I love talking to people that are nothing like me! Hearing a foreign perspective totally challenges my worldview & I love it! I recently had a conversation with a good friend on tithes, offerings, & biblical mandates. Granted my questions weren't answered, it brought me to this: What if we are so concerned with people seeing what we see the way we see it that it drives people away from seeing Jesus?

One of my goals for Transformation Church is to develop an Ebenezer's-style coffee house that provides a hang out spot for church attendees as well as the community we are fixed in and that creates residual income to fund the ministry. I am very adamant about creating a relevant and WELCOMING environment. Part of that, to me, is finding a cool way of funding the church so that attendees aren't pressured to give, give, and give some more. Don't get me wrong, I think that the gift of giving is awesome, but I do not believe that Jesus came to the earth and died so that we could have 30 minute mini-sermons about why we should tithe. As a matter of fact, I question whether or not tithing is still a plausable mandate biblically. I question whether or not God requires 10% of the 'church' or if the church uses this as a scheme to pay its bills on time.

Thus, my mind began to wander about. We as Christ-followers spend so much time playing 'Connect the Dots' with our faith and with the Bible that we don't see Jesus at all. We are so concerned with majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors that we spend less and less time growing in faith and more time debating on whose view is correct. Could you imagine a church that thought of these things and more as trivial and concentrated on becoming more like Christ. Could you imagine how effective they would be?