How To Create Your Budget and Actually Follow It (Pt. 3) (The Secrets of Tithing)

In the past two posts of the how to budget series, we've talked about some of the initial work to be done to create your family's budget.  Here's the link for part 1.  Here's the link for part 2.  Today, I'm going to address one of the big things that the

Most of us love giving.  It makes us feel better about ourselves and give us that warm fuzzy feeling inside when we do good deeds.  I've been involved with going to church on a regular basis for the past 6 years or so.  In that time, I've found that there's a particular form of Christian giving that throws off a lot of people: Tithing.  I've found that tithing is the golden unicorn in terms of Christian personal finance.  Everyone wants to do it, but most people can't figure it out.  In my opinion, if you ask the average Christian if they would like to tithe, they'd probably say, "Yes, sure".  But, if you ask if they do it and why, you typically hear, "Well, I can't afford that."  So today, I'm going to share my thoughts on the subject.

What If Everyone Tithed?

This is the fun question that I think about all of the time.  What if everyone tithed?  Think about how much money we the people could pour into our churches and non-profit charities.  Imagine a parish of 500 families and the average income was $60,000.  Taking our assumptions.  The average take home pay for that parish is $48,000.  So if every family tithed $4,800 per year then that parish would be bringing in $2.4 million.  Let me say that again, $2.4 million.  Imagine a larger parish with 1,000 active families and an average income of $70,000.  That would be $5.6 million.  What could a church do with that?

1.) Pay staff a wage to allow church workers to only be a 1-income home.

2.) Allows churches to subsidize schools so that private schools are more affordable for families.

3.) Gives churches more money to use for it's outreach ministries and include more charities.  Think about how many local food banks we could stock full for families in need.

This Is the Generation to Do It

I think tithing is especially important for the Generation X/GenerationY/Millenials (born 1974 - 1992) who are in the work force, have steady income, and potential/new/existing families.  The Church is going through some big changes in terms of how it's supported.  I think that the future of churches and their solvency depends on the young people of the Church and how we support her. If you've been following the Church locally, you've seen that there's been major restructuring at the diocesan level and at a local parish level.  Parishes are merging, schools are closing, and it's harder to find affordable religious education.  Some of this is related to parish finances and how churches are losing money because people aren't giving as much anymore.  If we want the Church to continue to grow then these generations need to begin to lead the charge to bring back intentional charitable giving at a large level that will bring about significant change.

What is a Tithe?

A tithe literally means "one-tenth" of something.  If you paid attention in math class, one-tenth is also 10% of something.  In the "olden days" it would refer to agriculture and in modern times we usually mean a one-tenth or 10% of income to be given to charity.

Are We Mandated to Tithe?

We are obligated to offer some type of material support to aid the Church.  However, there's no mandatory fixed amount that people have to give.  In the Old testament, tithing was mandated to the Jews under the Law of Moses.  However, Christians are not obligated to these same laws but we are obligated to give something.

Then Why Do It?

Here's a quote from Pope Francis that really resonates with me:

“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security”

To the Pope's point, tithing bruises a budget.  Tithing makes you give until it hurts.  10% is a lot of money, let's not lie.  However, it's an incredible witness of being stewards of God's gifts.



I Want to Do It, But I Don't Know How

Ok, so let's get to the secrets of how to tithe.  You recognize that it's important and you want to do it.  So how do you do it?  What's the secret?  Ok, let's get into that.

1.)  It has to be intentional. 

In order to tithe regularly, you have to have it in your budget.  You can't just continue to reach in your pocket and get a couple bucks out and put it in the offertory basket.  Reaching for a couple bucks doesn't hurt and reaching for a couple bucks doesn't bruise.  It has to become a part of your family and things that you just do every month.

2.)  It has to be the first thing you budget for

In part 1 of my how to budget series, I showed some categories for how to allocate your money every month.  There's no secret that Charity was the first category.  In order to tithe, you have to just put in that 10% of your pay first and then figure out the rest of it.  Think of it as, "The first 10% belongs to God and I'm living off the remaining 90%"  Most people spend all their money on paper first and then figure out and the end that there's no more money for charitable giving.  You have to strike it and reverse it.  Tithing has to be the first thing that's in your budget and then you figure out what to do with the rest.

3.)  Make it automatic.

Also with the budgeting suggestion, many churches now have direct debit capabilities.  So they can make it so that the money comes automatically from your bank account each month.  I love doing this.  It makes tithing a regular thing you just do, like paying your cable bill.  It also has the "out of sight, out of mind" aspect so that you don't have to cringe every month.

Do I Give My Tithe to Just the Church?

In terms of where to allocate the 10%, I've typically seen it broken up into a 5%-4%-1% breakdown.  So 5% goes to charity of your family's choosing, 4% goes to your local church, and 1% goes to the Catholic Social Appeal (CSA) if you belong to the Catholic Church.  The CSA goes to funding the Archdiocesan Central Services offices that support parishes.  If you're not Catholic then it's an even 5%-5% split.

So looking at the math, if I have a family income of $50,000, then take home pay is about $40,000 a year if we do the assumption of 20% of our income going to federal/state taxes and benefits.

$40,000 ends up being about $3,333 a monthly.  So a tithe would be $333 monthly.  Breaking that up into our percentages, it would be $166 for a charity, $133 for the local church, and $34 for CSA.

What If I Have Debt?

Great question.  For us, we didn't give a full tithe until we got out of debt.  We were focused on getting out of debt as soon as possible because we had a $86k of debt and only 2.5 years to do it in in order for Mrs. Budget to be a stay at home mom.  But even then, we still gave 5% of our income and the full 10% was always the end goal.  Even our 5% was still more than most.  I've seen most websites say that only one-third to one-half of Christian families give and those that do only give 1 - 2%.  So even if you're working through debt, you can still have the 10% as the end result to aim towards while you're getting out of debt.  But the goals should always be getting to a full tithe at some point.

Whew, that's a lot of thoughts in one blog post.  To be honest, one of the reasons I started budget was to be able to put us in a position to be able to tithe because it was something that I always wanted to be able to do.  It's not an easy thing to do, but once you get into the habit of regular giving, you'll feel great about it.  I've heard it said that giving is like a muscle.  Initially it's not developed but you have to continue to work on it over time if you want it to grow and develop into a powerful habit.

Question of the Day: 

Is tithing something that you would like to start doing regularly?  What will it take for you to get there?

Song/Video of the Day:

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