FROM TITHING TO GRACE GIVING: AN EDUCATED MINISTER

FROM TITHING TO GRACE GIVNG: A SEMINARY-TRAINED MINISTER

I wanted to take some time to share with you a personal testimony regarding how the LORD has indirectly used you, your website and your book over the last 10 years in my journey with Christ. It is my Biblical hope that what I am sharing below will help encourage you in your work and strengthen your spirit.

Like most individuals in the ministry, the Biblical training which I received in school, while well-prepared and though-out, was woefully inadequate for actual ministry work in the field. A fact which I am sure you are well acquainted with. This is also true in the area of tithing. As with most seminary training, I was originally instructed with the common views on tithing, as well as the common views on Malachi and the rest, which I did not question as I was still new and being schooled.

Over the years, as I grew in the true Grace of God (which I was taught surprisingly little about in Bible school) I struggled with reconciling the truth of the New Covenant with what I was taught in the seminary. Whenever the issue of tithing would be brought-up, the Holy Spirit would whisper softly in my spirit, letting me know that something was not right -- and over the next few years, that whisper would become louder and more urgent. I became increasingly uncomfortable with the message of tithing as it is commonly presented. This drove me to research deeply the issue with a fresh pair of spiritual eyes and a renewed mind, and also required a willingness to forget everything that I thought I knew about the subject. I believe that this is one of the reasons that the truth about tithing is so vehemently resisted -- because it necessitates that people who have spend the greater part of their lives studying the Bible to admit that they have been wrong on a fundamental issue... that requires humility, and many today are too proud to admit such a thing.


My search led me to many websites, one of them yours, which at first I must admit, I had read before, and dismissed it outright earlier because I was still entrenched in my original schooling. However as I encountered your website again and this time re-read it with a fresh mind prepared by the Holy Spirit, I saw the truth for the first time. As I then read your book, I found it to be a wonderful resource into a topic that very few are willing to touch.

I have since changed my position on tithing and realize that what I have come to call New Covenant Grace Giving is actually proper and correct -- and the ministry which God has given me has actually prospered tremendously since this change.

I have passed this information onto my network of pastors (many of whom are as closed-minded as I once was, but the seeds are still being planted.

In recent years I have since taught several messages on how Grace Giving is the correct way to give in the New Covenant, and those messages are some of my most popular. Eyes are being opened to the truth.

So please do not become discouraged in your ministry. Your message is not in vain.

I am one minister who God has used you to help change and free from the bondage of tithing. I will not be the last.
Blessings in Christ Jesus.