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How to Finance a Church
Hello, I’m the Rev. Ortiz, and this is the study: How to Finance a
Church.
Over the years, thousands of you have watched my videos and
learned that God’s tithe has absolutely nothing to do with our income.
In light of this fact, a few of you have expressed concerns about how to
finance a church. Thus, with the help of my accounting degree, I’ve prepared
this study to answer your questions.
But before I begin, I want to make it clear that Jesus never
used the word “church” to refer to a building. He only used the word “church”
to refer to us, His followers. We’re the ones that have changed the meaning of
the word” church” so that it also refers to buildings; however, if having a
building were a necessary part of the church, then Jesus would’ve built a church
building, because He was a carpenter by trade. In spite of having this ability,
Jesus did not build a building for the church, nor did He tell us to
start building.
On the contrary, when Jesus was told about the temple buildings,
He said “Not one stone will be left on another.” (Matthew 24:2b) And when Peter
said “Let us put up three shelters…” (Mark 9:5) Jesus ignored him.
Jesus knew that if a building became a requirement for the church,
then God’s children would be burdened with the costs necessary to maintain a
brick and mortar structure. He also knew that we would start accumulating
treasures here on Earth. Unfortunately, we have overlooked this lesson and, like
Martha, we have become “worried and upset about many things, but only one thing
is needed”—God’s Word. (Luke 10:41-42a)
This might come as a surprise to you, but God never
established worship buildings. The only structure that God requested was the portable
Tabernacle, also known as the tent of meeting. Aside from the sacred
portable tent, the Israelites were told to worship in their houses at
the start of every Sabbath. The idea of a temple came from King David, not God.
It was the Jews that wanted a temple, and it was the Jews that later built synagogues
on their own accord.
Although Jesus did not establish a church building, I do believe
that He agrees with our idea of having church buildings, in the same way that
God accepted the ideas of a temple and synagogues. That said, I now present to
you five easy ways to finance a church without turning God’s holy tithe into a
scam.
First, we have the Synagogue Method. The Jews have a long-standing
relationship with the Almighty, longer than any other ethnic group on Earth,
and they do not tithe their income. So, if what they’re doing has kept
synagogues open for thousands of years, then it will work for us too.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-7 speaks of the promises made to support synagogues. At the
start of each year, those willing and able make a freewill promise to support
their synagogue. In addition to promises, the Jews also collect offerings. In
Luke 21:1-4, Jesus observed that the widow gave more. This means that Jewish
offerings are also based on freewill. These two sources of income support
synagogues all around the world.
Next we have the House Church Method. This is the same
method used by the Primitive/Apostolic Church. As the name implies, these
believers worshiped in private houses. The Bible does not mention any intention
to acquire a church building; therefore, the first Christians were content to
worship in their homes. According to 1st Corinthians 16:2, on the
first day of every week, a freewill love offering is collected based on how the
Lord has blessed each member. And with that, these believers have done away
with the overhead costs of maintaining a building. They can now direct their
love offerings to the needs of the poor. An online search will allow you to see
that there are many house churches today.
The third form of church financing is the Amish Method. The
Amish do not tithe, nor do they collect a weekly offering. Instead, they
give alms twice a year, and give freely whenever a need arises. Search as you
may, but you will never find an Amish church building. That’s because
our Amish brothers and sisters have been worshiping in their houses for
hundreds of years. But instead of designating one house to hold all of their
worship services in, they use all of the houses within their community. Every
week, a different house is designated to serve as the house church of the week.
This way, the burden of preparation and cleanup is shared by everyone.
This brings us to the fourth method of church financing which I
call the Christian Transparency Method. In this method, all expenses are
presented to the church for approval, and even voted on if necessary. Then we
simply take the total monthly expenses, minus the weekly offerings, and let the
church know the amount required to keep the church afloat. The transparency
method works, because when Christians are allowed to see the needs of
their church, they give. The only obstacle this method has is that money-loving
pastors do not want church members to see where their hard-earned
money is going.
My last form of church finance is a combination of any of these
four methods. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to only one of the financial
methods. As Christians we should use all available tools to promote the Gospel.
What we shouldn’t do is lie about God’s tithe. Doing the wrong thing for the
right reasons doesn’t work with God. Remember that Abraham tried to help God’s
plan by having a child with the slave woman, and we all know how that ended.
Lying about God’s Word is a very serious matter, especially when
pastors are doing it to exploit the poor in spirit. Those that continue the
modern practice of making a fraudulent scheme out of God’s Holy Tithe will soon
discover that “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Hebrews 10:31.
If you find this study useful, please share it with others so we
can get these churches financed. And
remember, God loves you, not your money.
Thank you for listening. Until next time, God bless you.
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