Personally, I quit going to church because 2 out of 3 sermons in almost every church I’ve ever been were variations on a theme: Why God wants you to write me a check. Why you’ll be bless if you tithe. Why you’ll be blessed if you write me a check above your tithe. Why tithing isn’t enough. God needs your dollars to spread his word, give more. Since I saw almost no change from church to church, I gave before I found a preacher who just said, “Stick’m up” on Sundays.
Wit aside, I’ve never attended a church who’s predominate theme wasn’t money money money.
We just had our “tithing” sermon at our church today. Talked more about all of the good things that are happening and can be done with our gifts than about any “guilt trip” about it. Preacher says that it had been two years since he gave his last “tithing” sermon - and that sounded about right.
Oh, and when the plate goes around, it is always announced that “If you are a guest here - just let it pass by you. You are our guest.”
At the church I grew up in, the pastor figured that to have men come it had to be on time and short services. Services were 50 minutes long. Perhaps a 5 minute sermon! 10 minutes in between the services to move the hundreds of cars in and out (five services). I now appreciate longer services - but the lack of punctuality bugs me a lot.