The Missional Councils of Fellowships oversee the distribution of the Community Tithe at Community Tithe Feasts sponsored in the name of the Fellowship. The Community Tithe is the biblical and historic practice of the people of God whereby tithers identify members of their local community who, for no fault of their own, have experienced an incapacitating crisis (e.g., a natural disaster, death of a breadwinner, social injustice, etc.) threatening them with imminent financial ruin unless they receive an infusion of bridge capital to literally buy them time to be restored to productivity once again. In the Old Covenant era the Community Tithe was paid every third year to those Levites, strangers, fatherless, or widows who had become unable to supply for their own needs (Deut. 14:27-29; Amos 4:4). While loans to the poor were the primary means of taking care of the poor (Lev. 25:35-38; Deut. 15:1-11) the purpose of the Community Tithe was different; its purpose being to provide a kind of social safety net preventing those in a tither's own local community who had lost their primary means of financial support from descending into chronic poverty. Since the Community Tithe during its administration in the time of Old Covenant Israel was distributed to recipients only once every third year instead of every year or even every month, it did not promote debilitating welfare dependency, but rather encouraged and enabled those who received this tithe to exercise personal responsibility to get back up on their feet.
Also see Community Tithe Feasts, Festival Tithe, Missional Councils, Tithe, and Vocational Tithe.