Where Should the Pastor and the Pastor's Pastor and So On, Pay Their Tithe?
1) Direct Answer
- Every believer pays tithes to the storehouse where he is fed the Word—his own pastor.
- A pastor also pays tithes. He does not keep his own tithe. He sends his tithe to the minister who feeds him the Word, the one who pastors him, or faithfully into the Gospel work through a proven minister.
- The “pastor’s pastor, and so on” simply follows the same order. It stops where a man is actually being fed. Christ is our High Priest; the tithe supports His ministry on earth, not an endless ladder or a headquarters.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” (Malachi 3:10). The tithe goes where the spiritual meat is served.
- “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:6). Tithe follows the one who teaches you.
- “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:13–14). God ordains the ministry to live by the tithe.
- “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine… The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:17–18). The preaching elder is to be supported.
- In the Old Testament pattern the Levites received tithes, and the Levites themselves gave “a tithe of the tithes” unto the Lord’s service (Numbers 18:21–28; Nehemiah 10:37–39). That shows ministers also tithe onward.
- Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1–8). That points to Christ, our High Priest, receiving tithes through His ministry.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Now notice: the tithe is not for buildings, boards, or programs first; it is for the ministry that brings you the Word. Where you eat is where you tithe.
- You see, a pastor is also taught and strengthened by ministry. So he pays his tithe to the one who truly feeds him or places it faithfully into the active Gospel ministry—not back to himself.
- There is no Scripture for a man tithing to himself, nor for sending tithes to an office that does not feed him. The Bible ties tithing to the storehouse and to the one who teaches.
- So the order is simple and consistent: the flock to their pastor; the pastor to the minister who pastors him or the Gospel work that nourishes him; and it all culminates in Christ’s service, not a human chain without end.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Keep it clean and biblical: tithe where you receive the Word. Let the laborer live by the Gospel, and let even the laborer honor God with his own tithe. That’s the order the Bible sets.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
All things are possible to him that believeth
56-0722 §16
And the disciples a-praying and casting out the devil, or trying to. The kid just going right on in the epilepsy. Said, "I told you," said, "the thing of it, it's some kind of a trick. Days of miracles is past." And here stood, maybe, the man, the father of the child, maybe went out and got his pastor. Said, "Pastor, what do you think about these disciples of this fellow called Jesus of Nazareth, and going around here casting out devils, they say." "Aw, it's a telepathy. There's nothing to it." 'Course, Pharisee Jo...
It was not so from the beginning
59-0405A §17
May I say this, not critical, but for making this point. I believe the church has did that, just upon the thoughts: "Oh, He's with us. We don't have to have miracles, and signs, and so forth. We don't have to have divine healing today. We don't have to have the gifts of the Spirit; they're not for this day. Oh, He's with us anyhow." But, my most precious brothers, do you realize we have found out that all of our creeds and churches, we're finding discord and confusion. Something's wrong. And we sometimes think He m...
What is a vision?
56-0408A §44
And so, I couldn't tell Billy and them; I didn't want to tell them. Didn't want to tell my wife, but, oh, I said, "I'll tell them when I get to Arizona." Well, then I said, "I'll wait until I get to the grand old state of Texas, where my mother came from." I said I'd tell them there, and then I got there... I told them as they came into Jeffersonville, Indiana. Well, Billy, he said, "Daddy, better be careful what you're doing. Don't the Bible say, 'Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel?'" I said, "I never said any...
Sirs, we would see Jesus
57-0104 §30
Now, here some time ago on the Ohio River where I live, there's a little boy went out and asked his mother, he said, "Mother, God is so great, could anybody see Him?" She said, "Ask the--your Sunday school teacher." Well, they asked the teacher, and the teacher said, "Ask the pastor." The pastor said, "No, no one can see God." He went up the river to the island, six miles above Jeffersonville. One day he was coming down after a storm, a rainbow come out, and the old fisherman pulling his boat. He looked up at the r...
Letting off pressure
63-0113M §38
And then, when the man wants a place, and found a place, he must be willing to stay there. You don't go out no more. You stay there. Then you're safe while you're there. Oh, what a relief that must have been---to find a place. As soon as you enter the gates, and the gates close behind you, I'd be satisfied. Yes, sir! He must want to stay there---no complaining, walk around and say, "Ah, why did I ever come in here?" Now that's just the way people does today. They say they want to be free from the cares of the world...