With God all things are possible.  Change is possible.  Traditions that have wrongfully been preached as truth can be abandoned and the truth can set free.  I recently received the following email from a brother.

"The congregation I attend has been a tithing church for generations.  The elders and pastors recently completed a study of what the Bible says about Christian giving.  As a result of this study our church will no longer require tithing.  Rather we will encourage "abundant, cheerful, as you have been prospered and have purposed in your heart giving."  There were several facts that came to light during the study that led to this change.  We discovered:

1.  That Abraham's tithe was a ONE TIME event. 

2.  Abraham's tithe WAS NOT on his personal possessions; rather it was only on the war plunder that resulted from his rescue of Lot. 

3.  There is no evidence that this event was a result of a command of God, rather it seems likely it was a result of a local custom of tithing on war plunder to a local king.

4.  There is NO evidence that Abraham tithed on his personal possessions to anyone at any time. (And he had become very wealthy). 

5.  The Mosaic tithes were always edible and from the crops and flocks.  Mal 3 says "bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be FOOD in my house."

Therefore: Jesus did not tithe, he was a carpenter

Paul did not tithe, he was a tent maker

Peter did not tithe, he was a fisherman

6.  Mal 3 was not written to Christians, We have been in error in the past when we quoted this to the Church.

7.  There is no evidence that the Lord intended the work of the Church to be funded in the SAME WAY the Levites were, if so we must do so the SAME WAY.  We decided it best not to try to fund the work of the Church by our members bringing in buckets of pears, walnuts, grapes, sheep and cows.  Rather we now see the New Testament pattern of Christians giving "as they have been prospered and have purposed in their hearts" a superior form of financial support.

8.  No Christian is ever commanded to tithe.

9.  No Christian is ever corrected for not tithing

10.  When Ananias lied and pretended to give all from the sale of his house, Peter is not tell him, "Why did you lie, you know all you were required to give was 10%”.  This was an example of a New Testament Christian having a financial increase and giving to the Church, yet NO mention of a tithe.  Peter did not connect tithing (nor any other New Testament writer) to Christian giving, therefore, neither should we. 

11. Jesus' comments in Matt 23:23 were directed at those still under the Mosaic Covenant.  Many things Jesus did and commanded would be sinful to bind on Christians.

    - Jesus COMMANDED animal sacrifices (Matt 8:4)

    - Jesus observed the Sabbath (Luke 4:16) although he rejected their man made up regulations concerning the Sabbath.

    - Jesus observed the Passover (Matt 26:18)

Heb 7:12 says "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law."  This included the Levitical priesthood in all of its aspects, including it's financial support system.

We found that there is no support in scripture that tithing was required of Christians in any form.

We found such to be a man made practice that is not supported by scripture or history. 

We found this in the ZONDERVAN PICTORIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BIBLE, P. 758

"For several centuries in the early Church there was no support of the clergy by a systematic giving of a tithe...rather freedom in Christian giving was emphasized."

We have found this change to be a great blessing.  As one member recently told me, "I have always tithed and I would write out my tithe check like I wrote out ALL my bills.  There was often little if any joy involved.  Now, I give the same amount, but the JOY has returned!"

For generations we have taught tithing as a Christian obligation.  Our intentions were good, we thought we were instructing the Church correctly, but we were wrong.

We have removed the tithing page from our Foundations Class booklet and replaced it with New Testament scriptures that encourage our members to give generously as they have been prospered and have purposed in their hearts.

Malachi 3 is gone, with all that implies.

I would encourage all to take another look at what the Bible says about Christian giving."

Hidden in between the lines of this story is courage and humility.  The courage of an individual to speak up and be a noble Berean and the humility of people in leadership roles to admit error and make amends.  Because these virtues existed in the above mentioned gathering it is vibrant with life where change can occur and hope is alive.  What must be asked of a Christian gathering when these things are lacking (courage and humility), 'How vibrant is its life?'