An investigation of factors contributing to the decrease of tithe and offerings in Kasulo Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Congo

Abstract

Kasulo Seventh-day Adventist Church is one of the organized churches in West Katanga Field of the East Congo Union Mission. It is located in Kolwezi town. Currently, the church is experiencing a critical financial situation in terms of tithe and offerings. A situational analysis of the income for three years indicates a continuous decrease in tithe and offerings. An investigation was done in order to find out the real factors contributing to this failure in rendering tithe and offerings. The researcher developed questionnaires and administered them to church members. Findings revealed that the contributing factors for the decrease in tithe and offerings were the lack of confidence in God among church members and the result in this area revealed that among seven questions responses were as follow: 451 responses equivalent to 31% were positive 1019.Responses of 69%, which are negative. This result is sufficient evidence that the majority rejected the spiritual dimension as a cause for not rendering tithe and offerings in Kasulo Church. Nevertheless, the statement of the 31% who have responded that the lack of spirituality is the cause of spirituality should not be underestimated. In other words, 31% have already lost their trust in God and therefore they consider the claim of tithe as a simple tax. Another factor was ignorance of teachings on stewardship and the result announced that in this area of 3 questions 630 responses equivalent to 30% were positives, whereas 438 or 70 % were negative. Such a result indicates that the majority agreed that they had not enough information on stewardship teachings. Thus, this is one of the basic reasons for not rendering tithe and offerings in the Kasulo SDA Church. Their level of knowledge in term of tithing is very poor. The third factor was based on poor leadership as a factor of failure in tithe and offering and after the investigation, the result explains that regarding the hypothesis stating that the poor leadership in Kasulo is one of the six factors for not giving tithe and offerings. About this factor which comprised questions, 1260 response equivalent to 33% were positive, while 839 or 67 % were negative. This result shows a significant difference between the two groups of respondents. Therefore it is obvious that the issue of poor leadership is strongly confirmed. Church leaders may be a hindrance to tithing and offerings if they do not visit church members and if they are not a good model in tithing. It may also happen that they don’t organize seminars on Christian stewardship. The last factor is poor income which is considered as another factor and the investigation shows that Out of a total of 405 responses, 244 were positive meaning 60% and the remaining equivalent to 40% was negative. Therefore, poor income as a factor of failure to render tithe and offerings in Kasulo Seventh-day Adventist Church is confirmed. Nobody can expect to have positive tithing when church members are deprived financially. In general incomes within the church depends to a great extent on the Church members economic conditions. Church member’s responses provided an authentic source of reference which helped the researcher to design a program to improve the financial situation in Kasulo Church. The program consisted of visitations of church member’s families for a period of one month. The purpose of visitation was to teach members and gain their confidence in the Lord. The teachings were intended to help them their major role in the preparation of the second coming of the Lord. Likewise, the program was also concerned with educating pastors and church elders. The Program was evaluated with an appreciation of the entire process to ensure the welcome side effect of the program. Thus, it was recommended that church leaders had to put great importance on visiting members, keeping a good relationship with them and to be good examples in giving tithe and offerings.