Let her speak in her own words
This study gathers what Ellen G. White wrote about the destination of the tithe. The passages below were collected by working through her books, letters, manuscripts and periodical articles on the subject, and every quotation was then checked, word for word, against the published text. The verification notes at the end record how that was done and list several citation corrections found along the way, including one widely circulated quotation that is attached to the wrong book.
One point of method matters at the outset. In her lifetime nobody used the phrase “independent ministries.” The vocabulary of her day was different: “the treasury,” “the Lord’s treasury,” “the storehouse,” “the cause,” “other lines of work,” “various channels,” “objects good in themselves.” The question a modern reader brings, whether tithe may be sent to self-supporting or independent work rather than to the church, is answered in her writings under those older terms. Part Two maps the vocabulary so you can see exactly what she meant. The quotations come first, because they are plain enough to carry the study on their own.
The Clearest Statements
These ten statements are the plainest answers in her writings to the question of where the tithe is to go. Each is quoted in full, without paraphrase.
One address, one use
“The tithe is sacred, reserved by God for Himself. It is to be brought into His treasury to be used to sustain the gospel laborers in their work. For a long time the Lord has been robbed because there are those who do not realize that the tithe is God’s reserved portion.”— Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 249 (1909); also Gospel Workers, p. 226; Counsels on Stewardship, p. 93
The tithe has one address, His treasury, and one use, the sustaining of gospel laborers. Everything else in this study is an unfolding of that sentence.
Not even for what you regard as the Lord’s work
“God has given special direction as to the use of the tithe. He does not design that His work shall be crippled for want of means. That there may be no haphazard work and no error, He has made our duty on these points very plain. The portion that God has reserved for Himself is not to be diverted to any other purpose than that which He has specified. Let none feel at liberty to retain their tithe, to use according to their own judgment. They are not to use it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in what they may regard as the Lord’s work.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 247; also Counsels on Stewardship, p. 101; Gospel Workers, pp. 224, 225
This sentence addresses the modern argument directly. The person who redirects tithe to a cause he sincerely regards as the Lord’s work is the very person this counsel names. Sincerity about the cause is not the test. God’s specification is.
God has not changed
“God’s reserved resources are to be used in no such haphazard way. The tithe is the Lord’s, and those who meddle with it will be punished with the loss of their heavenly treasure unless they repent. Let the work no longer be hedged up because the tithe has been diverted into various channels other than the one to which the Lord has said it should go. Provision is to be made for these other lines of work. They are to be sustained, but not from the tithe. God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, pp. 249, 250
“Various channels” and “other lines of work” are her era’s words for every enterprise outside the one specified channel. She does not say those lines are bad. She says they are to be sustained, and then closes the tithe to them.
One purpose
“The tithe is to be used for one purpose,—to sustain the ministers whom the Lord has appointed to do His work. It is to be used to support those who speak the words of life to the people, and carry the burden of the flock of God.… The impression is becoming quite common that the sacred disposition of the tithe no longer exists. Many have lost their sense of the Lord’s requirements.”— Manuscript 82, 1904; in Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, p. 188
Written in 1904, near the end of her ministry and in the middle of the Kellogg crisis, when the pull to redirect means away from the organized work was at its strongest. Her answer was to tighten the definition, not loosen it. Note the phrase “whom the Lord has appointed”: the tithe follows God’s appointment, not the giver’s selection.
He requires this portion to be placed in His treasury
“So it is with God’s claims upon us. He places His treasures in the hands of men, but requires that one tenth shall be faithfully laid aside for His work. He requires this portion to be placed in His treasury. It is to be rendered to Him as His own; it is sacred and is to be used for sacred purposes, for the support of those who carry the message of salvation to all parts of the world.”— Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 386 (1900)
Dissatisfaction with leadership does not release the tithe
“Some have been dissatisfied and have said: ‘I will not longer pay my tithe; for I have no confidence in the way things are managed at the heart of the work.’ But will you rob God because you think the management of the work is not right? Make your complaint, plainly and openly, in the right spirit, to the proper ones. Send in your petitions for things to be adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God, and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 249
She heard the exact argument used today, that leadership at “the heart of the work” cannot be trusted with the tithe, and she answered it. The remedy for bad management is open complaint and petition through proper channels. The remedy is never the tithe.
Not under any circumstances
“You who have been withholding your means from the cause of God, read the book of Malachi, and see what is spoken there in regard to tithes and offerings. Cannot you see that it is not best under any circumstances to withhold your tithes and offerings because you are not in harmony with everything your brethren do? The tithes and offerings are not the property of any man, but are to be used in doing a certain work for God. Unworthy ministers may receive some of the means thus raised, but dare any one, because of this, withhold from the treasury, and brave the curse of God? I dare not. I pay my tithes gladly and freely, saying, as did David, ‘Of Thine own have we given Thee.’ A selfish withholding from God will tend to poverty in our own souls. Act your part, my brethren and sisters. God loves you, and He stands at the helm. If the Conference business is not managed according to the order of the Lord, that is the sin of the erring ones. The Lord will not hold you responsible for it, if you do what you can to correct the evil. But do not commit sin yourselves by withholding from God His own property. ‘Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently,’ or deceitfully.”— Special Testimonies, Series A, no. 1, p. 27; the parallel text is Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, pp. 73, 74 (Manuscript 3, 1890)
Spoken amid open dissatisfaction with the Michigan Conference. Three things sit inside this one paragraph. She grants that unworthy ministers are being paid. She gives her own testimony, “I pay my tithes gladly and freely.” And she settles the question of responsibility that troubles most givers: mismanagement “is the sin of the erring ones,” and “the Lord will not hold you responsible for it, if you do what you can to correct the evil.” The giver’s duty is to correct the evil and to bring the tithe, not to choose between them. Part Eight returns to her practice.
Not to be withdrawn from the treasury
“Letters have come to me from Oakland and Battle Creek, making inquiries as to the disposition made of the tithe. The writers supposed that they were authorized to use the tithe money in meeting the expenses of the church.… From that which has been shown me, the tithe is not to be withdrawn from the treasury. Every penny of this money is the Lord’s own sacred treasure, to be appropriated for a special use.”— Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers, no. 10, pp. 16–19 (testimony dated March 14, 1897)
Church officers answer for the tithe reaching the treasury
“Many presidents of state conferences do not attend to that which is their work—to see that the elders and deacons of the churches do their work in the churches, by seeing that a faithful tithe is brought into the treasury.”— Testimonies to Ministers, p. 305 (written from Cooranbong, September 10, 1896)
The chain of responsibility she describes runs from church deacons and elders up through conference presidents. That is the plumbing of the storehouse in her own words: tithe moves from the member, through the church, into a treasury that conference officers answer for. There is no room in that chain for a private channel.
Storehouse and treasury are the same thing
“If all the tithes were brought into the storehouse, God’s treasury would not be empty.”— Pacific Union Recorder, October 10, 1901
In one sentence she uses “storehouse” and “God’s treasury” as one and the same. Whoever fills the storehouse fills the treasury. Whoever bypasses the treasury has not brought the tithe to the storehouse.
The Language of Her Day, Translated
Four terms carry the whole subject. Understanding how she used them removes the ambiguity that modern arguments trade on.
The word comes from Malachi 3:10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house.” She quotes this verse constantly when teaching on tithe: at the close of the Patriarchs and Prophets chapter on tithing (p. 529), in The Acts of the Apostles (p. 338), in Education (p. 138), in Testimonies to Ministers (p. 307) and in Testimonies, vol. 9 (p. 251). In the ancient economy the storehouse was the one central depository at the house of God from which the Levites, the ministering tribe, were sustained. She carries that meaning straight across:
“The tithe was to be exclusively devoted to the use of the Levites, the tribe that had been set apart for the service of the sanctuary.”— Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 526
“As God’s work extends, calls for help will come more and more frequently. That these calls may be answered, Christians should heed the command, ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house.’ Malachi 3:10. If professing Christians would faithfully bring to God their tithes and offerings, His treasury would be full.”— The Acts of the Apostles, p. 338
“His treasury,” “the Lord’s treasury,” “God’s treasury” and “the treasure house of God” all name the fund into which the tithe is paid and out of which the appointed ministry is sustained. Three marks identify which treasury she meant. First, it is the treasury the churches pay into: “If our churches will take their stand upon the Lord’s word and be faithful in paying their tithe into His treasury, more laborers will be encouraged to take up ministerial work” (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 249). Second, it is the treasury that conference officers are held responsible for filling, as the Testimonies to Ministers passage above shows. Third, it is the treasury the conference administers:
“More and more we must come to realize that the means that come into the conference in the tithes and gifts of our people should be used for the support of the work not only in the American cities, but also in foreign fields. Let the means so zealously collected be unselfishly distributed.”— Manuscript 11, 1908
Here the tithes “come into the conference” as a matter of course. The treasury and the conference treasury are the same fund. The Ellen G. White Estate summarizes the historical practice of her lifetime in the same terms: tithes gathered in the churches were remitted to the conferences for the support of the ministers in their respective territories, and the conference was designated as the storehouse for the tithes.
It is honest to note that she never penned the single sentence “the storehouse means the conference treasury.” She never needed to. In every use, without exception, the storehouse and the treasury are the fund the organized church administers: churches pay into it, conference officers answer for it, appointed ministers are paid from it, and she says the tithe “is not to be withdrawn” from it. There is no passage in her writings in which “storehouse” or “treasury” refers to a fund outside the organized body, or to whatever destination an individual giver selects.
This is her standing phrase for every enterprise outside the specified channel: schools, medical work, canvassing, benevolent projects and, in the Kellogg years, institutions operating independently of the conferences. Her verdict on all of them is uniform and appears in the third statement of Part One: “They are to be sustained, but not from the tithe.” The modern independent ministry is simply an “other line of work” with a website. The category is not new. Only the technology is.
“A very plain, definite message has been given to me for our people. I am bidden to tell them that they are making a mistake in applying the tithe to various objects which, though good in themselves, are not the object to which the Lord has said that the tithe should be applied. Those who make this use of the tithe are departing from the Lord’s arrangement. God will judge for these things.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 248
She concedes the goodness of the object up front and rules it out anyway. That is the exact shape of the modern question. Nobody redirects tithe to a cause they think is bad. The argument for redirection is always the goodness and worthiness of the receiving work, and that is the argument she says God will judge.
What the Tithe Is For
From her earliest to her latest writings the answer never varies: the tithe sustains the appointed gospel ministry.
“One reasons that the tithe may be applied to school purposes. Still others reason that canvassers and colporteurs should be supported from the tithe. But a great mistake is made when the tithe is drawn from the object for which it is to be used—the support of the ministers.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, pp. 248, 249
“Let each regularly examine his income, which is all a blessing from God, and set apart the tithe as a separate fund, to be sacredly the Lord’s. This fund should not in any case be devoted to any other use; it is to be devoted solely to support the ministry of the gospel.”— The Review and Herald, May 9, 1893
“God’s ministers are His shepherds, appointed by Him to feed His flock. The tithe is His provision for their maintenance, and He designs that it shall be held sacred to this purpose.”— Manuscript 139, 1898
“I have had special instruction from the Lord that the tithe is for a special purpose, consecrated to God to sustain those who minister in the sacred work, as the Lord’s chosen to do His work not only in sermonizing, but in ministering.”— Letter 40, 1897; in Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, p. 187
“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.”— Manuscript 149, 1899; published in Evangelism, p. 492
Notice how she handles surplus. Even when a conference had more tithe than its own workers needed, that surplus did not become discretionary money:
“In some of the larger conferences the tithe may be more than sufficient to sustain the laborers now in the field. But this does not sanction its use for any other purpose.”— Manuscript 139, 1898
The one extension she explicitly made was to those teaching the word of God in denominational schools, and she made it by direct testimony, not by private inference:
“Light has been plainly given that those who minister in our schools, teaching the word of God, explaining the Scriptures, educating the students in the things of God, should be supported by the tithe money. This instruction was given long ago, and more recently it has been repeated again and again.”— Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 215; see also vol. 6, pp. 134, 135
The pattern behind all of this is the Levitical one, which she treats as carried forward into the gospel ministry:
“One tenth of all the increase was claimed by the Lord as His own, and to withhold the tithe was regarded by Him as robbery. It was to this plan for the support of the ministry that Paul referred when he said, ‘Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.’”— The Acts of the Apostles, p. 336
What the Tithe Must Not Be Used For
Every item on this list is a good work. That is the point. She excluded good works from the tithe by name, which proves that the goodness of a cause was never the criterion.
Schools, canvassers and colporteurs
“One reasons that the tithe may be applied to school purposes. Still others reason that canvassers and colporteurs should be supported from the tithe. But a great mistake is made when the tithe is drawn from the object for which it is to be used—the support of the ministers.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, pp. 248, 249
Church buildings and their upkeep
“His people today are to remember that the house of worship is the Lord’s property and that it is to be scrupulously cared for. But the funds for this work are not to come from the tithe.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 248
Running expenses of the local church
“I was shown that it is wrong to use the tithe for defraying the incidental expenses of the church. In this there has been a departure from correct methods.… But you are robbing God every time that you put your hands into the treasury for funds to meet the running expenses of the church.”— Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church, pp. 6, 7 (August 1896); in Counsels on Stewardship, p. 103
“The tithe is not to be consumed in incidental expenses. That belongs to the work of the church members. They are to support their church by their gifts and offerings.”— Letter 81, 1897
The poor
“The tithe is set apart for a special use. It is not to be regarded as a poor fund. It is to be especially devoted to the support of those who are bearing God’s message to the world; and it should not be diverted from this purpose.”— The Review and Herald Supplement, December 1, 1896; in Counsels on Stewardship, p. 103
This one circulates widely as “Gospel Workers, p. 226.” It is not there. The verified locations are the Review and Herald Supplement of December 1, 1896 and Counsels on Stewardship, p. 103. Cite it there.
Personal use, emergencies and debts
“They are not to use it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in what they may regard as the Lord’s work.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 247
“All who will take a wholehearted, decided position to obey God; who will not take the Lord’s reserved funds—His own money—to settle their debts; who will render to the Lord the portion that He claims as His own, will receive the blessing of God which is promised to all who obey Him.”— Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church, pp. 8–10 (August 1896); in Counsels on Stewardship, p. 92
Secular purposes of any kind
“That which has been set apart according to the Scriptures as belonging to the Lord constitutes the revenue of the gospel and is no longer ours. It is no better than sacrilege for a man to take from God’s treasury in order to serve himself or to serve others in their secular business.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 246
The one exception she ever named
“There are exceptional cases, where poverty is so deep that in order to secure the humblest place of worship, it may be necessary to appropriate the tithes. But that place is not Battle Creek or Oakland.”— Manuscript 24, 1897
That is the full width of the exception: congregations in poverty so deep they cannot secure the humblest place of worship. She named it herself, bounded it herself, and immediately fenced it off from comfortable churches. No exception she ever wrote covers redirecting tithe from the treasury to a work of the giver’s own choosing.
No Private Judgment, for Anyone
The rule against private disposal of the tithe is universal in her writings. It binds the member, the minister and the administrator alike, because the tithe is never any man’s fund.
Not the member
“Let none feel at liberty to retain their tithe, to use according to their own judgment. They are not to use it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in what they may regard as the Lord’s work.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 247
Not the minister
“The minister should, by precept and example, teach the people to regard the tithe as sacred. He should not feel that he can retain and apply it according to his own judgment because he is a minister. It is not his. He is not at liberty to devote to himself whatever he thinks is his due. He should not give his influence to any plans for diverting from their legitimate use the tithes and offerings dedicated to God. They are to be placed in His treasury and held sacred for His service as He has appointed.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, pp. 247, 248
This paragraph deserves weight in the present debate. The people most often urging members to redirect tithe are ministers. She addresses that exact case: a minister lending “his influence to any plans for diverting” the tithe is acting against a plain testimony that names him.
Not the administrator
“It is not in His order that two or three men shall plan for the whole conference, and decide how the tithe shall be used, as though the tithe were a fund of their own.”— The General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901, p. 83
Spoken at the 1901 reorganization. The same principle that forbids a member from privatizing the tithe forbids a committee from doing it. The tithe is God’s fund under God’s specified purpose at every point in its journey. This statement is sometimes quoted against the organized church. In fact it is the same doctrine applied upward, and it assumes throughout that the tithe is in the conference’s care to begin with.
Not even to improve on God’s plan
“God desires all His stewards to be exact in following divine arrangements. They are not to offset the Lord’s plans by performing some deed of charity or giving some gift or some offering when or how they, the human agents, shall see fit. It is a very poor policy for men to seek to improve on God’s plan, and invent a makeshift, averaging up their good impulses on this and that occasion, and offsetting them against God’s requirements.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 248
When Confidence in Leadership Is Shaken
The strongest modern argument for redirecting tithe is distrust: leadership has erred, therefore the faithful giver must route God’s money around the erring men. Ellen White faced that argument repeatedly in her own lifetime, in 1890 with the Michigan Conference, in 1896 and 1897 with Battle Creek, and in 1907 at the height of tension after the Kellogg crisis. Her answer never moved.
She granted the premise every time. She did not claim leadership was sound. She called them “erring men” and “unworthy ministers.” And having granted it, she still forbade the conclusion:
“Unworthy ministers may receive some of the means thus raised, but dare anyone, because of this, withhold from the treasury, and brave the curse of God? I dare not.”— Special Testimonies, Series A, no. 1, p. 27 (1890)
“But will you rob God because you think the management of the work is not right? Make your complaint, plainly and openly, in the right spirit, to the proper ones. Send in your petitions for things to be adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God, and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right.”— Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 249
Her prescribed remedy for mismanagement is open protest through proper channels: complain plainly, petition for things to be set in order. The tithe is never the lever. Behind this stands her settled view of the organized body itself:
“I testify to my brethren and sisters that the church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on which He bestows His supreme regard.”— Testimonies to Ministers, p. 15
There is also a quiet assurance in her writings for the giver who fears the tithe will be misused after it leaves his hand. The recording angel tracks the money past the treasury:
“I was shown that the recording angel makes a faithful record of every offering dedicated to God, and put into the treasury, and also of the final result of the means thus bestowed.”— Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 518
The giver’s faithfulness is measured at the treasury. What happens afterward is recorded against those who handle it. Misuse by an administrator is his sin, and God has committed Himself to judge it. It never becomes the giver’s license.
The Watson Letter, Read Whole
Every case for tithe redirection eventually rests its weight on one private letter: Letter 267, 1905, written January 22, 1905 to Elder G. F. Watson, president of the Colorado Conference, later published in the Spalding and Magan Collection, pages 215, 216. Because it carries so much weight in the debate, it is reproduced here in full, all seven paragraphs, followed by observations drawn from the letter itself.
The background. Workers connected with the Southern Missionary Society had received about four hundred dollars, partly tithe, from members in a Colorado church. Elder Watson intended to pursue the matter. Ellen White wrote to stop him.
“Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be.
“It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient, properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way.
“In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.
“I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.
“Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help do a work that is being left undone, and if this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.
“I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy ministers they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated.
“I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter, lest many more shall follow their example.”
What the letter actually establishes
It is a private letter to one administrator about the pastoral handling of a specific situation, telling him to be quiet and careful. It is not a testimony to the churches about tithe policy. Her testimonies to the churches on tithe policy are the published statements in Parts One through Five, and she kept publishing them after 1905. The ninth volume of the Testimonies, carrying “God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry,” went to the whole church in 1909.
The money in question went to neglected, underpaid gospel ministers in the Southern field, white and colored. Every dollar stayed on the one object the tithe exists for, the support of the ministry. Nothing in the letter contemplates tithe flowing to a work of the giver’s own invention.
She says plainly that her course rested on specific divine instruction to her: “It has been presented to me for years,” “I have been instructed to do this,” “this work which the Lord has appointed me to do.” A course God directly assigns His messenger toward a robbed and neglected field is a poor precedent for a course God has directly forbidden in the published testimonies.
Remarkably, she describes even this divinely directed course as money “not withheld from the Lord’s treasury.” In her own understanding, relieving God’s neglected ministers was the treasury doing its work through her hands. The letter does not contain a category of tithe outside the treasury.
The letter contains its own fence: “Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money.” And her stated reason for demanding silence is precisely that publicity would multiply imitators: “lest many more shall follow their example.” She did not want the exception to become a movement. Publishing this letter as a general license does the one thing the letter itself asks not to be done.
The White Estate documents that at least one independent ministry circulated an edited version of this letter with a sentence deleted, and the deleted sentence is exactly “I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money.” The redaction is its own commentary. The letter serves the redirection argument only after the sentence against redirection is cut out of it.
If someone hands you this letter, ask two questions. Does the copy contain the sentence “I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money”? And where did the money go? Both answers are in the text above.
Her Own Practice
Her regular, lifelong practice was the one she preached. Her son and business manager W. C. White documented it: during the greater part of the time since his connection with her business in 1881, a full tithe was paid on her salary to church or conference treasurer (quoted in Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years, 1900–1905, p. 393, and in the White Estate document Ellen G. White’s Counsel and Practice on Tithe). Her own voice in 1890: “I pay my tithes gladly and freely.”
Where she moved outside the regular channel, it was inside the family of cases the Watson letter describes: relief of neglected gospel workers, under instruction she claimed from God, handled quietly, and accompanied by pressure on the conferences to fix the underlying neglect so the exception could end. Her 1898 fund for uncompensated women workers shows the same shape:
“I will feel it my duty to create a fund from my tithe money to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing.”— Letter 137, 1898
The women in question were doing ministry alongside their husbands and receiving nothing from the treasury. Her answer was to pay ministry workers from tithe, which is exactly the tithe’s one purpose, while she simultaneously pressed the principle on the leadership in writing: “The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women” (Manuscript 149, 1899). She was not building a parallel channel. She was forcing the regular channel to do its duty.
Summary of Findings
- The tithe is the Lord’s, holy in the same sense the Sabbath is holy. “God reserved to Himself a specified portion of man’s time and of his means, and no man could, without guilt, appropriate either for his own interests” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 525).
- It has one destination: God’s treasury, the storehouse, which in her day and usage meant the treasury of the organized church, filled through the local churches, answered for by conference officers, and administered by the conference.
- It has one use: sustaining the ministry God has appointed, including those teaching His word in denominational schools.
- No individual may apply it by private judgment, not for personal need, not for a favorite institution, and not for anything he regards as the Lord’s work.
- Good works outside the specified channel, in her words “other lines of work,” are to be sustained from gifts and offerings, never from the tithe.
- Loss of confidence in leadership never releases the tithe. The remedy for mismanagement is open complaint and petition, and accountability for misuse falls on the misuser, not the faithful giver.
- Her exceptional personal handling of tithe was directed to neglected gospel ministers, claimed direct divine instruction, was described by her as not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, and was explicitly not to be made a practice or publicized.
One story, not two
Set side by side, the published testimonies and the private letter tell one story. The testimonies fix the rule. The letter shows the Lord’s messenger, under instruction, relieving the rule’s own beneficiaries, gospel ministers, where the system had failed them, while refusing to let her act become anyone’s precedent. A reader must choose between her whole witness and an edited fragment of it.
“God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry.” — Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, pp. 249, 250, published to the whole church in 1909, after every crisis of confidence she lived through
Her whole witness says the tithe belongs in the storehouse, the treasury of God’s organized church, for the support of the ministry He has appointed.
Every quotation was checked against the published text
Quotations were first gathered from her books, letters, manuscripts and periodical articles, then checked one by one against the published text: the official Ellen G. White Estate reader at egwwritings.org, the White Estate documents Ellen G. White’s Counsel and Practice on Tithe and The History and Use of the Tithe, and original page scans at documents.adventistarchives.org for the periodical material.
Every quotation was then run a second time, sentence by sentence, against a complete searchable copy of the published writings, so that the wording and the page reference printed here could be matched to the text as published rather than to the way the quotation circulates. Forty-six of the forty-seven quotations came back word for word. One did not, and it was corrected to the published wording. Four citations were corrected as well. All of it is listed below, so that a reader who disagrees with this study can check the same things and say so.
APPENDIX ACatalog of Sources and Statements
pp. 220–225. Earliest systematic benevolence counsels. “Rob not God by withholding from Him your tithes and offerings” (1T 220, January 1861). First duty is to God; children’s claims must not lead to robbing Him (1T 220, in CS 94).
pp. 518, 519. The recording angel tracks every offering “put into the treasury, and also… the final result of the means thus bestowed.”
Chapter “Tithes and Offerings,” pp. 381–408, and “Systematic Benevolence,” pp. 408–413. The tithing system divine in origin (3T 388, 389); every member “a treasurer for the Lord”; withholding recorded in heaven as robbery (3T 394); neglect of the plan produces “an impoverished treasury and a backslidden church” (3T 408). Also 3T 553: “It would be poor policy to support from the treasury of God those who really mar and injure His work,” a caution addressed to those administering the funds, not a license for givers.
Chapter “Sacredness of Vows,” pp. 462–476. “If all the tithes of our people flowed into the treasury of the Lord as they should…” (4T 474); “If all, both rich and poor, would bring their tithes into the storehouse…” (4T 475, 476); tithes and offerings support the ministry and the spread of truth (4T 472).
Chapter “Will a Man Rob God?”, pp. 148–157. Malachi 3 applied to the church; God’s requirements come first (5T 150).
“Giving to God His Own,” pp. 384–390: the message of Malachi 3 for this time; “He requires this portion to be placed in His treasury” (6T 386); the withheld tithe is God’s stolen reserve fund for the support of His servants (6T 386, 387). Bible teachers in schools paid from tithe (6T 134, 135, 215). Every convert instructed to return tithe to the treasury (6T 447).
“Faithful Stewardship,” pp. 245–252, from a manuscript read at the San Jose meetings, January 1907. The single most concentrated tithe-destination passage in her writings, quoted throughout this study (9T 246–251).
p. 15, the church His supreme regard; pp. 305–307 (September 1896), conference presidents and church elders responsible that “a faithful tithe is brought into the treasury”; the storehouse command one of God’s ordinances whereby His work may be sustained and carried on in the world (TM 307).
pp. 222–228. Republishes the 9T tithe counsels for ministers: tithe into His treasury; ministers not to divert it; “the support of the ministers” its object (GW 224–227).
Section “God’s Reserve, the Tithe,” pp. 65–111. Gathers the treasury and storehouse counsels: “Of all your possessions I reserve a tenth for Myself… which are to be brought into My storehouse” (CS 65, 66); “The Lord calls for His tithe to be given in to His treasury. Strictly, honestly, and faithfully, let this portion be returned to Him” (CS 82); the use-of-tithe chapter (CS 101–103).
Chapter 50, “Tithes and Offerings,” pp. 525–529. Tithe parallel to the Sabbath (525); exclusively for the Levites, with buildings and the poor funded from other offerings (526); the storehouse promise closes the chapter (529).
Chapter “A Liberal Church,” pp. 335–345. The Levitical tithe is “this plan for the support of the ministry” Paul invokes (336); “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse” and a full treasury (338); ministers not to go “a warfare at their own charges” (340).
pp. 138, 139. “The tithe is the Lord’s”; bringing it to the storehouse is a matter of simple honesty.
pp. 249, 250: evangelists must teach converts to bring the tithe into the storehouse (Letter 51, 1902; Manuscript 123, 1898). pp. 491, 492: workers’ converts “will bring their tithes to the treasury”; “The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women” (Manuscript 149, 1899).
p. 27. “Not best under any circumstances to withhold your tithes and offerings”; unworthy ministers no excuse; “side by side with the conference.” Parallel text in Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, pp. 71–79 (Manuscript 3, 1890).
pp. 16–19. “The tithe is not to be withdrawn from the treasury. Every penny of this money is the Lord’s own sacred treasure.” Ellen White herself pointed correspondents to this pamphlet on tithe use (Letter 40, 1897).
pp. 6–10. Tithe not for church running expenses; not for settling debts; “the Lord’s reserved funds—His own money” (in CS 92, 103).
Letter 40, 1897 (the Lord’s special revenue fund, for a special purpose, 1MR 187). Letter 81, 1897 (not for incidental expenses). Manuscript 139, 1898 (ministers’ maintenance; surplus no license). Letter 137, 1898 (her fund for women workers). Manuscript 149, 1899 (word and doctrine, men or women). Manuscript 82, 1904 (“one purpose”). Letter 267, 1905 (the Watson letter, SpM 215, 216). Manuscript 11, 1908 (tithes “come into the conference”). Manuscript 24, 1897 (the deep-poverty exception).
Review and Herald, May 9, 1893 (“devoted solely to support the ministry of the gospel”). Review and Herald, November 10, 1896, “A Test of Gratitude and Loyalty” (original of the 9T 247 counsels). Review and Herald Supplement, December 1, 1896 (not a poor fund). Review and Herald, February 4, 1902 (Christ Himself devised the plan for sustaining those who bear His message to the world, in CS 66). Pacific Union Recorder, October 10, 1901 (storehouse and treasury the same). General Conference Bulletin, April 5, 1901, p. 83 (tithe not any group’s fund of their own).
APPENDIX BVerification Notes and Citation Corrections
Several citations circulating in the current debate are inaccurate. These are the findings that deserve notice.
Heard the Watson letter used as a license?
The short answer, plus 144 more questions answered with their sources.
Search the answersNow test it in Scripture
Six Bible stories are offered as proof that God reforms leaders through the tithe. Read each one to the end.
The Pattern, Tested