Giving 10%

Living our faith within a foreign culture sometimes forces us to think outside the box. For example, somewhere along the line of our Christian development, tithing simply became equated with giving 10% of our salary/income to the Lord as an offering. At times we have heard that tithing application expanded to include giving our time, energy, or our abilities, all of which can surely be pleasing offerings before the Lord. However, despite all our efforts to be comprehensive, I think we have forgotten another very important application of this principle. You see, in all of our years sitting under church’s and Bible school’s teaching, we cannot for the life of us remember one time when an impassioned preacher pounded the pulpit, exhorting that we, the faithful, tithe our poultry!

Yet, the reality is that we now live in a very different reality. For the most part, the Gmz society is not one based on birr (or the dollar). Even those who have entered the “work force” think about money very differently than we do. You see, in their economic worldview, none of the necessities of life (food, water, shelter, fire, etc.) are things bought with greenbacks. Food is grown in gardens (bought with the sweat of one’s brow), water is drawn from springs/wells (bought with the strength of one’s back), and shelter is made from the forest materials (bought with the knowledge and ability to build). Money, on the other hand, is a foreign object that can be used for gaining special perks in town – salt, clothes, a trip to the mill, tea, etc. Gmz are not very comfortable having a lot of money either. Paper bills are quickly eaten, either by rats or by those neighbors who ask for it (such as when a relative is sick and needing to go to the doctor). Nevertheless, storing up money, is not a wise practice in Gmz culture. So does that mean that the Gmz are all very poor? I wouldn’t say that, they just don’t store their wealth in the same form as us. If, for example, someone acquires a lot of money, he/she will most likely go to market and buy the finest animals he/she can. Cows, sheep, goats and chickens are all investments as they can be raised, reproduced, eaten or sold. Therefore, the Gmz man’s wealth is counted not by a bottom line on a bank statement, but rather by his collection of livestock.

When it comes to tithing, it seems that the Gmz church in Gesas was taught two important things in its beginning years. The “plate” is passed every Sunday service, as they have been taught by outsiders, but the giving of money doesn’t really equate to the giving out of a Gmz’s “income.” Rather, the second means already practiced by the Gmz church is much closer to what I would view as Biblical tithing. At harvest time each year, it is not uncommon for us to come into church and see a large sack of grain sitting before the pulpit. This offering from the harvest is a beautiful example of giving back to God that which he has given to them. It is in effect saying, “Thank you Lord for the good harvest we received this year, we give this to you in gratitude and faith that the remaining grain that we collected will be sufficient for this year’s meals.” We were so encouraged to see this practice of tithing among the Gmz believers.

Now, we as foreigners, don’t plant our own fields and we don’t harvest any grain so, unfortunately, we can’t participate in the joy of tithing in this way. At the same time, the tithe of our financial income would be an unhealthy addition to the “offering plate” as it would be so far out of proportion to the other gifts (the average TOTAL collection on a Sunday is around 50 cents). So how can we participate in tithing within the Gmz church?

The answer comes every morning around 4:30am, “Kwaa-kwalee-k’o” (that is, the Gmz version of “Cock-a-doodle-doo”). Everybody knows that we raise chickens, and everyone who comes near our house can’t miss the constant stream of cheeps coming from the baby fuzzballs. So, tallying up the number of baby chicks born since our first hatching in July 2011, we counted exactly twenty.

Hatching the idea of tithing two chickens to the church, I presented it to the three Gmz elders. They helped me pick our two best roosters, which were then brought before the church the following week. I gave my first large group speech in Gmz as I explained “God has blessed us with 20 baby chickens in the past 8 months, and now we want to give two of them to the church as an offering to God.” I set them before the pulpit, the same place grain is set during harvest time and a week later I was informed that the chickens had been sold in the local market, each nabbing a very high price. It was a joy to participate in tithing within the Gmz church and we hope that it will be a new example of giving for others to follow. I want to be there when a big old ox is shoo-ed into the church and made to sit before the pulpit!