Adventist Church Tithe Flow: Local Conferences Keep About 83 Percent, Wider Levels Receive About 17 Percent

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, known as the North American Division (NAD), collected $1.232 billion in tithe donations in 2022, according to an article by a church treasurer who has worked for the church for more than 40 years, including more than 30 as a treasurer. That amount represented about 45 percent of the tithe collected by the worldwide Adventist Church that year. Nearly 1.3 million NAD members give tithe. The author writes that the church’s teaching on tithing is rooted in Scripture, but that the church’s definition of the “storehouse” as the local conference is a polity decision that the church has agreed on collectively rather than a theological requirement.

The author explains that the church is organized in levels. A local church forms part of a local conference, which is a collection of local churches. Local conferences make up a union conference, unions make up a division, and divisions make up the General Conference (GC). The NAD includes about 6,000 local churches, 59 local conferences and nine union conferences, and it is one of 13 divisions of the General Conference.

The local conference is the main employer within this structure. Its frontline workers are mostly pastors, schoolteachers and support staff, and it pays their salaries, benefits, travel and retirement costs. It also supports churches and schools through training, appropriations, school operating subsidies and legal and regulatory guidance, and it offers training programs, camp meetings and other services to nonemployee members. The author notes that the local conference has received the largest share of tithe resources.

The distribution of tithe has changed over time. In the 1980s, the church in North America distributed tithe as follows: 10 percent to unions, 20 percent to the division and GC, about 10 percent for retirees under a defined benefit pension plan, and 60 percent to the local conference. In 2023, the author reports, the allocation was 9 percent to unions, 13.5 percent to the division and GC, 11.4 percent for retirement under a now frozen defined benefit pension plan, and about 1 percent for a conference special assistance fund that helps less financially able conferences. The local conference’s share was 65.1 percent. The author says there is continuing pressure on the union, division and GC levels to pass more tithe to local conferences, and that questions have been raised about what benefits the wider levels provide. He writes that he believes there has been a lack of communication about those benefits.

According to the author, after funds flow back to the local conference through appropriations and services performed on its behalf, the local conference benefits from about 83 percent of the original tithe dollar on average, while the union, division and GC share about 17 percent. The author applied this formula to conferences grouped by annual tithe: large conferences collecting more than $35 million, medium conferences collecting $15 million to $35 million, and small conferences collecting less than $15 million. Large and medium conferences were close to each other, in the low 80 percent range, while small conferences approached 100 percent. The author attributes the structure to two long-held principles: that the more financially able help the less financially able, and that the church is stronger when it works together. Isaiah 58:7 is a fitting reference for the way the more able help those in need (Isaiah 58:7).

The author states that the remaining 17 percent helps fund work beyond the conferences. The General Conference and the NAD maintain departments that deploy short- and long-term missionaries around the world, handling training, language development, legal requirements for entering other countries, health care and retirement benefits. The NAD also deploys missionaries within its own territory because it serves countries outside the United States. The Religious Liberty Department supports members who face discrimination, such as dismissal from employment for honoring the Sabbath, and the church also contributes resources to court cases involving religious liberty and to keeping a proper separation between church and state.

The church also needs legal expertise in many situations, the author writes. He describes cases in which a plaintiff may present a local matter but seek to sue the entire world church, cases in which individuals bring claims that need a defense, and cases in which a suit may arise from wrongdoing. The General Conference maintains a team of lawyers to advise on these matters, and, according to the author, those lawyers are available to counsel any church entity without charge.

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