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Last Sunday, the bishopric announced a change to how we do tithing settlement: no more sign-up sheets. We were to make appointments with our (newly called) ward executive secretary. I don’t remember the exact words used, but I remember getting the impression that the new policy came from higher up. Just now, the ward executive secretary called us to make an appointment for tithing settlement.
I’m happy to pay tithing and attend tithing settlement, but being called to make an appointment makes it feel less like a declaration and more like a shakedown. I’m trying now to determine what level this new process comes from. Has anyone here been contacted in this manner or heard of anything similar?
I do plan to bring it up privately with the bishopric.
We still used a sign-up sheet in my BYU student ward. If there’s some new policy, we didn’t get the message here in Provo. Signup sheet here. You will, however, get hounded by the executive secretary until you sign up but that’s more related to the BP’s goal of giving as accurate a report as they possibly can on 100% of the people on his rosters. I think it all comes down to how the BP and the executive secretary want to do things.
Our ward apparently didn’t get the memo either, sign up sheets are on the clerk’s door (Sundays and Wednesdays). I agree that signing up makes it more of one’s own initiative and it does sound sort of like a shakedown getting a call from the ES. Perhaps your bishop has been frustrated with people not signing up in the past and decided to try a different tact. I don’t sign up or go although I do pay tithing. There was past discussion here about tithing settlement. To me it’s just another time wasting thing to do when I have better things to do. Here’s a link to one prior discussion (you can search tithing settlement for others):
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4879&hilit=tithing+settlement ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4879&hilit=tithing+settlement There is the issue of being considerate of the BP’s time. They have to report something, they’d rather not guess, and they have to make themselves available to everyone. Often that translates into the BP being in his office for people that haven’t signed up or met and usually he has to do that right up until the 11th hour. If everyone got the settlement out of the way, or at least made an appointment, the BP could get some of his time back. Our bishop is our HT. He wanted to do TS with us when he came to HT. 
QuestionAbound wrote:Our bishop is our HT. He wanted to do TS with us when he came to HT.
That has to be a first. I’ve never heard that before. So, did you let him do it?
Isn’t odd that of all the commandments, tithing settlement is the only one that gets its own, dedicated sit-down meeting with the Bishop? That’s what I think whenever I hear the term “tithing settlement”.
Also, the term “settlement” sounds ominous — as if we have to “settle up”, the way people in a business transaction or legal conflict do. I suppose that’s an outgrowth of the scripture in the BoM that indicates we owe everything we have to God, so paying 10% is our obligation.
Nonetheless, I’ve never liked situations where volunteers are treated as employees or debtors…
Anyway, back to the opening question — It sounds like this approach to tithing settlement is ward or stake specific, not church-wide.
SilentDawning wrote:Also, the term “settlement” sounds ominous — as if we have to “settle up”, the way people in a business transaction or legal conflict do. I suppose that’s an outgrowth of the scripture in the BoM that indicates we owe everything we have to God, so paying 10% is our obligation.
Ah, but settlement also implies some attempt at negotiating and compromise by
bothparties involved. I think it’ safe to toss out all definitions that we’re aware of for the word “settlement.” 
Hey, it’s better than attending a tithing “hearing” every year.
nibbler wrote:Hey, it’s better than attending a tithing “hearing” every year.
😆 Okay, so after doing some searching here and other places, it seems 1) I’ve been fortunate to live in places where sign-up sheets were the rule; and 2) this is probably a stake-wide change. At least, I can’t imagine “no sign-ups” being stake-wide policy without “the executive secretary calls you” also being policy. The number of appointments would plummet.
Of all the reasons I’ve found for the presentation-feedback interview of tithing settlement, the one that makes the most sense is
the church uses the collected statistics to determine when and where to build meeting houses and temples. Church leaders can’t just say that, though, can they? I suppose “you will realize great spiritual blessings” has more motivational power than “we need these key indicators.” Slightly tangentially, I’m surprised by the things that rub me the wrong way, but wouldn’t have or didn’t pre-FC.
The quantity of full tithe paying members also factors into when new branches, wards, and stakes can be created. nibbler wrote:The quantity of full tithe paying members also factors into when new branches, wards, and stakes can be created.
I kind of figure that if I am a temple recommend holder then I am by default a full tithe payer. I realize that not everyone who decides to stop paying tithing also runs into the bishop’s office and surrenders his or her temple recommend but some do. I think the vast majority of those who hold temple recommends could at any point in time answer the questions appropriately. Therefore, I think the bishop should feel comfortable checking the “full tithe payer” box for all TR holders and be done with it. That does bring up another question that I never really thought about before. If you are a TR holder and go to tithing settlement and declare you are not a full tithe payer, does the bishop take your recommend? Should he?
DarkJedi wrote:If you are a TR holder and go to tithing settlement and declare you are not a full tithe payer, does the bishop take your recommend? Should he?
Maybe 6 months after the stillbirth of our third child and while I was still serving as WML, DW and I went in to tithing settlement. I declared that I was not a full tithe payer and expressed at length how I had felt a promise of God’s protection in exchange for my tithing payment. I honestly felt that paying tithing was would cosmically ensure my family’s safety. I was grappling with my pain and the realization that we are never really promised anything specific in exchange for tithing. Having viewed tithing as more of a transaction it was and is rather difficult to summon the motivation to pay it for any other reason (I have always been frugal and parting with tithing money has never been easy for me).
My bishop was very sympathetic. He even expressed that we too often teach tithing “blessings” inappropriately at church and that a number of church members have the same misconception.
He then told me that as a man he was sympathetic but as an administrator of the church he was obligated to confiscate my TR. I imagine that technically the bishop had some discretion in the matter but he seemed to think that confiscating my TR was his duty.
Reuben wrote:Slightly tangentially, I’m surprised by the things that rub me the wrong way, but wouldn’t have or didn’t pre-FC.
It’s a common thing for people like us. We see all kinds of boogie men in the woods. I’ve been at this a long time and I’ve run the gamut when it comes to letting things bug me. Ultimately, I’ve discovered that it’s not accurate or empathetic to assume the worst in every action.Of course the Church uses statistics to plan ahead. What multinational organization doesn’t? But that doesn’t mean that the individual Bishops are spying on us or using guilt-based coercion to get us to pay more money. To me, it seems far more likely that Bishops view Tithing as their single most tangible responsibility and Tithing Settlement as their best chance to meet with the membership of the ward. Bishops meet with people all the time, but they tend to be the same people. I’ve known several Bishop’s who’ve used this as their chance to establish a better relationship with people. A ward or a stake not wanting to use a sign-up sheet probably thinks of reaching out to make an appointment as something more respectful and giving on their part toward the membership. To them, I’m sure the line of thinking is that a sign-up sheet is like an assembly line, but an appointment something individual.
I haven’t attended Tithing Settlement in years. Tithing itself is one of my top three or four hot-buttons with the Church. But I don’t begrudge the overworked Bishops for trying to do their unpaid assignment out of their sense of duty and service. Most of them are good people; most of us are good people. I like to think that good people can co-exist, even when they don’t see things the same way.
While I was on the HC I didn’t sign up or go to tithing settlement. The first time I got a panicked voice mail from one of the members of the SP that I needed to complete tithing settlement because members of the HC have to be declared tithe payers. I called my Bishop and did it over the phone. It took 3 minutes.
The next year I just emailed my Bishop. I plan on doing the same this year.
Technically, per the Church’s definition, I would probably not be considered a full tither payer, however according to my definition, I believe I am. I’m still mulling over which definition I should go with and which answer to provide.
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