CHICAGO | Christian News Service | The Christian Education Foundations is hosting a conference August 6 — 7, 2014 to equip pastors and their church leadership for increasing tithing in their local church.
The Chicago Christian Tithing Conference 2014 is a practicum event for pastors and their church leadership for optimizing the spiritual and the financial vitality of their local church through the foundations of tithing that God modeled through Abraham, the father of the Christian faith.
Dr. Samuel Kirk Mills, president of the Christian Education Foundations says the conference provides pastors and their church leadership with the knowledge and the understanding of Abraham’s tithing, the biblical foundation, and the tools (practical guides) based on that knowledge and understanding for enriching the practice of tithing through teaching, communicating, and conducting the practice of its importance in the local church.
“The goal is to optimize the spiritual, financial stability and vitality of the local church so that the local church is thriving to advance its Christian ministry locally and nationally for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom,” Mills said.
Dr. Samuel Mills
Mills, who is also president of Tithing to Grow in Christ, indicates the practice of tithing dates back to the 4th century when Constantine, Rome’s first Christian Emperor, came to power.
“He wanted to have financial resources to pay salaries for Bishops and the massive cathedrals he had built,” Mills said. “He applied the ceremonial law that God gave to the children of Israel, so it became a biblical convenience to initiate that practice.” Constantine’s application of the ceremonial law not being consistent with the New Testament Christian faith, it also defaulted the foundation of the tithing that God modeled through Abraham, the father of the Christian faith, says Mills.
Mills contends most churches struggle with talking about the subject of tithing, and some are now forging to avoid the practice, and are diverting to just generosity. That struggle might have a root cause to the anachronistic nature of Constantine’s application of the ceremonial law that has influenced the principle of the practice of tithing in local churches today.
“We believe that through this conference we are going to strengthen the practice, because it is a God’s thing for the Church” Mills adds. “The practice is not just monitory. The practice is essentially about cultivating and building relations with God. That is the practice God modeled through Abraham. We want to focus the local church, in pursuit of that relational intercourse with God and the observance of its sacredness that needs to be taking place with the giving and receiving of the tithes.”
CHURCH IMPACT:
A local church that fully implements the trainings from this Conference should expect the following results (within an average of 3 months):
* Significant progress in achieving uniformed understanding concerning the reasons and the importance of Christian tithing in the local church throughout a congregation
* 20% or more increase in the number of people who are faithfully tithing in the church
* Increase in the number of parishioners contributing generous monetary or in-kind donations to the ministry of the local church
* Encouraging increase in the number of parishioners attending church services regularly, and participating in other events for their edification
* Steady signs of the church’s readiness in breaking out into new grounds of Christ-centered ministry, locally and globally
* Increased testimonies of God’s work in the lives of parishioners
The cost of the two day conference is $375. For more information call 630-774-8310 or email familyengagement@yahoo.com. Find out more at www.tithingtogrowinchrist.com.
