A historic decision by church leaders gathered in Silver Spring, Maryland, on April 19 dramatically revised the funding formula for sharing the expenses of the worldwide church, and signaled a new era of mutuality in the financing and governance of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The new plan, voted by the General Conference Executive Committee and scheduled to be phased in over a five-year period, provides that each division share equitably in the funding of the General Conference and its international operations. Committee members voted that world divisions of the church will each send 2 percent of tithe in support of the headquarters operation, creating the denomination’s first proportional financing plan in its 137-year history.

“This action is good for the church’s dignity everywhere,” says Jan Paulsen, General Conference president and former chair of the study committee that made the recommendation. “Sharing this responsibility makes the mutuality we profess transparent to everyone. This is what it means to be grown-up—for all our world divisions to affirm their full financial partnership as equal members of the worldwide Adventist family.”

Robert Rawson

The previous funding formula required each of the divisions outside of North America to contribute 1 percent of tithe, with North America contributing nearly 11 percent of its tithe funds. Under the new plan, in addition to the 2 percent for support of headquarters operation, the North American Division will contribute an additional 6 per cent of tithe as it continues a long tradition of support for mission outside North America and in recognition of the benefits of having the General Conference headquarters office and several General Conference institutions located in North America.

When fully phased in, the decreased contribution from the North American Division is estimated to be approximately $16 million annually—or about the equivalent of the annual tithe of one midsize local conference.

“The NAD is very grateful for the recent action of the General Conference Committee,” says NAD president A. C. McClure. “The plan calls for a graduated phase-in, so the impact on funds available in this division will also be gradual.”

“We think this action is going to have a positive impact on the mission of the church in North America,” concurs Juan Prestol, NAD treasurer, “but it’s premature to talk about how the funds may be used, since the allocation will be decided at the division’s year-end meetings in November.”

The doubling of the tithe commitment from the other 11 divisions will contribute an estimated $4 million annually when fully implemented. The reduction in the North American contribution is expected to be largely offset by a projected steady tithe growth for the world church of approximately 3 percent per year over the next five years.

A Spirit-guided Consensus
The new tithe-sharing approach is the result of more than two years of consultation. A special committee made up of General Conference officers and several division presidents and union leaders set up in March 1998 was augmented during the past year by additional members of the GC Treasury staff and all division presidents and treasurers.

At a February gathering of the study committee in Columbia, Maryland, a clear consensus emerged to adopt the outlines of the new plan after working groups independently identified common elements of a new approach.

Careful discussion and study was given to the principles that guide the church’s use of tithe and its distribution. The new funding formula is a reflection of the foundational belief that tithe is to be used for the support of the ministry of the church as it is engaged in the gospel commission of the third angel—preaching and teaching to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

Five key biblical principles undergird the new tithe-sharing plan:
•Fairness must characterize the church’s complete financial operation.
•The financially strong should help the weak.
•Self-support in each region continues to be a goal to which the church is committed.
•Immeasurable blessing comes from sacrifice for sustaining mission with a worldview.
•Each area of the world church should assume greater responsibility for its own finances.

Sacrifice and Privation
Funding the worldwide mission of the Adventist Church has been an evolutionary process. The pioneers’ method was to sacrifice from meager personal income to the point of personal privation. They built the work from nothing, with little else than the outpouring of the Spirit, their personal faith, and deep sacrifice. They depended on a system of sporadic contributions, driven largely by personal appeals for projects. No organized or structured method of collection and distribution existed in the first decade of the church.

By the 1870s, this approach was showing strains as a new generation of leaders came into positions of responsibility without the defining experiences of those who had been with the movement since the Great Disappointment. Funding the rapidly expanding mission of the church became a great challenge. When General Conference president A. G. Daniells (1901-1922) led in a call for revising tithe practices at the turn of the century, he was strongly supported by Ellen G. White. “Tithe reform,” as it was then called, centered on reminding believers of the blessings of faithfulness in tithing, using tithe only to support the gospel ministry, and the use of surplus tithe for missionaries in distant fields.

Going Global
Until the early years of this century, local conferences had final say in whether any funds were remitted to the General Conference to support ministry and mission. Some contributed one tenth of the tithe they received to church headquarters while others reserved almost all tithe for use in their own region. World leaders of the church faced almost impossible challenges in funding mission outside North America as tension developed between the needs of distant fields and the more readily apparent needs of the home field.

At the 1901 General Conference session Ellen White gave very specific guidance:

“From the light God has given me, there must be a decided change in the management of things at the heart of the work. There are unworked fields all around us. Who has entered these fields? Who has carried the burden of them? Who has been striving to annex new territory? When workers sent by God have entered the darkest and most unpromising places, have not stones been placed in the way of their progress? Have not efforts been made to tie their hands, so that they could do nothing? God declares that when He sends workers to any place, they are under His supervision. It is not in His order that two or three men shall plan for the whole conference, and decide how the tithe shall be used, as though the tithe were a fund of their own. Let men be careful how they shall put their hands upon the work, and say, ‘We cannot help.’ In the night season I have been in congregations where appeals for help were made. The people were ready to help, but those leading out in the work spoke words of caution, saying, ‘We shall need that means.’ Thus the help that would have been given was not given. If those who spoke the words of caution had known how the workers in new fields, where there are no buildings, no institutions, had spent hours in earnest prayer before God, asking for help to meet the responsibilities coming upon them, they would not have spoken as they did.”¹

Regaining Health
As a result of the counsel of Ellen White and the tithe reform crusade of A. G. Daniells, by 1905 the focus had shifted from retaining tithe in the local field to a far more global view. Typical of the new mind-set was an action voted by the Iowa Conference in 1904:

“(1) We instruct our conference committee to place at the disposal of the General Conference Committee one half of our laborers and one half of our tithe to the filling of calls in destitute and needy fields; (2) that it be the policy of our conference in the future to use the forces and resources of the state of Iowa as a recruiting and training ground for needy fields that are calling for help, believing that in the future when the tide of battle shall turn again to this country in the great closing conflict of the ages, many strong, experienced workers will be furnished us from other lands in response to our cry for help then offered.”²

With the change in focus to a world mission view and the adoption of the plan of sending a percentage greater than 10 per cent of tithe to be used for mission, the young Adventist Church reaped a rich harvest. Conferences trimmed operations and donated surplus tithe for mission work, as well as financing laborers going to mission service. Tithe and mission offerings vastly increased, and the mission program expanded far beyond previous dimensions.

Throughout the twentieth century, mission activities were funded by a graduated scale of percentages of tithe sent to the General Conference to support the spread of the third angel’s message. Over the decades the funding formula was adjusted several times, resulting in a lower percentage for North American conferences because of improved economic and social conditions abroad and increasing contributions from fields outside North America. With each adjustment, however, the principle of conferences sending a percentage of tithe for use in world mission was retained.

Current Implications
The financial impact of the April decision on the General Conference and the 11 divisions outside North America will be significant, even though its initial implementation will be spread out over at least five years. The General Conference headquarters operating budget will bear a sizable piece of this reduction, though increases in tithe and offerings over the period will help to mitigate the impact.

When all is said and done, more money should be available at the point of mission—at the level of the local church or school—than ever before. Reducing operations costs at the world headquarters and at division offices will prove worthwhile as more money becomes available to tell more people about the news of a soon-coming Saviour.

¹General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901.
²Resolution Passed by the Iowa Conference June 3-12, 1904. RG 11, documents, Minutes, 1901-50.

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Robert Rawson is the treasurer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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