Isaiah28:7-8
Member
Sorry. Me again. I caught this after I posted last. I used to be on our elder board, and we would call members who haven't been to worship in a given period of time. No matter how carefully we worded our calls that our concern was that they are not in worship anywhere, there would always be those who felt we were harassing them. All we wanted to know is:
A. Are you in worship anywhere while you haven't been here?
B. Is there a reason we need to know that you haven't been coming?
C. Is there anything we can pray on for you?
But all some people (the minority) heard was "Where have you been!?" "Why aren't you here!?" This never stopped us from calling, because we cared, and we didn't want it to appear as though no one did. If I stopped going to a church, and no one bothered to check why or how I'm doing, I'd definitely get the feeling no one cared. Most people were grateful for our call and concern.
Could it possibly be that you're taking the purpose of the calls wrong?
I agree that a 10% tithe is not in the spirit of our faith. One church by us forces members to submit their W2's, and they insist on the full 10%!! :o
But a church does need funds to operate. People never want to hear about the need for offerings, no matter how it's delivered. If they bring it up once a year, people have it in their minds that they're always bothering them with it. They should be able to appeal to their members for glad offerings, but they shouldn't demand it, and someone's welcome to worship shouldn't be contingent on it.
I understand your concern and that some people may misconstrue your calls and questions. I admire concern for the congregation certainly, but there is a huge difference between calls and mailings of concern and repeated calls and mailings after I have clearly explained why I will no longer attend or why they said I wasnt to come back or was made to feel unwelcome (sometimes church staff isnt always all on the same page with each other). If I choose to leave or was pushed out of a church, my wishes should be respected to stop receiving communication from the church in question in all forms. There are many churches and many ways to worship God but some churches feel that if it's not their church, youre following false beliefs or not worshipping correctly in some way, shape or form.
I am not one to easily misconstrue things.Im not saying all churches are this way but to me an alarming percentage have some glaring issues, some it tends to be their attitudes towards different classes of people, some it tends to be their way or no way and others it tends to be that they cant respect boundaries or wishes very well. As for the worst types that press the callings and mailings they usually fall under what I would call cultish sects or offshoots though some of the seemingly normal churches arent any better. It all depends on the views of the staff who work and run the church. Ive even been told Im going to hell for not attending a specific church or not tithing. That is absurd.
As for tithing not everyone can afford 10% or not everyone believes in what a specific church may do with the funds so they dont tithe and eventually move on to another church.
As for offerings I have no problem sparing what I can for the church so long as I feel theyre using the money appropriately. When a church has no community programs in a very poor area and they are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new statues or new locations or paying staff exceedingly high wages or buying businesses or just general wasteful spending, I question whether or not my offerings would be better applied elsewhere.
I dont feel pastors should be paid excessive wages and no I dont feel they should be poor either but spending two months out of country on a family vacation and affording a brand new vehicle every year and being paid 85k a year is ridiculous when the community is suffering in poverty and people arent receiving proper medical care for serious conditions or peoples basic needs in general arent being met.
The average median salary for a pastor in this country is $85,634 annually according to stats I looked at with the 25th percentile getting around 70k average and the top end being 75th percentile and higher receiving on average 97k .
The average salary for citizens in this country equates to $44,389 being precisely median with 20% of citizens earning less than 20k annually.
It highly concerns me that men of god are living twice as well as the average person and many times higher than those in poverty.
If the church needs more funds to operate, perhaps the pastors should donate half their salaries to the church and earn only the average wage and live modestly and more in line with christian teachings. Of course this will offend some.
I just find it hypocritical for churches to go against the very bible it teaches or preach modesty and charity while the same people receive double the average annual wage.
Historically priests were poor and ministered to the community, today its hard to find a priest who ministers to the community as they once did and hard to find one who would donate his salary for much of anything.
Many churches are in a bad state, IMO.
As far as appeals for offerings go I personally believe passing the offering plate at church is enough and if not then address the congregation at church, no one wants mailings usually and many detest calls, my opinion is that churches are often arrogant and greedy as a majority and they try to outcompete each other with trips to many countries that are costly once a year while ignoring the local suffering the whole year.
and the Giver of everything is asking for a mere 10? This shouldn't be a burden, but it all comes down to where your heart is. 
