System and Order in Gospel Finance by William T. Knox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 30, 1913

System and Order in Gospel Finance

By William T. Knox

To the one who would know his duty in the service of gifts and offerings, there is given very simple instruction in 1 Cor. 16: 2: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” As the tithe is required from each individual, so also offerings are required from “every one.” None is excused. As tithing is a systematic regulation, so also our service of offerings is not to partake of a spasmodic or irregular character, but is also to be systematic, and is, like the tithe, to be based upon the degree of prosperity the Lord gives us. If the instruction cited above is followed out, all stand alike before the Lord. Each renders to the Lord in tithes and offerings, according to the prosperity given.

In the parable of the talents, the two servants, one receiving five talents, the other two, each in reality rendered the same return, and received the same commendation; each returned to the Lord the same proportionate gain, and received the same commendation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” This certainly is just, for each did according

to the full measure of his ability, as the Lord had prospered him.

When this divinely appointed system is followed out, there will be sufficient means for the needs of God’s cause. Were it otherwise, God’s plan and his provision for his work would be incomplete and imperfect. Therefore if at any time the work of the gospel should be retarded for the lack of means, it would be evident that this condition was because of the unfaithfulness of his people.

There is another feature in the Bible plan of financing the work of the gospel, which should not be lost sight of; that is, the manner of bestowing the tithes and the offerings. If Bible methods are followed out, there will be nothing haphazard about it, making it possible that one feature of the work shall be well supplied, and another left to languish from an insufficient support. In the economy of the old dispensation the Lord required his people to bring their tithes and offerings to a place specified by him, and there deliver them into the treasury, over which men from among the priesthood and the Levites that were counted faithful had been appointed treasurers. “But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave-offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks.” Deut. 12: 5, 6. “Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them, and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next.” 2 Chron. 31: 11, 12. The succeeding verses tell how a corps of assistants from among the Levites was furnished Cononiah, the treasurer, through whom a proper distribution of Israel’s tithes and offerings was made to all who should enjoy the benefits of the treasury. These were “to give to their brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small: . . . even unto every one that entereth into the house of the Lord, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses.” Verses 15, 16.

We find the same careful system being followed out in apostolic days, thus guarding against an improper distribution of the offerings of God’s people, and assuring a proper care for all his work. “Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.” Acts 4: 34, 35. This was the prevailing custom in the days immediately following the day of Pentecost. Shortly after, men were selected to take special charge of the offerings and make proper distribution. This resulted in the introduction of the office of deacon in the church.

As near as existing conditions will permit, this Bible custom is being pursued by the denomination, and to it we can attribute the successful financing of a great evangelical work by a comparatively small people,—a work that is being carried forward in upward of fifty countries, this, too, notwithstanding the fact that the existence of the denomination covers less than seventy years, and that among the constituency are to be found but very few men and women of wealth. The credit for this is not due to the men and women who make up the denomination, but to the wisdom of God’s plan for denominational finance, which they have been led to adopt, that is, the tithes and offerings. These are paid into the local church treasury, and, with the exception of those offerings that are designed for local church work, such as church expense, care for the poor, church-school work, and home missionary work, are each month forwarded to the treasurer of the local conference in which the church is located. The local conference, in turn, forwards to the General Conference, through the union conference treasurer, all the offerings, and a certain portion of the tithe, for the support of the world-wide work, and in addition a tithe of the tithe for the support of the union conference work, the remainder of the tithe being retained for the local conference evangelical work.

Before disbursing this remainder to the active conference workers, provision is first made for those who have become permanently inactive by reason of age and infirmities. In planning for this class of workers, it has been found necessary to devise a system that will make their support sure to them, regardless of what conference or mission field they may have worked for, or where at present they may be located. The simple plan by which each conference sets apart five per cent of its entire tithe, and places it in the hands of the General Conference Committee for distribution, accomplishes the object. The funds then remaining in the treasuries of the local and union conferences, are disbursed to the different workers and enterprises in the conferences by appointed committees, through their treasurers.

The funds of the General Conference are, in the main, disbursed by appropriation to the different fields receiving support from the mission treasury. The offerings of the people for the maintenance of the foreign missions, passing through the hands of the local and union conference treasurers, are considered a sacred trust, not to be used for any other purpose, and are required to be promptly forwarded to the general treasury for disbursement to the different mission fields.

By thus working in harmony with the Lord’s appointed plan, and through his organization in a methodical manner, the work has during the past few years greatly expanded, and the hearts of his people have been encouraged by the prosperity attending their efforts to send the gospel of the kingdom to all the world. By the knowledge that their offerings are expeditiously handled and devoted as designed by the givers, the generosity of the people is greatly increased, and they are encouraged to respond liberally to the rapidly increasing demands for help from heathen lands. When appeals for offerings are made by properly accredited persons, and the donations are handled in the regular manner, satisfactory results invariably attend; but when appeals for assistance are made, and money is gathered independent of the organization, there comes at once the possibility of misunderstandings, and too many times of gross imposition by designing men upon a trusting and responsive people.

W. T. KNOX.