- Topic
As a member I was taught that our tithes & offerings go to the “True God” in the order of Melchizedek. We keep the New Covenant Passover and in return give a tenth of everything to God. Now I was told all the money goes to Korea and “mother” determines how the money is spent, as she is god on earth. Now I’m hearing the church is distancing themselves from Korea saying they’re not affiliated with the WMSCOG headquarters in Korea. I wanted to confirm this before I made this post. I found the exact information in the lawsuit WMSCOG and Mark Ortiz against Michele Colon and Tyler Newton. Lines 34 and 35 state this church is an independent entity, legally and functionally.
If that is so, where the heck did my tithes and offerings go? In case you can’t tell I’m angry as heck! I never questioned this while I was a member because since they told me the money goes to Korea why would I think my “church” would lie to me. But why do we defer to Korea headquarters for so many things then if the churches are independent entities? You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Either you are separate or not. I have not seen or heard of any financial transparency so the question remains….where do the tithes and offerings go?
Where do the tithes and offerings go?
Anyone have a valid answer? Where do the tithes and offerings go?
Don’t be, friend. In due time.
You bet! There is an old adage: A lion doesn’t give birth to a Lamb. In due time what is written about a time for everything under the sun will happen.
Lets just keep digging we already have them scared
Disturbed, answering your question; From what I know It goes to pay church expenses like Mortgage, electrical bill and water bill. They still report to the headquarters in Korea about how much they are making in Tithes and offerings. If they are short to pay all the expenses they ask to “mother” to please send them the rest. That is what I heard at the Church I was. I might be wrong because as we know the money is managed, surprisingly by only Koreans and I have no evidence about that.
In the situation of a house church the money goes to the church from which they branched out for a certain time and the leaders or leader of the house church are/is responsible for paying ALL the expenses. If they fall short on paying the bills the church from which they branched out will help them. The ultimate goal is to be independent from the church they branched out and be able to produce their own gospel workers (remember one of the gospel worker requirement is the Tithe, Offerings and the extra offerings on the brown envelope).That is why the responsibility of a house church is not given just to anyone, but to a couple, missionary, Deacon that can not only lead but afford it.
If any one of you is a member and want to know if your house church is independent or not just look at your Tithe and offering envelope, If it says the name of your location that means it is independent but if it says the name of the location from which it branched out, it means is not independent yet.
Hope that was helpful 🙂
About the books I remember they used to receive shipments in boxes from Korea and the trips do not conceded only at the time people are traveling from Korea. Unless they only do that in certain locations and from there they ship out to smaller locations the supplies needed.
Very true what Disturbed has just said.
I know that the math is super wrong and is not balancing, however that is the information I came to understand in the mean time I was there and I wanted to share that with you and everyone else. Whether is true or not is not up to me because that is what they taught me when I was there and what I saw them saying to other members.
Regarding the Passover offerings which is the biggest one of the year (because of facts as income tax returns) I know that at least in the location I was they used to rent super expensive locations and set up very expensive decorations for the event.
An offering that you are forgetting is the one made to the committee . For example: the Choir team has to buy their own suits which are very expensive. Everyone that belongs to a committee has to make a donation. Let me give you another clue. Do you remember those awesome flower arrangements for the Sabbath day and other feasts?? Those are offerings too and the person in charge to receive that “blessing” for that week have to also cover all the expenses.
Oh yes that is what happens all the time. Because they want to do something for their Brothers and Sisters they actually sacrifice so much of themselves and if someone asks they always say Father and Mother because they do not want anyone to thank that person and they want to show a sign of Humility. Also scripture says something about when you do something in secret.
Thought you'd find this interesting, even though it's a bit old (2008). It's a tax document from the Bloomingdale, IL, church and you can see that they are (were) definitely in good shape financially.
http://www2.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/364/367/2008-364367423-04e2556a-9.pdf
It's from www2.guidestar.org which compiles info on non profit organizations.
Excellent question, Disturbed.
For those who might feel daunted by the tax form, net worth (which includes property and mortgage) at the end of the year was $873,817 (Part I line 22).
Part VIII line 2a says that member contributions for tax year 2008 for that location were $766,432. And Part IX line 25 says their functional expenses were $543,783. And out of that, $328,843 was used for "Missionary" (line 24a).
And Part X lines 1 and 2 show that they had almost $400,000 in cash/savings/temporary investments.
I do not know much about finance, nor about the financial laws in the United States but I wonder if they could be siphoning off money as royalty to the Korean parent. Then they could probably still legally claim organizational independence while paying for knowhow.
Simon can probably say more on this possibility.
Sounds like youre describing a franchise I know it can be done for profit never heard of it with non profits maybe
Yeah a franchise can be a superb global revenue model
Mcdonalds of churches
Get a lot of money for sub par food
Disturbed wrote:
@Jellybean….the church's standard answer about paying bills sounds logical until you factor in a Zion with 300+ members. Even if the mortgage was $5,000 + $2,000 for utilities (just a rough guess on all numbers) is still only $7,000 a month going out. There are many members who work good jobs and pay 10% of that income every two weeks. Suppose they bring in $10,000 a month from tithes & offerings (I'm not Korean so I have not seen any of this, just putting forth a fictional scenario). That still leaves a surplus of $3,000 in the church's favor. That's just a tally of 1 location and I'm probably low balling the actual amount.The members buy/donate coffee & all it's trimmings, food, plates & silverware, toilet paper & soap, paper towels….everything used in Zion is donated. So where do the tithes & offerings go?
The members pay for the preaching missions….where do the tithes & offerings go?
At Passover, we give an offering according to how God has blessed us…..where do the tithes & offerings go?
and if the extra money goes to Korea, shouldn't we use this to calculate the accurate amount,
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.