Giving at Loop Church

Gifts, tithes, and offerings make the ministry of Loop Church possible. Here's how you can grow the ministry of Loop Church with the gifts God has given you.

Give Through Zelle

If you use the Zelle payment app, you can send tithes and donations with no service fees. Send your recurring or one-time payment to: lcm@loopchurch.org

If you want your gift to be used for a special offering or ministry shares, please make a note in the comment section. Gifts will be directed to the general fund for Loop Church ministries unless otherwise specified.

Give by Mail

Mail a check made out to Loop Christian Ministries to: 

Loop Church
PO Box 15205
Chicago, IL 60615

Loop Church is a non-profit, 501C3 organization, and your gifts are tax deductible.

Why Tithe?

“Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field. In the presence of the LORD your God, in the place that God will choose as a dwelling for God’s name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.” Deuteronomy 14:22-23

In the agrarian economy of the Deuteronomist, the tithe referred to a tenth of the annual harvest, 10% of all the wheat and barley, 10% of all the olives, dates, and almonds. In addition to the grains and produce the tithe included the firstborn of the sheep, goats and cows. 

The tithe is 10% of the new growth and the new life, that season, that year. 

Simple yeah?

Tithing 10% of your income seems so simple and straightforward that we often miss the point of why we are supposed to give in the first place. We get so focused on the tithe itself, so focused on the tenth, on how to calculate it, and how to set it aside, that we forget about the miracle that is the whole harvest. 

Tithing is not just about what is set aside, but it is also about the seed that started the whole process. Tithing does not start with a checkbook, it starts with a seed. A seed that that farmer could not make, could not produce, but could only collect as a gift. 

Tithing is not just about cutting up a paycheck, it is about the sun, and the soil, and the rain that make our paychecks possible.

Deuteronomy talks about tithing with the language of Agriculture, but tithing is not about the agrarian economy, or the industrial economy, or the tech economy; tithing is about the divine economy that makes creation and production possible. Tithing is about God’s economy and God’s ecology, the holy systems and seasons that cycle between life and death, death and new life. 

Tithing is more than a holy fraction or a pious action, it is an invitation to recognize God’s economy and reorient ourselves to God’s timing. 

The purpose of the tithe is pedagogical. Tithing is a teaching tool. The tithe teaches us how to be in right relationship with God. 

Tithing is not just about putting a check in a plate, it is about learning how to put our hearts, and our minds, and our bodies in proper relation to a generous God. Tithing is not just about bringing 10% of your income to God, it is about bringing your whole self to God. Tithing is not just an act of giving, but it is a spiritual practice and a physical exercise.

Tithing is about a God who is not content to just stay in one centralized location, who will not be confined to one sanctuary, but who wants to be tied to all people, in all places. 

Tithing is about a God who doesn’t sit in haven waiting for us, but who wants to sit at the table with us, who wants to eat and drink and rejoice with us!

Tithing is about a God who is not content to give just 10% of the divine self, but who willing gives 100%, who freely gives the divine self to us in the flesh of an oppressed Jewish, Palestinian from Galilee.

In Jesus Christ, we learn what Deuteronomy has already taught us: tithing is not about the tithe, it is about being tied. It is about being tied to God, tied to our neighbor, tied to the land and soil, tied to the seasons and cycles, tied to the harvest, tied to tables set here on earth, and tied to the tables set at heavenly banquet, tied to a destiny with God, tied to a resurrection that will bring us fully into the presence of God. 

From the Sermon, “Tithe Together, Tied Together,” preached on Sunday, November 3, 2019.