Can livestock or grain be used for tithe?

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A tithe is a gift in support of the ministry. In barter economies, giving good as opposed to currency might seem quite natural. Yet, even today, it's not uncommon for someone to provide a donation of physical goods or labor in lieu of or in addition to money. Coming to church with a steer might seem a bit odd (unless you live in a ranching community) but offering to paint a hallway or buy food for a communal meal is not uncommon. To specifically speak to livestock and grain, offering to buy your minister groceries might be uncommon but may not be unwelcome, especially if your church staff isn't compensated well.

In terms of religious laws, I doubt many (or any) churches specifically prohibit giving grain, livestock, or any goods, inasmuch as 1) churches are generally willing to accept any tithes, offerings, or gifts, within reason, 2) few churches mandate giving or specify what must be given, and 3) I doubt this has happened enough to warrant a specific prohibition.

This does stand in contrast to some other religious traditions (as you note, Mongolian Buddhism), where giving may be compulsory and where the failure to give may bear certain consequences. In Christian churches, giving is typically seen as a free will offering and is not compulsory. Even in traditions that ask for pledges, this is not, strictly speaking, obligatory.

Theologically speaking, I would argue that such a gift would constitute a valid tithe to the extent that it would be useful to the church receiving it. If you live in a farming community and perhaps your pastor has some livestock, giving a gift of livestock wouldn't be unreasonable at all. Recall the story of Abram giving a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek in Genesis 14, from which we gain the tradition to giving a tenth as our tithe. Abram was a nomad living in a barter economy, and his gifts to Melchizedek would likely have included goods, livestock, even slaves. The point of a tithe is not simply to give money, but to provide for the ministry of the church and to invest in God's vision for our future.

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I was a Presbyterian deacon (Presbyterian Church of America); one of my duties was counting the money received from offerings. The Book of Church Order (BoCO) has no rules against bringing cattle into the church. I suspect other denominations are similar.

I never had this situation happen, but we did once have a check made with Canadian funds. We checked with our bank, which didn't want to deal with conversions (also our internal forms were not set up for foreign currency), and returned the cheque with an explanation. I imagine we would have done the same thing (minus checking with the bank) if someone brought livestock into church.

Concerning produce, we had people bring in surplus from orchards and they were put in the back to share among the congregation with the left overs being donated to those in need. Again, we never had grain brought in. As I don't think food banks accept unprocessed grain we would probably return it, flour would be donated to someone in need.

So while there are no regulations preventing tithing in kind, practically only convenient in kind items can be processed by a parish.

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