Different churches employ different approaches to tithing nowadays, a custom that dates back to the Old Testament in the Bible when people offered God a part of their livelihood or income to give Him thanks.
However, a church in the US state of Georgia seems to take tithing even more seriously than the others when it kicked out a 92-year-old woman from its congregation for her failure to make "constant and consistent financial and physical participation" to the church.
Josephine King has been attending the First African Baptist Church in Bainsbridge for 50 years already, according to The Christian Post. Recently, to her utter surprise, she received a letter signed by the church's Senior Pastor Derrick Mike saying she is "no longer considered a member" of the church.
Her nephew, Gerald Simmons, denounced the way the church treated his aunt, saying it is wrong for the church to turn its back on somebody simply because he or she failed to give tithes.
"You shouldn't chase the individuals down," Simmons told WALB-TV. "You shouldn't do that. If that's the case, you're money hungry."
He said his aunt is unable to make tithes and at times can't attend church service because she is not feeling well. He said the church should have considered her condition before it made its decision to kick her out.
"You have to have money to make these churches run, but it's not about money," Simmons said. "It's about God. You have to put God first."
When the First African Baptist Church was sought for comment, its pastors could not be reached.
This was actually not the first time a member was kicked out from this church for not tithing. Just last month, a young woman from Florida named Candace Peterson faced the same issue after she graduated from high school and failed to pay her monthly tithe to the church.
She received a letter from Greater Mount Moriah Primitive Baptist Church in Tampa, saying that she would be removed from its membership if she did not pay her $50 monthly dues. She aired out her frustrations on Facebook and wrote: "What Church does this ... why would I want to go to a church that everybody talks about everybody. ... I just haven't been back to that church. ... If I'm such a member why no one called to check on me."
