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Can't Preach The Gospel Without Tithes & Tithing?
Preaching the Gospel to All Nations
Matthew 28:18-20 makes it clear that there is an obligation on the Church to preach the gospel to all nations:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
(NKJV)
Somewhat earlier Christ had prophesied...
Matthew 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
NKJV
How Much Tithe Income is Spent Preaching The Gospel?
Churches that preach the tithing doctrine, of course, spend their income differently and its good to see that more church organisations are becoming increasingly transparent about their funding and how their income is spent/invested.
Without Tithes, How Can the Gospel Be Preached to All Nations?
The question is sometimes asked: "Without tithes - how can the gospel be preached to all nations (Matthew 28:19, Matthew 24:14)?"
Well today, it doesn't cost millions of dollars to get the gospel to most of the world's' population.
In fact, it's never been more affordable.
This Tithe Debate website costs less than $100 per year to run, yet it can be accessed by any english speaking person with the internet, who is concerned about tithes and tithing.
According to the Computer Industry's Almanac in 2005 there were 1.08 billion internet users, (of which 0.3 billion use the internet more than once per month). The same source predicts that by 2010 this will grow to 1.8 billion.
It is said by SEO experts that 70% of all search engine traffic goes to those websites which can be seen on the first page of a Search Engine without scrolling down. This is usually the top three to five places.
For a one off cost, we could have translated The Tithe Debate - About Tithes & Tithing into some of the world's most popular languages. Good quality translation typically costs $ 0.30 per word in the USA, but can in many cases be performed voluntarily or at a substantially lower cost by church members, or in the countries themselves e.g. India & China .
Most Popular Languages |
Speakers |
Cumulative % of 6 billion |
| Mandarin |
1 billion + |
17% |
| English |
0.5 billion |
25% |
| Hindustani |
0.5 billion |
33% |
| Spanish |
0.4 billion |
40% |
| Russian |
0.3 billion |
45% |
| Arabic |
0.25 billion |
49% |
| Bengali |
0.2 billion |
53% |
| Portuguese |
0.2 billion |
56% |
| Malay Indonesian |
0.15 billion |
58% |
| French |
0.13 billion |
61% |
With some selective investment in professional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), (we're only amateurs at this) there's no reason why a church's gospel website couldn't be found on the first three to five places of the major search engines around the world whenever "tithe", "tithes" or "tithing" are typed, in those languages. Training in SEO can be obtained for as little as $500 per month.
Adding more content particularly from articles that have already been written, (and most church organisations have large archives of these) takes only a few minutes.
So, does this approach to making the gospel available to the world sound completely unaffordable?
Does it cost millions of dollars?
How Effectively Are Tithe Funded Church Organisation Preaching The Gospel to "All Nations"?
Let's ask ourselves this: in a church organisation's home country, if "Jesus Christ's Gospel" or something similar, is typed into any of the top three search engines, will one of the same church organisation's gospel websites be in one of the top three to five places ?
In how many other countries where the same language is spoken, would the church organisation's gospel website feature in one of the top three search engines' top three to five places for the same search term?
If a similarly relevant search term was typed into any top three search engine in any of the following places in these languages:
Taiwan (Mandarin)
Nigeria (English)
India (Hindustani, Bengali)
Argentina (Spanish)
Kazakhstan (Russian)
Jordan (Arabic)
Brazil (Portuguese)
...in how many of them would one of the church organisation's web-sites be in the first five places?
Given that the tools to preach the gospel to the entire world are more affordable than they ever have been, how effectively are well funded church organisation's making the gospel available to all nations?
Given the affordability of preaching the gospel using the internet, church leaders would be wise to consider the following question:
In the context of the parable of the talents, (Matthew 25:14-30) how will Christ evaluate the "return on investment" that a church organisation, operating on His behalf, generates?
Other Articles About Tithes & Tithing
Go back to the start of The Tithe Debate: About Tithes and Tithing?
© www.tithe-debate.info Dec 2005.
One small and predictable change to an "Old Testament" law about circumcising gentile proselytes in Acts, caused massive turmoil in the predominantly Jewish first century church. So if most of the other Old Testament laws were "done away" - why then isn't any comparable disturbance recorded in the New Testament? Many christian theologians also believe Paul kept Nazirite vows & offered sacrifices at the temple, even after the crucifixion. So can the written Torah law (law of Moses) really be "done away" in Galatians?
