Many churches are picking up on a trend of getting people to donate to the church by offering a money-back guarantee if God does not bless them.
NewSpring Church in South Carolina is one of hundreds of congregations across the country that have offered 90-day tithing challenges, according to Christianity Today.
The article read, “Participants sign up with a commitment to give 10 percent of their income or more, and if ‘God doesn’t hold true to his promises of blessings’ after three months, they can request their money back—no questions asked. It’s the church’s version of ‘satisfaction guaranteed,’.”
The idea comes from a Bible verse in the Old Testament Book of Malachi:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
NewSpring Pastor Perry Noble said in a sermon, “God literally says, ‘Test me out, see if I’m God,'” “You and I cannot out-give him.” 440 people took up the challenge. Out of 7,000 participants over the past four years, fewer than 20 asked for their money back.
LifeChurch.tv is another using a money back guarantee. Founder Craig Groeschel, told a gathering of church leaders, “The Bible says that when we do this God will bless us, not just materially, but God blesses us in more ways than we can imagine.”