The Mega Church and the Myth of Tithing

I had the privilege of listening to Joseph Prince preach at Hillsong London recently. I always enjoy listening to Pastor Prince’s teaching, and especially enjoy the experience of hearing him live on 11^th October 2009. You can download this podcast for free here.

But there was something that bothered me about what Joseph Prince said. Joseph Prince said that we should tithe; he then gave a brief testimony of one of the members of his church: Olivia Lum. Olivia Lum went from having an average life to being the richest woman in South East Asia. Apparently, Olivia told Joseph Prince that the key to her success was that she always paid a tithe and she prayed for wisdom.

Joseph Prince and the Grace Revolution

I would say that Joseph Prince is at the fore-front of what could be called a “grace revolution”. Ever since Joseph Prince visited my church, Hillsong London, in 2006/2007 – the message at my church has become a lot more grace-oriented (the pastor’s admitted it themselves). I have a CD box set of the teaching that he delivered during his visit and it is truly amazing.

Joseph Prince has a lot of respect for the Senior Pastor at Hillsong London, Gary Clarke, and Joseph preaches at the annual Hillsong Europe Conference and sometimes speaks at Hillsong London as a guest speaker. Gary has also visited Singapore where he preached at New Creation Church – Joseph Prince’s church.

The revelation of grace that has happened in Singapore is spreading all over the world. Joseph Prince’s teaching is seen, or listened to, by people all over the world: his teaching can be downloaded in MP3 format from his website at http://www.josephprince.org. Joseph Prince has a presence on Christian Television including the popular Daystar network. This wonderful grace preacher is influencing a lot of churches and Christians and it is probably for this reason that he still supports the message of tithing.

Darin Hufford on Tithing

Darin Hufford of the Free Believers Network has admitted that he does not believe in tithing. Darin is an ex-pastor of the Dream Center – a mega church in Los Angeles U.S.A. I recall Darin relating in one of his Into the Wild podcasts, that he set-up his own church after he left the Dream Center. He promptly told his new congregation that they did not have to tithe. Darin ended-up having an argument with his accountant because his ministry was rapidly running out of money. However, Darin would not waver from his convictions and he stood firm when it came to not deceiving the congregation into tithing out of an obligation or with the promise of extravagant blessings should they continue to do so. Darin concluded from this experience that the whole institution church experience is man-made and is utterly dependant on the myth of tithing.

It is important to note that the ministries of that of Bertie Brits and Joseph Prince, despite having a similar message, they are actually rather different: Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of a mega-church, albeit a grace mega-church, whilst Bertie does not have his own church, but produces videos from his home studio or travels to other churches and to conferences. There is a difference and if we are to take Darin Hufford’s statement as the truth – we can see why one preacher teaches on the tithe and why the other does not.

I’m kind of torn between accepting this statement fully and arguing that it is not the case, that there are some good things about the institutional church, particularly grace-oriented mega-churches such as Hillsong. However, I cannot deny that Darin does have a point and it does get me thinking. If this is the case, then perhaps Joseph Prince has to preach on the tithe so that he himself can continue to exist in a mega-church environment and so that he can continue to influence those who are also in a mega-church environment (the Hillsong Europe Conference being a case in point).

A Hint of W.O.F.

I also see some aspects of Word of Faith in Joseph’s teaching – particularly the daily devotionals he produces. I suppose this is to be expected because like me, his main influence was Kenneth E. Hagin. Hagin himself was a pioneer of faith during his day. Hagin had to overcome a lot of opposition from the church with his beliefs on faith for finances and faith for healing. Hagin was seen to be a heretic because of his propensity towards blessings, signs, wonders and spiritual gifts. God does not give any one Bible teacher a monopoly on Biblical truth, and more than likely, never will.

I made the big mistake of simply accepting everything I read in Hagin’s books without question. I suppose this was because I was so convinced by the extravagant testimonies of blessings and miracles; as well as the all-too-familiar name-it-and-claim-it faith confessions. I was desperate for love and approval and in the absence of proper teaching on grace – I just looked to performance and achievement. I saw faith as being the key to unlocking the power of God that I needed in order to be happy, satisfied and accepted.

I think if Hagin would have been given the same revelation of grace that Joseph Prince has been given today – it is likely that Hagin would have been driven out of the church for sure and labelled a crank.

Conclusion

Biblical prosperity is a very tricky subject – there needs to be a balance and I believe that extravagant testimonies, such as that of Olivia Lum, need to be seen as exceptional and not typical. I believe that the main reason behind such testimonies is to serve to take the limits off God. So many times we try to figure God out, anticipate His next move, and to define the boundaries of what we can or can’t have, or what we can or can’t do. It is so easy to quote a testimony like that of Olivia Lum and then attempt to make some sort of generic “template” out of it; a rule, principal or formula that anyone can follow in order to achieve instantaneous, and predictable, success.

Yes, I do believe that God’s intention is that we have our needs met, and even that we can enjoy prosperity – but there is a difference between needs and wants. A lot of people still look to financial prosperity as a means of offsetting other unmet needs in their life, such as a sense of approval and security – things that only a well-established relationship with Christ can fulfil.

I foresee the grace revolution as being a rather slow process as old religious mindsets give way to the message of pure grace. I believe that the message of tithing will probably be the last bastion of Christian legalism to fall. Why? Well because it involves money of course!