January 10, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Protestants have been donating an increasingly big share of their income to their churches in recent years, according to a new report.
An analysis of 29 Protestant denominations shows that in 1999, the latest year for which data are available, church members gave an average of $597, in inflation-adjusted 1996 dollars. That represents 2.6 percent of church members’ after-tax income, the highest share of income contributed since 1986.
The report, published by Empty Tomb, an Illinois religious, research, and social-services organization, is based on data on giving by some 30 million Protestant church members, reported annually by 100,000 congregations to the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
The report includes data from 1968 through 1999. It examines two types of gifts included in total contributions: gifts to support missions, education, and social services, and gifts that go toward meeting a congregation’s own financial needs, such as building maintenance and salaries.
Despite the recent increases in church giving, total donations as a percentage of income have declined over the three-decade period, the report says, from a high of 3.1 percent in 1968. And giving to external church activities has fallen from nearly 0.7 percent of total income in 1968 to 0.4 percent in 1999.
Most Popular Cause
In a separate survey, Empty Tomb sought to identify a single cause around which Christians could rally more support for charitable activities outside the church.
A popular cause, the report says, is the attempt to reduce child mortality worldwide.
According to the group’s survey of the leaders of 81 Protestant denominations, 66 respondents said that Christians ought to increase contributions to their churches to help sponsor efforts “to stop the millions of annual preventable global child deaths.”
Copies of the report, “The State of Church Giving Through 1999,” are available for $26 each, plus $3.50 shipping, from Empty Tomb, 301 North Fourth Street, P.O. Box 2404, Champaign, Ill. 61825-2404; (217) 356-9519.
For a summary of the report, see the organization’s Web site at http://www.emptytomb.org.
