Under the old covenant the Levites were supported by the tithes of God's people.

I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord.Numbers 18:24

Under the new covenant, ministers of the Word who have the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God (Romans 15:16), are likewise by the Lord's command to receive their living from the offerings of God's people. 1 Corinthians 9:14 says that "The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." We often stop at these principles. But God goes on to say (Numbers 18:26) that the Levites should return a tenth of that tithe as their offering. By application we could say that all pastors should tithe their whole income to the church and have a clear, personal tithing testimony before their people.

The Levites gave part of their tithes to the high priests (Numbers 18:28). We may see an analogy here of local, lower courts of the church giving to regional higher courts of the church. How much should they give? We come back to the tithing principle. Local churches receive the tithes of God's people and then give a tithe of the tithes to missionary and diaconal causes beyond their assembly.

From our beginning as a mission church in 1977, Westminster (OPC), Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania has been committed to giving at least a tithe of the tithes to church needs beyond our congregation. In the new covenant there are greater expenses connected with the missionary task of the church in going into the entire world with the gospel message. Therefore, over the years we have increased the percentage of our budget giving to missions so that it currently stands at 25%. But we believe that it is most important to stress the principle of a tithe of the tithes for missions giving in every local church, even for very small churches. If mission churches begin with this commitment they will develop a healthy whole-church, presbyterian-type, commitment in their people. The tithing principle applied to missions slays the independent "our money" spirit in a church just as it slays the "my money" spirit in individual tithers.

I will not here enter into debate on the merits of our current combined budget system. The general assembly sets the policy and budget for our churches. As Presbyterians we do not believe in going our own independent way. We work together in a relationship of trust and submission. Just as we ask members here at Westminster OPC to submit to the elders, so we as a congregation seek to submit to the general assembly. As long as a combined budget is the policy of the denomination, we seek to give according to the askings of the general assembly as the base of our missionary giving. When the church asks for special offerings such as the Thank Offering we seek to respond with prayer and generous giving over and above the budgeted amounts.

When it comes to local church budgeting I believe the pastor must take the lead in setting budget priorities and in promoting the work of presbytery and general assembly causes. People in the pew are naturally focused on their local situation. The pastor is the key link to the broader church and must present that work in a positive way to his congregation. Every Sunday we pray for OPC missionaries by name using the New Horizons prayer calendar and we seek to have a personal visit from at least one OPC missionary every year. We also encourage our people to read New Horizons to feel a part of the whole church and we regularly comment from the pulpit on whole-church news and prayer items.

At Westminster OPC we have always operated on what I call a conservative approach to church budgeting. Our principle is that the tithes of God's people set the budget limits for our church's program of ministry. We believe that biblical stewardship is not the making of mystical, faith-pledging goals but rather the wise use of the tithes and special offerings of God's people. We do not ask for money to meet a man-made budget. We teach tithing! Our new year's budget is based upon the conservative principle of what we may reasonably expect from our people based on their tithes the previous year. Our budget has thus far increased every year due to God's blessing us with new members and prospering workers, new tithers, and even to the inflation factor. The happy result of this system is that we have met our budget every year, increased our budget year by year, and have not had to beg for money from the people of God. We regularly set before our people the tithing principle that "a tithe of everything belongs to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30) and ask them to make the commitment of Jacob that "of all that you give me I will give you a tenth" (Genesis 28:29). We pray to the Lord to meet our needs, we teach our people to tithe to Him and we watch in amazement as He provides more than we can ask or imagine.