Missing Monies

I finished The Hole in our Gospel this morning and a couple final thoughts stick with me. The first is I have always wondered how much more money would be available for the kingdom if all American Christians tithed? That is, how much money is available if each Christian gave 10% of their incomes instead of the 2.5% we statistically give? Richard Stearns, author of the book and president of World Vision, estimates we would have an extra $168 billion to spend in funding the work of the Church worldwide! That’s a big number, but when you consider that we spent $65 billion on jewelry in 2008, $58 billion on state lottery tickets in 2007, $31 billion on our pets in 2003, $13 billion on cosmetic surgery in 2007, we already have some discretionary funds.

Stearns writes “if every American churchgoer tithed, we could literally change the world. In fact, $65 billion could eliminate the most extreme poverty on the planet for more than a billion people. Universal primary education for children would cost just $6 billion, the cost to bring clean water to most of the world’s poor, an estimated $9 billion, and basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world, $13 billion (218)." Grandted, we might have to change some of the ways in which we handle and would operate with these additional monies, but the truth is that the monies to change the world are already here.

The second thought comes tomorrow.