http://news.adventist.org/data/2008/1207597266/index.html.en
“Not only have tithes and offerings increased,” Lemon said, “but the church was blessed to receive a multimillion dollar ‘extraordinary tithe.’ Lemon’s April 6 financial report at the church’s spring business meeting reflected about half of that extraordinary tithe, which was first announced at the church’s fall 2007 business meeting.
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Finance officers also addressed the church’s investments in light of the fluctuating market. Commenting specifically on the church’s retirement funds, world church associate treasurer Roy Ryan said because the church’s holdings are long-term, diversified and conservative, risks are “manageable.”
Given the volatile markets, “no one is expecting a robust financial year in 2008,” Ryan added, “but the strength of international and emerging markets are encouraging to United States-based investors.”
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What is this “extraordianry tithe” thing? If just a one-time large amount – very good….
How can anyone possibly donate funds to the Seventh-day Adventist church knowing that they are doing this with the funds? Can you just imagine at all Jesus calling his disciples together and saying “The risk to our money-bag is ‘manageable’. Sure am glad we have some funds invested in Roman gold. Judas, you might want to look into investing in emerging European economies.” ???
I do remember around 20 years ago seeing that some SDA church funds were invested in Wendy’s Hamburgers!
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http://news.adventist.org/data/2007/1192473066/index.html.en
Lemon also presented a special report on an extraordinary amount of tithe the church’s world headquarters received earlier this year. Council delegates voted to receive it and have it used for the church’s worldwide work.
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“We have consulted with many on this issue and we want it clearly understood that there is no change in our position that tithe … should be turned into the local conference through the local church,” Lemon said.
“It would have to be an extraordinary amount for us to consider this again.”
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Aah, now we see what this “extraordinary tithe” thing is. Someone sold off some multinational company for many millions of dollars, and gave 10% to the church. Since the amount was so large, they gave it directly to the General Conference. Now the rules the GC officials themselves have made, state that all tithes must go thru the local church. Notice how easily these men are bot off – “It would have to be an extraordinary amount for us to consider this again”. Satan must be laughing as he sees God’s church’s leaders so easily sell their rules and/or priniciples for extra zeroes in a bank account. What a farce.
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Update September 6.
http://www.adventistworld.org/article.php?id=249
Finally i found the quote i knew i had read in some Adventist World magazine about this issue, it is by president Jan Paulsen telling us that this extraordinary tithe is “funds that were given very specifically for the mission work of the church.” This is not just a farce of the church-generated rules, this is a slap in the face of God that we would allow someone to SPECIFY where their TITHE monies go. President Paulsen, what about the 3 dollars and 50 cents of tithe given by the illegal immigrant? Can they come to the GC headquarters and hand it over to the financial officers and SPECIFY where they want it to go? Repent.
Hi, I’m a 19 year old SDA from Australia and Im really disappointed in the way this has been written.
I’m not sure how they do tithe offering in the US but in Australia, our tithe envelopes give us the choice to place our tithe in mission, church funds etc They also allow us to specify. So why shouldn’t this family be allowed to give tithe towards a venue like media, especially when in the last days when outreach and evangelism are so important and spreading the word brings us that much closer to the 2nd coming?
A committee for receiving/managing this extraordinary tithe and others has been set up and Adventist media networks from all over the world present their projects to receive funding, all of these projects having an evangelistic purpose. An Australian AMN network Hope Channel has in actual fact been fortunate to be a recipient of some money. Are you familiar with The Search series presented by Geoff Yeuldon? In Australia it has actually been the most successful evangelistic campaign ever. We’re redoing it so it is more suitable for modern audiences and can be used in years to come without looking so dated. It’s really a fantastic endeavor.
Even though its not fully finished (it will be in September) there’s a list of 100 or so people from around the world, cast and crew especially who are interested in receiving a copy of the finished product. All non SDA. I’m not sure if you’re an SDA, but in any case would you like me to send you a promo video of The Search Beyond series? I’m certain I can grab it off one of the media guys I’m in touch with 🙂
Hello ains,
That is nice about the Search series by Geoff Yeuldon. May it be a tool used by the Holy Spirit to bring many souls to salvation.
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It many be possible that you have the words “offerings” and “tithes” a little bit jumbled together. From the church manual: “Thus the tithe from all the churches flows into the local conference/mission/field treasury, which in turn remits one tenth of its total tithe income to the union. The union in
turn forwards to the General Conference, or its divisions, one tenth of its
total tithe income.”…
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“How the Tithe Is to Be Used—The tithe is to be held sacred for the work of the ministry, for Bible teaching, and for the support of conference /mission/field administration in the care of the churches and of
field outreach (missionary) endeavors. The tithe is not to be spent on other work, on paying church or institutional debts, or on building programs.”
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Yes, the offerings can and should be used for many things to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the tithe is specifically for supporting the livelihood of those who are handling the things of God full-time.
Obviously the General Conference would be a better fit for a multi-million dollar donation. The Seventh-Day Adventist church isn’t even 200 years old. Who did people tithe before its inception? You’re being very picky making a big deal about how it is a “sin” for the money to go to the general conference rather than the local conference when the Bible says that tithe is to go to the church. It is church policy where that money goes then.
Hello jonstewart, Perhaps i didn’t make it clear. I’m not saying it is a sin to have the tithes go straight to the General Conference instead of the localy conference. Obviously, that is not specified in either the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. What is a sin, is for the GC to make rules stating that all tithe money has to go to the local conference, but when it is such a huge amount of money, they are happy to break their own rules.
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As i wrote above, what about the 3 dollars 50 cents tithe given by the illegal immigrant? That person should be given the exact same privileges to specify where they want their tithe to go to as the 100,000,000 dollar payer.
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That is the heart of the problem — our church leaders are going directly against what the Holy Spirit said in James about treating the rich better than the poor.