Covenant partners’ tithing boosts Fuller Center’s international work
One of the reasons many cite for either starting a Fuller Center for Housing covenant partner or for switching to The Fuller Center’s umbrella after being affiliated with other nonprofit organizations is that The Fuller Center does not charge fees to be affiliated with its affordable housing ministry.
Instead, covenant partners are encouraged — but never required — to tithe a portion of their revenue. This money does not go toward the ministry’s overhead or administrative costs but instead helps The Fuller Center’s international building partners who struggle to acquire funds locally for their work.
Tithing has been a foundational principle since Millard and Linda Fuller launched the world’s affordable housing movement decades ago and especially since 2005 when the Fullers founded The Fuller Center for Housing as a recommitment to the grass-roots, Christian principles with which they began.
“One of our foundational principles — that covenant partners tithe to support the work in places where local resources are few — has ancient roots,” explained Fuller Center President David Snell. “Believers in the earliest days of temple worship and the Christian church were asked to contribute a tenth of their first fruits to support the work of ministry. We call on our believers, the covenant partners, to do the same. For a tenth of the cost of a house in many parts of our country, two and sometimes three houses can be built abroad.”
Snell said that through the years, Fuller Center covenant partners who consistently tithe are often some of the most productive partners. He believes part of that is the theory that you get what you give and that blessings you extend will come back to bless you.
“This is a principle with promise,” he said. “Malachi said that blessings would pour out from the windows of heaven upon those who tithed. For us, tithing is much more than simply providing funds. It’s a matter of faith, trusting that the promised blessings will be ours. It’s a matter of true charity as it allows covenant partners the same blessing that we ask of our donors to reach out to help those in greater need. And it’s a matter of attitude, demonstrating abundance over scarcity.
“Tithing, then, should be viewed as a blessing, not an obligation. We are sincerely grateful to the many covenant partners, both here in the States and overseas, who are generously tithing. More grateful, though, are the families who now have a decent home because of those gifts.”
So far in 2024, cumulative tithing by covenant partners has more than doubled over the same period last year and prior years. The rise has coincided with an increase in partners who have switched to The Fuller Center from other organizations where they were required to pay fees. Now, many are embracing the opportunity to tithe instead.
“We believe that tithing blesses us and the fruits of our international partners at Fuller Center,” said Jim Killoran, Executive Director of The Fuller Center for Housing of Greater New York City, a partner that has consistently tithed in the years since switching its affiliation. “Tithing not only helps us build internationally but moves us to want to build more locally as well. It’s win-win all around with Jesus Economics.”
Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders President Bart Tucker, meanwhile, sees tithing as an expression for the support his organization has received, especially in recent years while helping tornado victims in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.
“For Disaster ReBuilders, tithing is an act of thanksgiving for the financial support we’ve received for our mission of disaster rebuilding,” Tucker said. “We know God will continue to pour out his blessings upon those who tithe. With our focus on disasters in the United States, we take great joy in supporting our international partners when we can’t physically be present.”
It’s not just U.S. covenant partners who have embraced the importance of tithing as recent tithes from such Fuller Center partners as Armenia and Madagascar demonstrate — nor does tithing come only from those who have switched to The Fuller Center from other nonprofits.
“Paying a tithe helps ensure that resources are distributed more equitably throughout the world and also helps broaden the overall reach of the Fuller Center,” said Fuller Center of Utah County President Todd Baxter, whose covenant partner formed organically in 2019 and already has completed 100 projects. “Tithing reinforces the collective effort and responsibility in our global solidarity in the fight against poverty housing.”
He said his team, their volunteers and the families they serve in Utah County have witnessed how the blessings they’ve extended through tithing have come back to benefit their work in ways that may not make mathematical sense but definitely have proven to be true as they operate on faith.
“We trust that God will help us do more with 90% than we could ever do with 100% on our own,” Baxter said. “As we pay our tithe, we frequently experience ‘God moments’ where opportunities and people cross our path at just the right moment, demonstrating God’s involvement in this work. We believe that we are partnering with God in this work and believe that tithing is a way He has given us the opportunity to bless others and to also be blessed in return.”
The Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center also formed organically in 2019, becoming The Fuller Center’s covenant partner in the state of Maine. While they do not have a massive budget, they nevertheless stay very busy and also find time to tithe to the ministry’s international efforts.
“We are called to do God’s work in service to others. We do everything we can to help those in need locally through faith in action,” said Sebago Lakes Region President Diane Dunton Bruni. “We also share a sense of true obligation to help those well beyond our own community. We have a small budget but giving a portion of our local funds to help with national and global needs is what we are called to do. We trust in God’s blessings to give us what we need.”
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