Shaun Groves
Relevant Magazine apparently says…
“If Christians had given the traditional 10 percent tithe of their income to their churches in 2004, instead of the 2.56 percent that they actually gave, there would have been an additional $164 billion available, according to a report released in October called “The State of Church Giving through 2004.” If the churches chose to funnel just $70-$80 billion of that additional income to missions and humanitarian works, the basic needs of every person on the globe would be provided.”
I don’t have a Relevant subscription. They actually refuse to deliver it to a house where a mini-van lives. So I haven’t read the article this was excerpted from. Can someone tell me where and how “The State of Church Giving through 2004” got its numbers?
I’m not poo-pooing this study or its idealism. I’m an idealist. Jesus was an idealist. I’m seriously wondering how this research was done – because, if accurate, it was truly a remarkable endeavor to get such information from every corner of the globe and I’d love to know how they did it. And I’m curious about how this paragraph was used by Relevant Magazine. What was the context? Was this study quoted to convince us that meeting a physical need through our giving will end neediness permanently or was it quoted to point out our collective power and inspire us to wield it?
Regardless, very interesting numbers. I hope they’re true. I’d like to learn more. Got info?
euphrony says:
As with all research that “speaks” for an entire population’s habits, I’m sure this one relies heavily on statistical sampling and extrapolation to come up with the given numbers. Probably also had some reporting from the IRS to come up with this.
What perhaps strikes me, personally, as the biggest omission in this brief quote is taking into account what Christians give outside their church. I give a hearty portion to my local congregation, but not 10%. I give significantly more to other areas – children’s homes and adoption agencies, shelters and food providers, disease research, the guy on the street, the family short on cash due to prolonged illness. I give at my church to support our local meeting and the community and global outreach we work in. I give to all these others to be personally involved (both monitarily and physically); otherwise I feel like I’m saying the equivalent of “I gave at the office.”
Were this sort of giving from Christians taken into account, I think the numbers listed would likely be very different.
Cali Amy says:
Wow, that’s amazing. And while a nice sentiment, how in the world would we organize such a thing? And how many churches give such a large percentage of their budgets to humanitarian work? And how come missions is put in with that?
Brant says:
Shaun—Haven’t seen it, but confident they’re drawing on figures from John and Sylvia Ronsvalle of emptytomb, inc.
They’re the top researchers on church giving patterns. I happen to know them, because they’re from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I volunteered a lot with empty tomb.
Their figures are rock-solid, and quoted in NYTimes and other mainstream outlets.
Interesting q’s for me: If American churches got quadruple the tithe money, how much difference do you think it would make? Quadruple the converts? Alleviation of hunger and disease in Africa? Bigger, nicer building programs and more staffing?
Shaun Groves says:
You’re right, Brant. I actually posted these questions because I didn’t think I’d have time to find the answers on my own today. And because I think I’ve got some really well-connected readers I can count on when I’m too lazy to figure stuff out on my own. Turns out I was wrong on the first account (I found empty tomb) and right on the second (you knew about them too.)
Here’s the link, for anybody interested in learning more: http://www.emptytomb.org/research.html
I haven’t had time to read it, but at least I know where it lives.
Alexis says:
I was thinking along the same lines as Brant… if churches got more money, they’d build bigger better churches. That is so sad to me, considering my life (dedicated to Compassion and a future in Missions)
Amanda says:
To me, my tithe to the church is a part of the way I worship, it’s a time of physically setting aside my first fruits to bring to God on Sunday…personally it’s a privledge. I think those figures speak to the many “christians” out there who are so wrapped up in themselves and in their “stuff” that they loose sight of their dependency upon God and don’t recognize the importance of tithing to the church. I don’t have much money…I live from paycheck to paycheck and it is a TREMENDOUS sacrifice to give my tithe to the church, but it is a rich blessing for me.
I also think these figures are an average of two extremes…those who give VERY generously and those that don’t give at all. What these figures tell me is that there is certainly a larger percentage of those that don’t give…So my question not so much why aren’t people giving MORE, but why are so many people not giving at all?