Sacrament meeting talks this past weekend. Speaker 1 - tithing. Speaker 2 - sacrifice. Speaker 3 (bishop) - fast offerings. Built up this whole sacrament meeting to ask everyone to be as generous as they can with their fast offerings. People are hurting and we can only keep the fast offerings local while tithing goes to SLC (to build wards and temples). Argggg. People hear their whole lives tithing only goes pretty much for those two things. I lean over and tell my wife if only everyone new that a small protion of that is needed for those buildings while the rest is invested. Dirty look. Glad to see people giving away money to be invested and make the church rich. Ranting over. Out.

I hear you!

Well it is going around. I live in a fairly affluent ward...FO is low tho' probably because they all know what goes on?

I have to say, I just LOVE the title you picked, MORE MONEY PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Correct-FO's stay in the Stake/Ward.
When we were on our way out, we stopped paying tithing and instead gave that money to Fast offerings for that very reason.

Yes...I am 100% with helping people.

No problem with giving.

The morg did lose a LOT of money when Lehman Bros went under. And who knows how much they have actually recouped with Goldman Sachs.

I mean, really! You can't spare a couple of thou for a hurting corporation?

Technically, both tithing and fast offering funds are sent to Salt Lake when each weeks "batch" is sent. When a check is written against the fast offering account, church headquarters essentially "matches" the amount of the check against the funds held in Salt Lake. There are no funds actually drawn from the local ward.

The only funds held at the ward level are those placed in the Ward Missionary fund.

The other, and relatively rare exception to this, would be funds raised for girls camp or scout camp (money which would be placed in the "other" category on a tithing slip). Donations to "other" (outside of the Priesthood Site Restoration just recently introduced) are not considered charitable, and must be spent relatively quickly or be returned to the donating members.

at least once a year.
In this economy with unemployment so high, they are probably hurting. Add the number of tithe payers that have left, and they may be giving these kinds of talks more and more often!