THE BEST IDEA I HEARD IN THE PHILIPPINES (5/2/11)

As many of you know, I recently traveled in the central Philippines, visiting churches in three annual conferences (and preaching in two), learning from one of the fastest-expanding corners of United Methodiswhat is causing them to plant so many new churches so rapidly.  There are many factors in the growth of the church in various parts of Asia - more than I can enumerate here.  But in terms of practical take-home ideas, the best idea I discovered for American Methodism in the Philippines is this: the pastor's tithes do not go to the local church - in at least one annual conference, they are pooling all of the pastors' tithes in order to support the salaries of mission pastors and to plant more churches.
 

This is a good idea for the following reasons.

1. In our polity, the pastor belongs to the annual conference anyway, not to the local church - it makes sense that he or she tithe to his/her most basic point of church connection.

2. In too many cases, the pastor's tithe is one of the largest pledges in the congregation, shouldering too much of the responsibility that rightfully belongs to the laity of that church - removing the pastor's tithe from the equation means that laity have to step up to the plate to fund their churches.  Local church members typically give 2 percent of income to their church's ministry - much of this driven by need.  I predict that most churches would replace the pastor's tithe in one year or less as they step up to the plate.

3. If the US denominational average compensation is $60k and a conference is average in its compensation, with, say 250 pastoral charges, that would be a combined tithe of $15 million a year.  That would be for one average annual conference.  If there was extra, then we could share it with one of the conferences out west.   That would fully fund  all the church planting that we could do in most annual conferences and then some, and in turn fund the rebirth of American Methodism.

4. This is a means of accountability that all the pastors are, in fact, tithing.  When you turn in your offering at the district meeting, the appointive authorities know whether or not you are faithful as a steward.  And that is just good business, spiritually speaking.

5. Even a financially strapped annual conference by US standards (such as we find in the Philippines) can plant churches generously, and without apportionment, by using the pastoral connection itself as the primary means of funding the expansion.

I might should another corollary good Filipino idea, from my interview with retired Bishop Emerito Nacpil: that the church was born of a mission - born of a gospel movement, and exists for this same mission or movement: for the mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We do not choose our mission or exist, fundamentally for any other purpose except spreading the gospel movement.  Using the pastor's tithes for this cause makes sense only when you understand the church as a movement designed by God to live in constant expansion mode.  The key to getting pastors in annual conferences on board the idea of pooling their tithes would hinge upon their also understanding the church in this way.

I look forward to sharing more fully what I am learning from church planting movements around the world in a book, sometime in the next two years - after I get the two manuscripts currently sitting in my computer into print next year.