Delegates at a five-day Stewardship Summit have called for a more streamlined, more Biblically-based approach to financial giving within the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide.  A series of recommendations developed by church leaders at the summit envisions a tithe and offering system grounded even more firmly in the Biblical model of giving, and which places renewed emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of funds within the church.

Stewardship—or Christian principles of resource management and giving—has come to be viewed through the lens of church funding rather than personal discipleship, says Ben Maxson, stewardship director for the Adventist world church.  “Too often, the focus has been on the dollar figure of the offering rather than the spiritual development of the individual who gives,” he says. “But Christian giving is not about operating a church structure.  It’s personal; it’s about being in a fulfilling, growing relationship with God.”

Participants in the summit, which ran from April 6 to 11, included the officers and stewardship directors of each of the Adventist Church’s 12 administrative regions, as well as pastors, lay members, and leaders from the Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Speakers presented current research in stewardship, which indicates a general downswing in Christian giving impacting not only the Adventist Church, but most Christian denominations. A multitude of factors, both generational and cultural, are responsible, says Maxson. “‘Blind giving’ doesn’t work anymore. Younger people, especially, want to have more information about where and how their money is used. In every single church group, the donor base is aging.”

Summit delegates voted four major recommendations. First, they recommended to simplify the church offering system worldwide. Second, delegates recommended greater attention be given to providing clear, easily understandable information about how offering funds are divided and used. “This is a broad commitment to full disclosure,” says Maxson.  Stewardship directors would lead out in this communication task, working to develop methods of making financial information accessible to all church members.

Delegates also recommended that greater emphasis be placed on Biblical perspectives of tithing and giving.  This would involve a broad-based education campaign highlighting the role of stewardship in personal spiritual development.  The goal is to shift the focus away from merely pragmatic funding issues, says Maxson, and concentrate instead on Christian giving as an integral part of worship.

Finally, delegates recommended a study be conducted to compare the current distribution and use of tithe income with Biblical principles of the purpose of tithing. 

Maxson says he is surprised by how readily summit delegates came to a consensus on the broad principles for change. “I believe the Holy Spirit worked in a powerful way on Sunday, as table after table, discussion group after discussion group, came to similar conclusions,” he says.

The Stewardship Summit represents only the starting point for a longer process of examination and transformation of the Adventist stewardship system, explains Maxson. Recommendations from the summit will go first to the Administrative Committee of the Adventist Church world headquarters and will ultimately be considered by the executive committee of the world church.