If your family tithes, you probably have a list or a goal of how much to contribute for the year. We divide ours into categories, then amounts, then rough out how to spread them out over the year.
However, if you go with the amount, I’d like to suggest a charity for your consideration if you’re thinking about making a Christmas charitable contribution or to fill out your tithe for the year.
Grace and Hope for Children
This charity funds placing Chinese orphans into foster care. Some of these children will be adopted, some will not. In any case, foster care is better for them than the orphanages. They get more individual attention, they’re not in an institution, and, in some cases, they get a family long-term when they otherwise wouldn’t. However, foster care is also more expensive than group orphanages.
Empress in her foster home in China.
Our youngest, known as Empress on the blog, was sponsored by Grace and Hope. Her foster parents fostered at least one other child, and often two, throughout the time she was with them; she developed a love of having older kids around, which is good, considering she was coming home to two rambunctious older siblings. Since Grace and Hope sends updates to sponsors, they had a collection of photos and reports from her months in China. The orphanage gave us a photo book (not all of the orphanages bother to, so we were thankful for that), but it wasn’t a lot.
Someone from Grace and Hope was surfing the Chinese adoption chat sites and found another couple in our travel group. “I think we have info on your daughter,” she e-mailed. Our friend e-mailed back, “That’s not my daughter, but I’m holding a baptism announcement for another couple nearby in our travel group with a photo, and that’s their daughter!” After we proved that we had, in fact, adopted that child (to comply with Chinese privacy laws), we got a CD of photos and reports about Empress’ development and foster home. We were absolutely thrilled to get this glimpse into her life before coming home to us.
While we were in China, the difference between the girls who had been fostered and the girls from an orphanage was very obvious. We will be forever thankful to the family who obviously showered Empress with love and attention when all we could do was pray that she was being well cared for, and to the organization that helped to make that loving start possible.
The sponsorships can be charged automatically every month. They have a minimum of $35 per month, although sponsoring some specific children is a little more. Most children are eventually adopted, although some of the special needs children have not been adopted.
Please consider this worthy charity in your family giving plans: Grace and Hope for Children.
The “tithe” (according to Holy Scripture) goes to your local church (storehouse). Gifts, alms, etc. can go where ever YOU feel best, after you have been obediant with your tithe. The local church determins what THEY feel is best to do with your tithe.
Interesting assertion, but you didn’t tell me where in Scripture you think this is supported. The Old Testament mandated a 10% tithe for the Jews. The New Testament does not, although it does mention the early community of believers living with everything in common, which would be a 100% giving rate.
The best sermons I’ve heard have usually used the 10% as a good starting point, but encouraged the listeners to also consider whether we could give more or if we truly cannot give that much at this point in our lives due to obligations to support our families. I would point out that Jesus did not commend the rich people at the Temple treasury for giving their proper 10% out of their surplus, but did extoll the virtue of the widow who put in her two small copper coins out of what she needed to live on, out of obedience to the command to be generous with what God has given us, even if it may not have been a full 10% of what she had. He also criticized those who used a loophole in the Law as interpreted at the time to donate their possessions to God (sometimes while keeping the use of them), then deny support to their parents (see Mark 7:11).
We are not obligated by the law, but by love. “The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor. 9:6–7)
There’s a great discussion of this over here (10% or not, OT vs. NT, tithe to the local church or charity in general, etc.).