SABBATH SCHOOL OFFERINGS
SABBATH SCHOOL OFFERINGS. Weekly and special periodic offerings for the worldwide missionary work of the church, and the expense offering for the local Sabbath school received in Sabbath school. The earliest plan for Sabbath school offerings was introduced in 1878, when the first annual session of the General Sabbath School Association urged the use of penny boxes placed near the door to receive funds for operating expense. Considerable objection was voiced, but through the promotion of Ellen White, J. N. Loughborough, and the association officers, who favored the plan, approval was won.
In 1885 the Sabbath schools made their first gifts to missions. In the first quarter of that year the Oakland, California, Sabbath school gave all its income to aid in the establishment of the Australian Mission, according to a note that appeared in the Review and Herald that year (62:224, Apr. 7, 1885). Flora Plummer wrote later (c. 1910) that also in 1885 the first conference-wide practice of giving all the Sabbath school donations to missions was adopted by the Upper Columbia Conference at its session at Milton, Oregon ( Early History of the Seventh-day Adventist Sabbath School Work, p. 16). Mrs. Plummer also reported that the next year Sabbath schools in California raised $700 above their expenses in one quarter for the Australian Mission. However, C. H. Jones, writing 18 years earlier than Mrs. Plummer (Sabbath School Worker 8:8, January 1892), placed this action of the California Sabbath schools in 1885. Several state Sabbath school associations proposed sending part of their offerings to help establish this mission. A little later W. C. White, former president of the International Sabbath School Association, asked the schools to give a portion of their contributions to missions. This was the beginning of an ever-increasing stream of financial support that has flowed from the Sabbath schools to the world fields.
The idea of supporting missions seemed to bring increased life and energy to the Sabbath schools. In 1889 and 1890 the Sabbath schools contributed about $12,000 to build the missionary ship Pitcairn. When the Pitcairn sailed with its first missionaries to the Pacific Islands in 1890, a new era in Sabbath school missions offerings began. Soon a goal of five cents a week per member, instead of one penny, was set. Instead of giving only the surplus offering to missions, it was recommended in 1904 that all the regular contributions, except on one or two Sabbaths in the quarter, reserved for expenses, be given to worldwide mission work.
The Regular Sabbath School Offering for Missions. In 1909 the General Conference recommended that the Sabbath school give all offerings to missions, providing for their expenses in some other way. Goals and devices to record the amounts were introduced to stimulate the missions offerings. By 1913 all regular Sabbath school offerings were going for missions and a special offering was taken for expenses.
Sabbath school offerings began to rise sharply. In 1906 a goal of $1,000 a week for missions was set and reached. In 1909 a goal of $100,000 for the year was passed. By 1911 the Sabbath schools reached their first million dollars for missions after 25 years of giving. In the four years 1912(1915, the second million dollars for missions was raised.
In 1920 the North American Division Sabbath schools accepted a goal of 25 cents a week per church member. The goal was raised in 1923 to 30 cents, then to 40 cents (1951), and 50 cents (1953). In 1929 the Sabbath schools around the world gave nearly $2 million to missions in one year, bringing the total since 1886 to more than $21 million. During the depression of 1930(1934 the offerings declined considerably, but by 1941 they were back almost to the 1929 figure.
In 1943 the total for the year was more than $3 million; in 1946, $4 million; in 1951, $5 million; in 1955, more than $6 million; in 1958, $7 million; in 1960, more than $8 million; and in 1970, more than $14 million. In 1980 the total world mission offering was $40 million, and in 1990 it was nearly $47 million.
However, information presented to the Sabbath School Advisory Committee in 1958 showed that the Sabbath school offerings in North America, which during 1921(1933 had been above 30 percent of the church(s tithe income, or 3 percent of the income tithed, had since gradually diminished to 14.3 percent of the tithe, or 1.43 percent of the income. It was voted to present this older figure of 30 percent of the tithe or 3 percent of the income, as a possible and an equitable goal for North America.
Global Assignment (quarterly) cassette tape with two seven-minute programs from the mission field designated to receive the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering overflow, began in 1955.
The Autumn Council of 1963 requested the Sabbath School Department to attempt a 50 percent increase in mission offerings during 1965. The 1964 North American Sabbath School Advisory Committee accepted the challenge and recommended ways of implementation. In 1967 the Advisory Committee voted to discontinue the promotion of 50 cents per week per member as a basic offering goal for North America, and to accept instead a 10 percent annual increase.
In 1970 an audiovisual program called Mission Spotlight was inaugurated, consisting of color slides and cassette tapes of on-the-spot reporting of mission progress and needs. These brief programs were to be circulated among groups of churches each quarter to stimulate wider and stronger financial support of world missions. A mission offering plan called (2X( was begun worldwide in January of 1974, calling for all members to double their customary Sabbath school offerings.
Special Offerings. Besides the regular Sabbath school offerings there are several special offerings, given on special occasions or for special purposes:
Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. On the last Sabbath, usually the thirteenth Sabbath of each quarter, a special offering is taken, and a certain percentage is applied to certain preselected mission projects.
Birthday-Thank Offering. Members are asked to bring a token of thanks for another year of life or for a specific personal blessing received. As early as 1890 Ellen White wrote: (On birthday occasions the children should be taught that they have reason for gratitude to God for His loving-kindness in preserving their lives for another year.(
Again she wrote in 1894: (Not only on birthdays . . . but Christmas and New Year(s should also be seasons when every household should remember their Creator and Redeemer. . . . Do not let the day pass without bringing thanksgiving and thank-offerings to Jesus.(
Little by little the birthday offering idea grew and before long (a penny a year( became a popular slogan in North America. In 1905 birthday boxes were promoted, and in 1908 J. N. Loughborough championed the Birthday-Thank Offering idea and urged it for adults also. In 1919 this offering was designated for new work and new workers in the mission fields.
Later these offerings were put into the regular mission budget. However, each year the amount budgeted for (specials,( such as new buildings, new equipment, and new lands, is from far more than the Birthday-Thank Offering total.
Investment Fund. Members are invited to make an (investment( for missions in some earning project, and give the proceeds as a special offering. The investment idea was followed as early as the 1880s and 1890s when certain church members dedicated such projects as an acre or more of a crop, some cattle, or some cash to provide camp-meeting equipment. In the early 1900s the plan was promoted for various projects in many countries of the world. For example, in 1908 in the Society Islands (missionary gardens( were planted.
In one of these early projects, in 1905, in the little town of Hamilton, Missouri, Lottie Lohman gave five pennies to five children. They bought seeds, planted them, and sold the produce; raised chickens and sold them, until the five pennies grew to $11.52. From 1915 to 1924 numerous articles appeared in the Worker giving reports on how money was earned for missions by giving out nickels to class members to (trade for the work of God,( by projects such as selling temperance numbers of the Youth(s Instructor, Signs of the Times, and Life and Health. The money earned was put into the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.
At the Spring Meeting of the General Conference Committee of 1925 the plan was named (Investment Fund( and officially given to the Sabbath School Department to promote, with the understanding that the money received would go into the regular mission budget. Thereafter the Investment Fund was reported separately, and that year it amounted to $21,860.20.
The idea went round the world. In Burma they called it the (Different( offering. In the Solomon Islands they called it (Business belong God.( New ideas came up continually. One husband (not yet a Seventh-day Adventist) gave up tobacco and gave his tobacco money to Investment; he walked to work and gave his carfare. Children gathered newspapers, bottles, and junk to sell. Others dedicated a portion of their time, a tree, a calf, or part of their garden.
Statistically speaking, as many as one out of every six converts won through the use of Sabbath school offerings could be credited to the Investment Fund.[i]
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