Recently, I’ve received a number of questions about tithing: how I feel about it, why I feel that way, and how I think about some of the concerns people raise.
Tithing was also notably present at this most recent General Conference. Elder Patricio M. Giuffra spoke about it in “Trusting the Lord Through Tithes and Offerings,” and Elder Moisés Villanueva addressed it in “Prove Me Now Herewith.”
So, in trying to both answer some of the questions I’ve received and engage with the messages shared in Conference, I thought I would compile my thoughts into a kind of self-Q&A, in the hope that it may be useful to others who have similar questions.
Why should I pay tithing if I need the money more than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Taking care of our families financially is a core religious responsibility. That responsibility does not disappear when we talk about tithing.
Paul organized a collection in the early Church, explaining that people give according to what they have. Although he was discussing a relief collection rather than the modern Latter-day Saint practice of tithing, I see a related principle in proportional giving.
The word tithe means “a tenth.” There is no fixed dollar amount that everyone must pay; the amount varies with income. That allows participation across income levels.
The tension between religious giving and material need appeared in Jesus’ teaching. While at the temple, He warned about scribes who exploited widows. He then watched a widow give two mites and emphasized that, unlike the wealthy donors, she had given all she had to live on.
The purpose of this life is not the acquisition of material wealth.
Paul, in that same letter, explains that our present abundance can meet others’ needs and that their abundance can, in turn, meet our needs when the time comes.
Instead of seeing paying tithing and supporting our families as competing obligations, we can recognize that as we contribute, we are joining a supportive community that can, at times, provide financial support to help cover our own shortfalls.
God has promised significant blessings to those who have the faith to tithe. So I believe in inviting everyone to seek those blessings while also helping people meet their basic needs.
If paying tithing means I’ll need help buying groceries or paying bills, why wouldn’t I simply keep the money?
In Malachi, God invites His people to tithe and promises to open the windows of heaven. I understand that as a promise of God’s spiritual and physical blessings, though not a guarantee of a particular financial outcome.
I have seen research summaries linking tithing with well-being. Paying tithing requires people to look at how much they make and consider how they are spending it. Those who pay tithing, on average, have lower debt, lower stress levels, better health, and longer lives. They feel more grateful, have greater self-worth, and are happier.
This does not mean God is a vending machine. But biblical prophets have promised that tithing brings blessings. I believe it does, and the data seems to suggest the same.
When people pay tithing while receiving Church assistance, that contribution can still have spiritual meaning. It can preserve a sense of participation and allow people to see themselves as contributors, even during a season when they need more help than they can provide to others.
Because I believe tithing has spiritual value, I would not want to withhold that invitation from people who are struggling financially. Teaching people not to pay tithing when they are currently struggling financially would ultimately be a great disservice to them.
Does that mean you expect paying tithing to bring financial rewards?
I know people who have had miraculous experiences with tithing. I haven’t. And that’s okay.
Some people preach what is sometimes called a prosperity gospel, teaching that giving to a church will result in direct financial rewards.
That’s not what I believe. I do believe God blesses His people, and I do believe He asks us to pay tithing. But the purpose of this life is not the acquisition of material wealth, so we shouldn’t see tithing as a magic dollar-multiplication machine.
Why couldn’t I fulfill the same spiritual purpose of tithing by helping a neighbor or donating to another charity?
Giving to trusted nonprofits that relieve suffering is an excellent practice. In addition to its own programs, the Church often carries out humanitarian work through partnerships with other organizations.
Each year, I choose one local and one international organization for charitable giving. But that is in addition to tithing.
Tithing is part of my relationship with God. The Church does humanitarian work, but it is also God’s organization on earth. It has a strictly religious mission. Latter-day Saints believe that this mission must be carried out under the appropriate priesthood authority restored to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Tithing helps support missionary work and the places and programs needed for worship, religious education, and ordinances. Other organizations can do tremendous good, but, in Latter-day Saint belief, they cannot take the Church’s place in carrying out that particular religious mission.
That mission has practical costs: chapels and temples, curriculum, seminaries and institutes, utilities, and many other expenses.
To me, the distinction is a little like the difference between paying a water bill and donating to a well-building project.
Building wells in Mozambique is important work. Please, when you can, support projects like that. But even though both expenses involve water, they serve different purposes.
They are two worthwhile uses of money, but they are not necessarily interchangeable.
Does the Church pressure people to give or encourage them to make a show of their donations?
The Church’s formal tithing practices avoid high-pressure fundraising tactics. We don’t pass around a collection plate. When I was a kid, we handed in tithing envelopes privately. Today, many members donate online.
Jesus criticized those who made a show of religious giving and taught His followers to give in secret. Private giving is consistent with that teaching. It can reduce the social incentives that turn giving into a performance.
But doesn’t tithing declaration itself create pressure?
Each year, Latter-day Saints are invited to meet with their bishops for tithing declaration and state whether they are full-tithe payers. In 2022, the Church changed the name of the annual meeting from “tithing settlement” to “tithing declaration”.
An annual meeting can serve practical purposes: reviewing donation records, correcting discrepancies, and discussing questions about income and giving. For people whose income fluctuates or is realized mainly at certain times of the year, an annual review may be particularly useful.
It can also provide an opportunity for individuals and families to talk with their bishops about their spiritual lives and their circumstances. I know people who have had such a good visit that they remembered to mention tithing only as they were leaving.
Tithing is part of my relationship with God.
For me, there is spiritual significance in meeting with my bishop each year. I would hope that the meeting offers others an opportunity for encouragement, honest conversation, and support—not embarrassment or humiliation.
Does connecting tithing to temple attendance amount to paying for access to sacred ordinances?
I understand why someone might see it that way, since full-tithe status is part of the temple recommend process. But I do not understand tithing as purchasing an ordinance. I see it as a spiritual commitment expressed through financial choices.
The amount depends on income rather than a set price for admission. Still, calling tithing a spiritual commandment does not remove its financial consequences, and the possibility of receiving assistance does not make those consequences unreal.
People can choose not to pay tithing, but in Latter-day Saint practice that choice has religious meaning; it is not treated merely as a financial decision.
The commitments made in the temple involve aligning our goals and actions with God’s. Because temple covenants include the principle of consecration, I understand tithing as part of preparing for those commitments.
At the same time, financial difficulty does not, by itself, tell us how much faith someone has or how willing they are to make temple covenants.
I see the requirement much as I see other temple requirements: not as a purchase price, but as part of spiritual preparation for temple worship.
What would you say to people who ask why the Church spends money on beautiful temples when it could help people who are suffering?
I would begin with Jesus’ words at Bethany, where He defended an act of costly devotion: “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.”
I do not read that as permission to neglect people in need. In Mark’s account, Jesus also says, “and whensoever ye will ye may do them good.”
We are Christians. We are called to love and care for the poor. But I do not believe that obligation displaces every other religious responsibility.
I believe there is real value in devoting material resources to worship and religious life. Places of worship can help form communities whose commitments include caring for others. That does not mean every building expense is automatically justified; stewardship still requires careful choices.
Matthew 23:23 helps explain how I understand this balance. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for tithing on their herbs while neglecting the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. He did not tell them to abandon tithing. He taught them to do both.
That passage challenges the idea that devotion and care for the poor must be competing obligations, only one of which deserves resources.
Making long-term progress against poverty does not end the obligation to relieve immediate suffering. We need to respond to immediate suffering and cultivate communities committed to addressing it over the long term.
For me, caring for the poor and providing places for worship are both parts of the Church’s mission. The difficult question is how to fulfill both responsibly.
Why accumulate substantial investments instead of spending more now?
If you believed you were responsible for preparing a worldwide church to endure severe future disruption, building reserves would not be hard to understand.
I have heard the joke that the Church doesn’t have a “rainy day” fund; it has a “hurricane” fund. I have read the scriptures, and I understand the impulse to prepare for more than an ordinary downturn.
If prophets and apostles believe that building reserves is what the Church needs at this point in its mission, I support that vision. But explaining why reserves are useful is not the same as establishing exactly how large they should be.
An organization that intends to operate indefinitely has reasons to preserve resources for future needs rather than spend every dollar it receives. The appropriate reserve depends on its obligations, expected income, investment risks, and the disruptions it is preparing to withstand.
For illustration only, if an organization wanted a fund capable of supporting $9 billion in annual withdrawals at an assumed spending rate of 4–5 percent, that would correspond to roughly $180 billion to $225 billion in assets.
That is an arithmetic illustration of the Church’s hypothetical required reserve. A spending percentage is not a guarantee of sustainability. Investment returns, inflation, and changing needs can all affect what is needed.
If ongoing tithing covers the Church’s expenses, why also maintain reserves large enough to support its operations?
Growth is one possible reason. A growing church may need new buildings, educational programs, and continuing support for congregations whose local contributions do not cover their expenses.
The Church developed in the United States, and its worldwide mission extends to places with very different economic circumstances. I do not believe the ability to sustain religious life in a community should depend entirely on the wealth of its local members.
Perhaps the Lord is preparing His Church to support that work over the long term. Reserves can help make such support possible, especially when needs and contributions do not rise at the same pace.
They can also provide a buffer against interruptions in donations or unexpected expenses.
Those considerations help explain why ongoing tithing and financial reserves are not necessarily redundant.
How does owning commercial real estate and profit-making businesses fit with the Church’s religious mission?
If the Church maintains reserves, those resources need to be managed responsibly. Commercial real estate can be part of an investment strategy when it offers appropriate returns and diversification.
Stewardship still requires careful choices.
Diversification also gives an organization a reason to hold investments across different industries rather than concentrate all its holdings in a single asset class.
I would not say that commercial real estate is, in and of itself, part of the Church’s religious mission. I believe it can support that mission.
For example, I can see how a development such as City Creek Center, near Temple Square, might serve commercial purposes as part of the Church’s investment stewardship while also helping the surrounding community. That potential helps me understand why an investment near Church Headquarters could have strategic value beyond its financial return.
Whether a particular investment accomplishes those goals should be evaluated rather than assumed. But pursuing more than one worthwhile objective with an investment makes sense to me.
Is it appropriate for Church leaders to receive financial support, and where is the line between supporting their service and using religion for personal gain?
Many people have used religion to benefit themselves, so this is a fair question.
People who leave careers for full-time Church service still have living expenses. I do not object in principle to providing a living allowance for that service.
To me, the important distinction is between support that enables someone to serve and arrangements that turn religious authority into an opportunity for personal enrichment. The amount, purpose, incentives, and oversight matter.
The Book of Mormon condemns priestcraft as preaching to obtain gain and worldly praise rather than seeking the welfare of Zion. I understand that warning as a serious caution against making religious teaching serve the teacher’s ambitions.
Financial incentives can encourage religious teachers to tell audiences what they want to hear, as pleasing them may increase their income or influence.
A fixed living allowance for full-time service is not, by itself, evidence of that kind of enrichment. But financial support should still be reasonable and accountable.
What financial information should members reasonably expect the Church to share?
I think members can reasonably ask how their contributions support the Church’s mission, how funds are safeguarded, and how significant financial failures are corrected. That is different from expecting every financial detail to be public.
Scripture contains examples of discretion serving legitimate purposes. Esther did not initially reveal her Jewish identity, and Jesus sometimes instructed those He healed not to publicize what had happened.
For me, those passages show that discretion can be consistent with discipleship. They do not, by themselves, settle what financial information a religious institution should disclose.
Privacy and accountability are not necessarily opposites.
But the possibility of criticism does not eliminate the importance of accurate reporting or make members’ sincere questions unreasonable.
I support appropriate discretion while also believing that questions about stewardship deserve serious, respectful answers. Privacy and accountability are not necessarily opposites.
Ultimately, Jesus teaches that “nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest.” I take that as a reminder of ultimate accountability, not as a reason to set aside present responsibilities.
How do you understand the mistakes acknowledged in the Securities and Exchange Commission episode?
I hold the Church to a very high standard. I also believe that well-meaning people and institutions can make serious mistakes. But describing something as a mistake should not obscure what happened.
According to the SEC’s February 21, 2023 announcement, Ensign Peak used shell companies to file disclosures that obscured the Church’s investment portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over investment decisions. The SEC also found that Church leadership approved the approach.
Ensign Peak and the Church agreed to pay penalties of $4 million and $1 million, respectively, to settle the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.
The complexity of securities reporting is significant and likely plays a major role in what occurred, but it does not, by itself, answer the concerns raised by those findings.
The episode remains significant because members reasonably expect the Church to meet a high standard. I do not think defending my faith requires minimizing that expectation.
What matters to me is that failures be acknowledged accurately, corrected, and prevented from recurring. Paying penalties and changing procedures matter, but so does understanding what went wrong.
I can continue to believe in the Church while also expecting its financial administration to meet legal requirements and high ethical standards.
What would you want someone who remains uneasy about Church finances to understand about why you keep paying tithing?
For those who struggle with tithing, I get it. Money is deeply personal. It can represent our time, our labor, and the value the world assigns to them, all put into a tangible form. It is also one of the clearest ways we influence the world.
For me, that is exactly why I choose to pay tithing. It is a way of putting God first and expressing my testimony of the Church’s unique role in fulfilling His plan.
That choice does not require me to pretend that every financial question has an easy answer. It reflects the faith and commitments that guide my life.
Being part of that work fills my heart. Paying tithing gives me a sense that I am contributing to the work of the Church that has shaped my entire life.
