Armstrongism: Where Tithing Is Mandatory, but So Is the Free Labor!
For decades, the Worldwide Church of God perfected a rather remarkable arrangement with its membership. Members were expected to tithe, give offerings, support the church's building projects, finance its television broadcasts, and contribute to an endless parade of special fundraising campaigns. But apparently, handing over a substantial portion of one's income wasn't quite enough. The church also expected its members to provide something money couldn't buy quite so cheaply: their labor.
Why hire someone when you have thousands of faithful members who can be persuaded that mowing the minister's lawn is somehow an act of Christian service?
Throughout the old Worldwide Church of God, members were routinely called upon to perform all sorts of unpaid work. Some mowed ministers' lawns, maintained their properties, deleavened ministers and evangelists homes before the Days of Unleavened Bread, cleaned church buildings, maintained church facilities, provided "Sabbath" security, set up rented halls, dismantled Feast of Tabernacles facilities, washed dishes, scrubbed toilets, and performed countless other chores. When the Feast rolled around, members became an unpaid workforce responsible for making everything look wonderful for the visiting ministry and church hierarchy.
Naturally, this was all presented as serving God, supporting the Work, loving the brethren, or demonstrating a willing and obedient attitude. Nobody wanted to be the person who questioned why the church couldn't hire employees to perform work that ordinary organizations would simply pay people to do. After all, questioning the arrangement might reveal an insufficiently submissive attitude.
And heaven forbid anyone should suggest that a minister, who was already receiving a salary and numerous benefits, might mow his own lawn!
The arrangement was particularly amusing when it came to the ministry's comfortable lifestyle. Members could be struggling financially, working ordinary jobs, raising families, and trying to make ends meet, yet somehow they were expected to find additional time to maintain church properties and assist the ministry. Their own household responsibilities could wait. The Work came first, and apparently so did the minister's landscaping.
Fast-forward to the modern Armstrongist splinter organizations, and it appears that some traditions are simply too precious to abandon.
A Philadelphia Church of God social media post from last year recently appeared in my X feed showing PCG women washing clothing for the young people attending its Summer Educational Program (SEP). Apparently, the ladies were busy providing laundry services for the campers. It brought back memories of the original SEP program in Minnesota in 1971, where we were expected to wash their own clothes. Not by machines, but in tubs with laundry scrubbing ridges, by hand.
Imagine that! Young people learning to take responsibility for their own laundry. What a revolutionary concept!
Of course, one has to wonder whether the children of the PCG's privileged leadership families would be quite as enthusiastic about this arrangement if they were expected to wash their own clothing. Perhaps there is a special exemption for children whose parents occupy the upper floors of the Armstrongist aristocracy. One can almost imagine the horror of discovering that a washing machine actually requires someone to put clothes inside it, add detergent, and press a button.
Why should the campers learn independence when there are perfectly good church women available to operate the laundry department?
Perhaps the PCG should consider expanding the service. They could establish a permanent laundry ministry, complete with a hierarchy of washing supervisors, folding coordinators, and approved detergent policies. A special offering could be collected to purchase additional washing machines, while the women provide the labor free of charge. Which, incidentally, they already do as part of the free traveling slave labor that accompanies the Celtic dance road shows. Groups of women travel with the production washing, ironing and taking care of the dancers clothing.
And this is the larger problem with Armstrongism. The old Worldwide Church of God established a culture in which members were expected to surrender not only their financial resources but also their personal time, energy, and independence. The splinter organizations inherited much of that institutional mentality. Whether it is the Philadelphia Church of God, the Continuing Church of God, or one of the other Armstrongist descendants, the old expectation that members should continually sacrifice themselves for the organization remains an uncomfortable part of the tradition.
To be fair, there is nothing inherently wrong with church members volunteering. Congregations everywhere depend upon volunteers. People willingly clean their churches, prepare meals, help at camps, and organize religious gatherings. There is something genuinely admirable about people working together to help one another. People do this because they have felt blessed by what they get from their churches instead of being TOLD they will be cleaning.
There is a considerable difference between voluntary Christian service and an institutional culture in which members are expected to provide endless unpaid labor because the organization has convinced them that doing so demonstrates their loyalty, obedience, or spiritual commitment. When saying no becomes an indication of a bad attitude, volunteering begins to look considerably less voluntary.
And that is where Armstrongism deserves some serious scrutiny.
The church can collect its tithes, second tithes, third tithes, tithe of the tithe, special offerings, building fund contributions, and member/co-worker appeal letters. It can maintain its expensive headquarters, purchase property, operate elaborate church facilities, and provide comfortable accommodations for its leadership. Yet somehow, there is always another job that needs doing by someone who isn't getting paid.
The members provide the money. The members provide the labor. The members provide the transportation, cooking, cleaning, maintenance, organizing, and laundry services. Meanwhile, the leadership gets to enjoy the benefits of a remarkably well-organized volunteer workforce.
Perhaps the next Armstrongist doctrinal restoration should be the recovery of an ancient and previously overlooked truth: Thou shalt not hire a janitor when thou hast a congregation of unpaid members.
One can almost hear Herbert Armstrong approving from the grave. After all, why stop at demanding a tenth of someone's income when you can also have their weekends, holidays, vacation time, and household labor?
Armstrongism has always been extraordinarily good at telling its members what God supposedly expects them to sacrifice. What it has been considerably less enthusiastic about explaining is why so much of that sacrifice seems to benefit the organization and its leadership.
Apparently, salvation is a full-time job, the ministry is management, and the membership is the maintenance department.
And remember, brethren, your tithes are due on payday. The laundry is due by Thursday.
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