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Paul dismisses the idea of pressure (“compulsion”) as a reason to give. Rather than embracing the obligation that goes with a tithe (“Give what is right, not what is left,” as the church sign says), the church should be the last place that puts pressure on people to give.

So why give? Three good reasons for giving are discussed in the New Testament. First, we’re told to give when there’s a need (2 Cor. 8:12). Next, we’re told to share with others when we have abundance (2 Cor. 8:13–15). And finally, we see the early church giving because they were excited about the message and wanted to see a spiritual “harvest” from their giving (2 Cor. 9:7–10). You’ve got to admit that it’s exciting to participate alongside the God of the universe, collaborating in the work that he is doing. Now there’s a reason to give!

Does It Really “Work”?

As a pastor, I know firsthand how tempting it is to just scoot this whole “freedom from tithing” thing under the rug. Any church leadership would be overjoyed to know they have a guaranteed 10 percent of the church members’ income to budget every year. It’s all too easy to panic over the perennially short church budget and succumb to some pressure tactics to meet that bottom line.

But how well do those tactics work anyway? A recent survey of churches across America revealed that the average churchgoer gives under 3 percent to their church. And more than half of churchgoers give nothing at all. Despite our leaders’ best attempts to motivate, giving is still pretty dismal.

The question we should be asking is not “Does freedom in giving really work?” but instead “What does the new covenant teach us about giving?” Then, if what we teach is truth, the result is up to God and his church.

But this whole “grace giving” thing can be scary. I’m not going to dodge this issue: you may decide to take this approach with your church or ministry, and it may fail. Your budget could take a nosedive. You may even have to shut the doors. There is no guaranteed success in this approach—in a financial sense, that is.

But we leaders need to ask ourselves a few questions. First, do we believe our all-powerful God is able to secure financial support for something he wants to move forward? I think most of us would agree the answer to this one is yes. Now, here’s a harder question: If the funds are not coming in, is God really at work there? In some cases, the answer might be yes. But maybe we’re just not making the need known or sharing our excitement enough with others. Sadly, though, in some cases the answer to that question might actually be no—even for a ministry dear to our hearts that seems to be meeting a need. So if that’s the case, then the last question to ask is this: Do we really want to be pushing a ministry that God does not appear to be motivating people to support?

So to leaders, I’d say this: If we don’t have much to lose—a majority aren’t giving 10 percent anyway!—why not give new covenant giving a try? We church leaders should be honest about our needs. But we also need to be honest about Christian freedom in giving. If we allow people to think for themselves and give 1 percent, 8 percent, 12 percent, or whatever they truly want, then what might happen?

Interestingly, I’ve found that many people haven’t given anything in the past because they felt that if it wasn’t 10 percent, then it wouldn’t “count.” This is the conclusion they arrived at after hearing the required 10 percent tithe message, so they just gave up on the idea of giving. How does the idea of “grace giving” esteem any gift and change all that? I guess we leaders will never know until we try.

At our church, I would rather close the doors than encourage “religious” tithing. New Testament giving is to be done from the heart, not under compulsion. We can give based on what we have and based upon the need of the moment. But we shouldn’t be reluctant either, just sitting on our wallets. Under grace, we’re free to excel in the privilege of giving, no matter