Tithing...to Charity?

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church?

Let me know if this is a crazy idea, because currently I'm thinking it's a pretty good one.

As of now, I don't have a church body that I am regularly attending here in Mankato but I do have a full-time job.

Meaning, there's a substantialish sum of money (as in, more than I've ever given before, because I'm making more than I've ever made before) that I want to give to the Lord. But, I don't have a home church. I could just give to my church back in Plymouth, but I don't really want to do that. I want to do something different.

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church? I've been thinking about supporting Christian charities.

Since Christ died and fulfilled the law, Old Testament laws are no longer required of us. Meaning, the "give to the Lord the first 10%" isn't as much a requirement as it is a guideline. We can give 10%, or 15%, or 5%  (or anything in between). The Lord loves a cheerful giver and so when we give, it should be cheerful and not because we're "forced" to do so.

Thinking about the amount that I am going to give, I would be much more cheerful giving to a charity that I really support or giving directly to the hurting and impoverished people. I really want to give, and to help them out, yet when it comes to giving to the church, it's more like something I feel I have to do.

If we're not under this law any more, is it okay to give to a charitable organization instead of a church? How about a missionary? I would say, yes!

Here's a list of some charities that I researched yesterday that I am thinking about sending my first 10-ish percent. (I picked a number that's a little over, but I mostly picked it because it ends in a nice "00").

Feed My Starving Children
Chicken! Veggies! Soy! Rice! FMSC is the classic youth-group field trip. I love this place and I love what they do here. They pack food for Starving Children in Africa (and other places). It's staffed pretty much completely via volunteers and 90% of donations go straight to the food. At 25 cents per meal, my donation could buy an awful lot of meals at a charity that I love.

Baptist World Missions
This organization supports Baptist missionaries.

Christian Relief Fund
I liked this charity as soon as I saw their mission:

I love that it's specifically based around Luke 2:52.

CRF also has the option to sponsor a child for $35/month. I've always wanted to sponsor a child! $35 is well under my alloted amount, so I would be able to write to the child and share the Gospel, while financially supporting this child.  I would also have some extra money available to support CRF or to support a different charity. Or I could support this child and then use my whole "tithe" somewhere else.

Once I really started researching child sponsorship I found 2 other Christian organizations that also involve sponsoring children: World Vision and Compassion International. While they were both very nice, I didn't feel like they emphasized the Gospel as much as CRF does.

Christian Community Action

"In the name of Jesus Christ, Christian Community Action ministers to the poor by providing comprehensive services that bring hope and change lives" 

 It looks like right now the focus of this charity is school supplies, but overall this charity looks very Salvation-Army like. They have a re-sale store and a food pantry.

Compassion International
This also has the opportunity to sponsor children. On their website it shows what each sponsored child will receive. I love that faith is so important to this organization!

As I type, I think it more and more likely that I will be sponsoring a child! In fact, I've actually spent the last hour or so researching the differences between the different sponsorship organizations and trying to pick which one I want to go through. I've also been looking at all the pictures of the children!!

That's all!
If I kept researching, I'm sure I could find COUNTLESS charities that I could donate to, but if I did, I'd have to pick one and I'm not great at making decisions in a timely manner. I deliberate for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. I am my father's daughter, what can I say? ;)

Which one should I pick? Which one would YOU pick?