The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 54 : The Worship of God by Offerings

Paragraph 1 : What We Acknowledge

54-1. The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the owner of all persons and all things and that we are but stewards of both life and possessions; that God's ownership and our stewardship should be acknowledged; that this acknowledgment should take the form, in part, of giving at least a tithe of our income and other offerings to the work of the Lord through the Church of Jesus Christ, thus worshipping the Lord with our possessions; and that the remainder should be used as becomes Christians.

[DIGEST: The current text remains unchanged from PCA 1975.]

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
PCA 1975 [M3GA, 3-70, p. 83
The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the owner of all persons and all things and that we are but stewards of both life and possessions; that God's ownership and our stewardship should be acknowledged; that this acknowledgment should take the form, in part, of giving at least a tithe of our income and other offerings to the work of the Lord through the Church of Jesus Christ, thus worshipping the Lord with our possessions; and that the remainder should be used as becometh Christians.

1. PCA 1973, Adopted text, DfW 7-2 [M1GA, Appendix, p. 157]

2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, DfW, 7-1, Proposed text, p. 66
3. PCUS, 1933, VII-§328
The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the owner of all persons and all things and that we are but stewards of both life and possessions; that God's ownership and our stewardship should be acknowledged; that this acknowledgment should take the form, in part, of giving a worthy proportion of our income to the Church of Jesus Christ, thus worshipping the Lord with our possessions; and that the remainder should be used as becometh Christians.

No comparable provision in :
1. PCUS 1925
2. PCUS 1894


OTHER COMPARISONS :

OPC 2005, Directory for the Public Worship of God, III-7
The bringing of offerings into God's house is a solemn act of thanksgiving to almighty God. In order that the receiving of the offering may stand out as a specific act of worship it is well that the minister either precede or immediately follow it with a brief prayer, invoking the presence of God upon the offering and devoting it to his service. It is the duty of the minister to cultivate the grace of liberal giving in the members of the church by reminding them of the scriptural admonition that every one should give as the Lord has prospered him, of the assurance of Scripture that God loves a cheerful giver, and of the blessed example of the Lord Jesus Christ who, though he was rich, became poor in order that poor sinners through his poverty might become rich. The session shall take care that the offerings of the congregation are used only for the maintenance of public worship, the preaching of the gospel throughout the world, and other Christian objects. If a member of the church designated his gift to a particular cause, the session shall respect his wish unless it is convinced that the specified cause is unworthy, in which case the gift shall be returned to the donor
.