There are a number of things that get people riled up about at church. Money is definitely one of them. People get uncomfortable when they hear the preacher teach on the topic of tithing. I’ve heard on numerous occasions the response to this teaching is “the church just wants our money”. This topic was actually addressed at our church this past Sunday and to be honest I think the Sr. Pastor did a really good job of addressing this
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. I’ve done alot of thinking on this topic since YC. At YC they took an offering for funds to go towards running YCs in Malawi and Belize. There were approximately 17, 000 youth that attended YC and they raised $57,000 for this cause, which works out to about $3.40/person. Though the people on stage seemed impressed by this-I was not. Look at it this way, most of the kids there spent over $100 buying CDs, T-shirts and the like. Even lunch costs more than $3.40! Couple this with the $125 registration fee, you are heading towards $150-$300 for this conference all up and yet they only give a meagre few bucks? Are our youth taught about tithing from both parents and youth leaders alike? To be honest, I myself have not really talked to my youth about this. Part of the reason why I haven’t done this is that I just assumed that teens know about tithing (my parents taught me about tithing), or perhaps I assumed that they have no money to give. But the more I look at it, my assumptions were wrong. The spiritual discipline of tithing is rarely brought up (though some churches/parents do) and obviously in seeing how much was spent over the weekend, the youth have a lot of expendable income!
As parents, do you talk about tithing with your children and teens? How do you set the example?
As pastors/youth pastors, do you talk about tithing with the children and teens? How do you encourage them to give?
Also see my first lot of thoughts on YC in Free Hugs and Modesty
I must admit for the most part I really enjoyed YC this year especially the music and the time that I got to spend with our church’s teens. However, one thing that really bothered me both this year and last was the lack of modesty amongst teen girls and the blatant ‘cop a feel’ attitude of teen boys. Obviously, not all teen fell into these categories, but there were lots of low cut tops and short shorts/skirts to be seen. Amongst the boys, many a “free hug” signs were seen-signs displayed in hopes of physical contact with any willing female. Really I think that these guys with “free hug” signs is a symptom of the lack of modesty displayed by the girls. And no-I’m not condoning the actions of the boys, I really wish I could give each one a smack on the back of the head, but if I did that-I’d be posting this blog from behind bars! I really appreciate C.J. Mahaney’s thoughts on the issue of modesty through what Paul writes in 
