Follow the Money…The Tithe Is Up…Return on Investment Is 1% or less.

Recently I was working on a financial break down for a discipleship plan committee. Typically when I am asked for a consult, I like numbers initially. I pray over the numbers and ask the Holy Spirit to show me what it is he wants me to see, focus on, what questions I need to ask.

Numbers are not everything, but they are a sign of discipleship. Especially financial numbers. Matthew 6:21, Jesus tells the crowd that “where there treasure is, there will their hearts be also.” Jesus spoke parables about rich men selling everything, a Ludacris and financially irresponsible decision, to have the gospel. The gospels have stories of Zacheues, who gave everything back. He asked the rich young man to sell all that he had. Mary spent a years worth of wages on perfume to pour on Jesus’ feet. Nicodemus spent close to $10,000 dollars in today’s money on spices for Christ’s burial.

So, as I work with other denominations, and non-denominational churches, my focus is still on a better Seventh-Day Adventist denomination. Exploring if it can be changed, bettered, reformed, redeemed.

What financials say about a Church is where their priorities are, what they are investing in.

The NAD breaks down it’s Tithe as follows:

65-66% stays at the local conference.

10% goes into a retirement fund at the General Conference Level (There are 58)

9% goes to the perspective Union. (There are 10 Unions in the NAD)

9.15% goes to the perspective Division

5.85% goes to the General Conference

In complete honesty, it is a pyramid structure. The conference level is the level with the least amount of oversight and transparency. There are legal guidelines regarding the financial use and spending of conferences. However, the oversight of money is simply not at all what it should be.

Conferences have executive committees. However, those committees are formed by individuals that were placed by the Conference President, the chair of the executive committee. As a rule of thumb, I rarely do any consulting with Seventh-Day Adventist conferences. I get asked quite a bit, however I have found the broad terms on their budgetary lines and the lack of direct transparency a difficult layer that is often a sign of dysfunctional discipleship at large.

Typically a conference will spend the following:

Pastoral Support - 40 - 45%

What exactly this Pastoral Support is can depend on its definition by the conference. Typically it means pastoral pay and benefits.

Education - 20% - 25%

Time and time again it is proven that the main factor of the survival of the denomination is the education system. Twice as many baptisms occur due to relationship with the education system than they do with the local church and pastor. Yet, only a quarter of the budget at a local conference goes towards education.

Evangelism - 1-3%

You are reading this correctly.

The rest of the conference budget is spent on retirement, funds passed to Unions, Division and the General Conference and often ‘various ministries.’

The elephant in the room is the amount of money spent on administrative costs at the Union, Division, and General conference levels. Admin costs are typically 71 - 75% of budgets.

The NAD Administration Costs are 71.26% while only 5.94% goes to evangelism. 12.6% goes to special division meetings and events. Typically, out of the total Tithe collected, which for the last twenty years has been over $1 billion in the NAD, 70% goes to admin costs while only 4-8% goes to evangelism. The other percentage is spent on minister to members.

The numbers do not lie. It is absolutely no surprise that the growth rates have not gone above 2% and have actually declined and run less than 1% over the past several decades. When we are investing in running an administrative system and not in effective discipleship, you get what you invest in.

I had a frank conversation recently with a conference president. He agreed with me but his reply was, “It’ll never happen Steven.”

I told him it would, when the conferences realize there is no more money and they are forced to reform and re-evaluate.

This is what I always propose when I am asked by friends that are administrative leaders in the Adventist denomination,

Administration - 52% of Conference.

Local churches are responsible for the pay of their pastors, and retirement benefits. This alleviates the pressure on the upper levels, and actually provides more for the employee as far as benefits. Pay is competitive.

Education - 40%

Conferences, Unions, Divisions, and the General Conference do not at all need nor can they justify, although they will try, having various ministries, evangelism budget lines and the sort. That responsibility lies at the feet of the local church.

Reserves - 8%

Reserves are placed for the purpose of backing local churches and educational facilities in the times of need. The alleviates the need to secure government assistance during events like the pandemic.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church needs to get back to the basics and simplicity. Often times there are more conference office employees that work less hours than those at the educational institutions and the local churches. The numbers do not lie, the pyramid structure in the church has proven ineffective. It has created an ecclesiastical bureaucracy, hierarchy, and many other issues.

Call me crazy, but as I have helped several churches wade through revitalization and reform, it never fails and it always works. I just do not think the system is desperate enough, nor does it see the local church, community, and populace as its heart. Here is the amount of money going through the NAD currently.

NAD Administrative Costs (2023): $86,245,759

NAD Evangelism Investment (2023): $7,189,163

Conference Average Tithe Recieved (2023): $15,051,742

Conference Administrative Cost (2023 Average): $6,003,143

Conference Evangelism Investment (2023 Average): $150,517