The Session of Christ the King has decided to have an offertory prayer in our worship service. This paper will look at whether an offering should be part of our worship service, and if so how it can be incorporated. I will not discuss the more general issue of tithes and other Christian giving.
Scripture
The key passage is 1 Corinthians 16:1-4. There Paul is urging the Corinthian Christians to financially support their fellow Christians in Jerusalem. He says to them, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” This is clearly not talking about tithing out of one's paycheck: there is no reason to suppose that the Corinthians were paid weekly, on Sundays. Instead, he sees the giving as a regular activity and connects it to the weekly gathering. It appears to be part of worship.
A number of passages see giving as an act of sacrifice or worship. Hebrews 13:16 says, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” In 1 Corinthians 9:12 Paul says, “For the ministry (diakonia) of this service (leitourgia) is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.” Finally, when Paul talks about the “offering of the Gentiles” in Romans 15:16, it is in the context of financial contributions (verse 24).
Confessional background
The Westminster Confession of Faith does not include the offering in its list of the elements of worship (XXI.5). The Directory for the Publick Worship of God says “The collection for the poor is so to be ordered, that no part of the publick worship be thereby hindered.” This implies that the offering is not part of the worship (and seems to be saying that it should not be allowed to interfere with it) – perhaps similar to what we have with our collection box.
The Heidelberg Catechism, on the other hand, lists what should be done on the Lord's Day (Q & A 103): “I diligently attend the assembly of God’s people to learn what God’s Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.”
Although it does not explicitly say this takes place in the “worship service”, it lists offerings alongside hearing the Word, prayer, and participation in the sacraments.
Theology and practice
The offering fits in well with our view of worship as dialog. God speaks to us in his Word (read and preached) and we respond in prayer and praise – and with the offering. This might lead us to conclude that the best position for it is either after the Bible reading or after the sermon.
How might the presentation of our tithes and offering fit into covenant renewal worship? Jeffrey Meyers sees it as corresponding to the tribute offering (sometimes called the “grain” or “meal offering”, Leviticus 2:1) which was customarily attached to the ascension offering (traditionally known as the “burnt” offering, Leviticus 1:3). In other words, it is part of our consecration to God, along with our hearing of the Word.
Steven Nicoletti points out that the tribute offering of Leviticus 2 did not itself involve the whole tithe: it involved only a symbolic portion of grain. In this way, it may be appropriate to collect a representative tithe: for example, a member may wish to give the bulk of their tithe electronically, but reserve a token amount to give in cash as part of corporate worship.
In the same way, it may not be necessary to actually collect an offering during the service with plates, bowls, or bags. Rather, it might be deemed appropriate to bring our offering box to the front as symbolic of the whole congregation's offering. This could be accompanied by an offertory prayer.
Conclusion
There are good reasons to include an offering in our service, although the theology and practice of Reformed churches is by no means uniform on this point. There would be a number of ways to do this, and we decided on the simplest of these: to have a deacon bring the offering box to the front and have a short prayer of dedication.