Short Answer
You can give to your mother or other ministries, but it should not replace giving to your local church. The Bible teaches that your primary financial support should go to the place where you receive spiritual teaching. Other giving should come in addition to that.
The Overview
The Bible places strong emphasis on supporting the local church, especially where you receive spiritual guidance and teaching. Passages like 1 Corinthians 9 and Galatians 6:6 explain that those who provide spiritual care should be supported materially. This means your primary giving should go to your church, where you are being taught and nurtured in your faith.
At the same time, giving to other causes—such as helping family members or supporting ministries—is not wrong. In fact, generosity toward others is encouraged throughout Scripture. Supporting a parent, especially one in need or involved in ministry, can be a meaningful and honorable act.
However, the issue arises when that giving replaces your responsibility to your local church. The biblical pattern is one of priority: first support the church that feeds you spiritually, and then give beyond that as you are able. This creates balance and ensures that both your church and other ministries are supported appropriately.
Ultimately, giving is about honoring God and stewarding what He has provided. When done with the right priorities—supporting your church first and then giving generously elsewhere—it reflects both obedience and a heart of generosity.
Key Takeaways
- Support Your Local Church First
It is the primary place of spiritual nourishment. - Giving to Family or Ministries Is Good
Helping others is encouraged and meaningful. - Priority Matters
Other giving should not replace church giving. - Biblical Basis for Giving
Scripture teaches supporting those who teach you spiritually. - Generosity Should Be Balanced
Give both to your church and to other worthy causes.
Transcript
[00:00:00 – 00:01:21] Let’s talk to Jonathan. You’re on the air with Mike Fabarz. How can I help? Jonathan, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Can you hear me? I can. What’s your question today? Okay. My question is on uh Deuteronomy 14:28. And uh my question is about my tithe. You see, uh, I give some some part to my mother. She she doesn’t work. She has her own ministry. And and, um, sometimes I feel like the church, you know, the church, I don’t know, they’ve been putting a little bit of conviction
[00:00:42 – 00:01:45] that I shouldn’t be given in, but she doesn’t work. She does has her own ministry online. And, uh, well, what’s your input on that, Pastor Mike? Well, the Bible’s pretty clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 that uh we ought to be giving. If you have your radio there or whatever sound you’ve got coming, if you could, Jonathan, just turn that down a little bit. That would help us. Uh but wherever you are receiving your spiritual direction, your spiritual teaching, uh your pastors at
[00:01:14 – 00:02:16] your local church, that ought to be the first place that you give the most generously and the most consistently. And uh I say that because that’s the way the Bible puts it. Just like a soldier would never serve at his own expense. And just like a farmer uh wouldn’t uh do all of this work and not receive some portion of the crop. So someone who sws spiritual things in your life, they should be reaping material things. That’s what keeps them going and being able to provide that. So all the other
[00:01:45 – 00:02:36] ministries that I support has to come secondarily to my own church. So, I’d say, Jonathan, your giving needs to be first and foremost to your local church and then secondarily to any ministry. Even if it’s your brother, your mom, your sister, your kid. Uh, that’s a second tier giving. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t give. I’m saying you should give. But it needs to be both. And you ought to be giving to your church and to the pastors that oversee your spiritual life and give you feeding
[00:02:10 – 00:03:04] on Sunday mornings. And then you can support beyond that radio ministries and radio stations and missionaries and other lands. Feel free to give as much as you can in various places and still pay your bills. God will honor that and will continue to shovel things, I think, in your direction to be generous to others. Not to en enrich yourself, but to be a blessing to other people. So, if you’re giving to your mom’s ministry, some online ministry that she’s doing without giving to your church, then I’d
[00:02:37 – 00:03:22] say that’s a problem because according to Galatians 6:6, you ought to be giving to your teachers that are teaching you the word of God in your local church. and that’s the primary and foremost and then beyond that then support your mom and that’s great if she’s doing good work uh give to your mom but it’s uh it can’t be in the place of giving to your local church did that help Jonathan
