An Inconvenient Truth

Matt Vande Bunte of the Religion News Service published a convicting article last week calling the church to take a long, hard look at our latest financial situation. Tithing is on the decline for the fourth straight year, down 18 percent from 1968. An annual study of church giving "theorizes U.S. Christians could evangelize the world, stop daily deaths of 29,000 children younger than 5 worldwide, provide elementary education across the globe and tackle domestic poverty - and have $150 billion left over annually -- if church members tithed a full 10 precent of their income." Instead the study concluded that the average American spends almost four times as much on entertainment than church giving. The leader of the study points to poor vision and lack of good church leadership as reasons for the problem. The article was a reminder of the responsibility we have as Christians to give faithfully, and how detrimental it has been to the world when we have failed to do so.

Study says church giving lacks external focus

By Matt Vande Bunte
Religion News Service
Published January 8, 2007

An annual study of church giving shows most offerings
go to activities and needs within local congregations,
and activities focused beyond the congregations
increasingly go unfunded as donations decline.

The authors, Sylvia and John Ronsvalle of Champaign, Ill.-based empty tomb inc., contend U.S. Christianity
is becoming a ``maintenance organization'' that soon
will have zero financial capacity for external
ministry if the trends continue.

The numbers lay guilt at the feet of the worshippers
kneeling in the pews and also challenge church leaders
to motivate their parishioners toward a financial
generosity that could have Earth-changing effects.

``We're not doing the good that we can do,'' said
Sylvia Ronsvalle, co-author of ``The State of Church
Giving Through 2004: Will We Will?'' ``The portion of
income going to benevolences has been shrinking
steadily.''

The Ronsvalles have published 16 annual editions of
the study. The most recent report, which uses
published financial data from the Yearbook of American
and Canadian Churches as well as direct correspondence
with denominations, contains figures for 2004, the
latest numbers available.

The study finds that while donations to churches have
increased 78 percent in real dollars since 1968,
income has risen 116 percent over the same period.

The average U.S. congregation member gave 2.56 percent
of personal income to the church in 2004, a decline
for the fourth straight year. That's down 18 percent
from 1968, and below giving levels from the early
1930s at the height of the Depression.

``It is clearly not an issue of capability. The issue
is: Will we choose to do what we know we should be
doing?'' Ronsvalle said.

As financial contributions to U.S. churches founder,
more of the available funds are taken up by building
projects and staff salaries, according to the study.

The percentage of the average church member's income
devoted to internal congregational operations was at
2.18 percent in 2004, on par with figures from the
mid-1970s.

But the amount used for causes outside the
congregation -- called benevolences -- has declined to
0.38 percent, about one-third of a penny for every
dollar of income. In 1968, 21 percent of the typical
church member's giving went to external ministries; in
2004, that figure was less than 15 percent.

A study of eight members of the National Council of
the Churches found that benevolent efforts have borne
the brunt of the decline in giving, dropping 46
percent since 1968 while congregational funding has
remained stable.

A separate survey of 34 U.S. denominations shows that
churches spent an average of 2.1 cents per dollar of
donations on overseas missions. The Episcopal Church,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian
Church (USA) and United Church of Christ all checked
in at less than a penny.

``These numbers are the thermometer of our choices of
where our hearts really are,'' Ronsvalle said. ``There
is absolutely nothing to prevent us from being
faithful, and we're growing cold.''

The numbers from the Ronsvalle study do not include
donations to disaster relief for 2005's Hurricane
Katrina, for example, or for the bulk of response to
the Asian tsunami in the final week of 2004.

Ronsvalle said people will respond to urgent crises
and will give if they know what their giving is going
to accomplish. But she said the vision emphasized in
churches has ignored benevolence too often in recent
years.

As churchgoers direct most of their money elsewhere --
``maybe simply because there are more things to buy,''
Ronsvalle said -- donations that do make it into the
collection plate are spent on serving the
congregation. And that leaves much of the world out of
the loop, she said.

For example, the study theorizes U.S. Christians could
evangelize the world, stop the daily deaths of 29,000
children younger than 5 worldwide, provide elementary
education across the globe and tackle domestic poverty
-- and have $150 billion left over annually -- if
church members tithed a full 10 percent of their
income.

Per U.S. churchgoer, it would cost 28 cents per day to
cure those global ills. Catholics could foot the bill
on their own for 61 cents per day, or evangelical
Christians for $1.56 per day, according to the study.

Instead, according to the empty tomb analysis of
figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Consumer Expenditures Survey, Americans spend almost
four times as much on entertainment as on church
giving. And 85 percent of the average person's $565
annual gift to churches and religious organizations is
spent internally, according to the study.

``It's not that people aren't generous, but church
leadership are not providing a vision to use our power
for good,'' Ronsvalle said. ``We're using all of our
power for self-gratification.

``(Jesus) is not impressed with buildings. He's
saying, `Feed my sheep.'''

(Matt Vande Bunte writes for The Grand Rapids Press in
Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Comments

[Chuck Huckaby]

I think there are some interesting statistics here. I'm going to include some of them in our next church newsletter.

[john victor]

"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing from the Word of God"(Romans, 10:17)
Dear Brother in Christ,
Greetings from Pakistan.
I am John Victor from Pakistan. I have studied your web site, and I found it the most wonderful site to get right to the True Word of God. I found that all your material is full of knowledge concerning development of religious faith. Living in Pakistan we Christians is to face many obstacles to get the access to the Word of God. Most of the people in Pakistan are not capable to understand the English language. It’s because our national language is Urdu. My suggestion for you is to create your material in my language of Urdu and Punjabi also. It will bring lots of blessings of the Word of God for the Pakistani and Indian Urdu and Punjabi speaking people. For that purpose I as a translator will bring your material into Urdu languages and into Punjabi language as well. Although it will take your low expenses as well, as fund for the Word of God to reach out to the deserving people. As a translator I will take the expenses that will be spending just for the Word. I will be looking for your kind words on this my humble request as soon as possible.
"There is nothing more precious than to read and listen the Word of God into your own language."
Sincerely,
John Victor (Pakistan). Email: johnvictor95@yahoo.com