7. Relational tithing

Tithing is collected and distributed locally. No benefit comes to me. I donate when I am at a meeting when it is collected, and those who are present decide among themselves by common consent how the tithing is used among themselves. The way I have seen it done [at the Sabbath meeting] is that people who are aware of needs write those needs on a slip of paper and put it in a box. Then anyone who intends to donate tithing money donates that in a separate box. When the meeting reaches a point where they’re dealing with the tithing issue, they count the money so they know what the total is, and then the ‘need’ box is open and the needs are read. As a group they decide the priorities of the needs, and then the money gets allocated to the needs that may exist. In every instance I have seen, the excess is in the care of at least two of the women and the women watch over it. One of the lessons that is learned is that generally, not always, there’s more money than there is need. It’s one of the things that surprises people when they’re administering their own tithing: there’s enough and to spare. In the LDS Church, there’s a massive bureaucracy that has to be financially sustained. In these fellowship groups, when the tithing money is limited to taking care of the poor, there is enough and to spare.