will be blessed for giving their tithe to the Lord.
"But God expects at least the minimum required tithe of 10% of your income, to go directly to His temple services only, which is in this case, as a member of this congregation, your World Services. That is the absolute minimum that you can get by with with God! But even then, He's promised to more than bless you for it, and pour out such a blessing there will not be room enough to hold it!—100 fold! 1000%! Since you're keeping 90% of it anyhow, you're already getting nine times or nine fold as much, and He will at least give you back the 100-fold of your 10% if nothing more—1000%!" (ML #928:210).
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family