Tithing and the Church

(Ok...bear with me. Sometimes my blog go south, so you never know what topic I'll have.)
I found the following blog quite interesting. http://bit.ly/5zfKRq Why? It all started with a conversation I had with my Mother a few months ago. My Mother was vocalizing some disappointment in the behavior of the "saints" in the church. We got on the topic of giving. Do churches coerce or guilt people into giving or are were people never meant to give as often as they're asked to? This was a question I asked my Mother. Her response led me to some further information gathering. She said, "When I grew up, we didn't go to church every Sunday? What I mean is, church wasn't held every single week." "It wasn't?" I said. She continued, "No. We went once a month. The churches all had service once a month." Now in my Mother's small Mississippi town, there were 4-5 churches and 3 different denominations. She went on to say, she grew up going to all different churches because whatever church was having service on that particular Sunday, you would just go. So my mother grew up half Baptist and half Catholic. lol
Side note:
The Catholic church my Mother attended was built by my great-great-great Irish grandfather. My Mother never knew she was attending a church her great-great grandfather built. I went to that church (in Natchez, MS) and the architecture was SO ornate it was hard to believe it was made with human hands. When the church staff found out who I was, I was treated like royalty...or an oddity. Not sure which one. Ha!
Back to the topic. My Mother began to explain how church was more people oriented, not program oriented. There were no mega churches, no Pastors in Mercedes Benz's and mansions, no church staff to be paid. Service (no matter the denomination) was about an hour and the rest of the day was spent visiting friends and relatives. Mind you, my parents grew up in the 30's and 40's and Black people congregating in one place was frowned upon, however, on Sundays it was tolerated.
There was no appeal for offering because as my Mother said, "Back then, we ALL were poor." The community usually built the church, the pews and the pulpit voluntarily, from scraps and donations, so there was no mortgage or rent to speak of. The Pastor had a day job or lived off of the offering from the 4 different churches he may Pastor in 2-3 different towns.
So with all that said, are some churches existing beyond what the congregation can afford to give? If so, shame on the church. How can a person comfortably receive spiritual food when they are being shamed into giving. That does NOT make a cheerful giver.
Oh well...just a little side rant.