Joe has attended Episcopal churches since 1982, and Ginny is a cradle Episcopalian. We have always been active participants and pledgers in our parishes, and in the mid-1980’s our stewardship chairman urged us all to begin tithing and to “pay God first” - our tithe would be the first check we wrote each month. (For you younger folks, people once paid all their monthly bills with paper checks.). Before that, it seemed that, once we paid all the bills, there was not enough money left in the account to pay our pledge so we would let it slide. But, with our commitment to “pay God first”, that all changed. In spite of an increase in our pledge, suddenly there always seemed to be money left over!
About the same time, our newly married son called, and, when he described problems they were having with their finances, Ginny and I separately offered the same advice: “increase your pledge”. Things got better.
As you can see, we have discovered what many committed Christians already knew: our pledge is not only critically needed to support our parish, it is an integral part of our spiritual lives. We tithe not because we have to, but because it is a reflection of our Christianity.
Joe and Ginny Fluet