This week I'm sharing some data I've read regarding the visible church in the United States. Yesterday I shared some information about church attendance, and today I'm sharing some data regarding financial giving among churches.
Let's talk about money - (Click here if you'd like to listen to a fantastic trio from Canton Ohio sing about money)
Financial giving
As we saw yesterday, attendance within the U.S. visible church is down, and that is a trend that isn't simply due to Covid-19 and the various issues related to all things 2020. The trend of declining attendance has been one that has become more acute over the last decade, but there has been a longer persistent decline in church attendance since the late 1990s.
According to Barna's research from in the United States during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the average giving per person to religious non-profits was $1377 in 1998 and $886 in 2000. (Click here to read the full barna research) In 2021 the number is relatively the same at $884 (click here to read the 2021 report from Enterpiseappstoday).
The following list of bulletpoints come from nonprofitsource (click here to view full source):
49% of all church giving transactions are made with a card.
8/10 people who give to churches have zero credit debt.
60% are willing to give to their church digitally.
Tithers make up only 10-25 percent of a normal congregation.
Churches that accept tithing online increase overall donations by 32%.
Only 5% tithe, and 80% of Americans only give 2% of their income.
Christians are giving at 2.5% of income; during the Great Depression it was 3.3%.
Only 3-5% of Americans who give to their local church do so through regular tithing.
When surveyed, 17% of Americans state that they regularly tithe.
For families making $75k+, 1% of them gave at least 10% in tithing.
The average giving by adults who attend US Protestant churches is about $17 a week.
37% of regular church attendees and Evangelicals don’t give money to church.
17% of American families have reduced the amount that they give to their local church.
7% of church goers have dropped regular giving by 20% or more.
About 10 million tithers in the US donate $50 billion yearly to church & non-profits.
77% of those who tithe give 11%–20% or more of their income, far more than the baseline of 10%.
7 out of 10 tithers do so based on their gross and not their net income.
One thing to note in much of this research into financial giving is to note how financial donations to
religious organizations can be simultaneously steady and rocky. We noted above how at the turn of the
century there was a drastic shift in financial giving from 1998 to 2000. Yet when we compare the numbers
from 2000 to roughly the present day, the total average giving per person was only a few dollars different.
Scott McConnell, who works as executive director of LifeWay Research had this to say:
“The reality is that funding for charities is anything but stable. When a donor adds a charity, it can
The pandemic did indeed have an impact, but it was roughly similar to the massive shift in giving from
1998 to 2000 (at least according to average giving statistics). Consider this report from a CDF Capital
the study, which found that churches "experienced an average decline of 29% in tithing at the start of the
This would seem consistent with the data on the feelings of U.S. based protestant pastors conducted by
LifeWay Research over the last decade.
When asked how is the current economy impacting their church 37% of pastors responded negatively,
while 49% said the current economy was of no impact. Consider the stark contrast from 2009 when
80% of pastors felt the economy was negatively impacting their church. While things are "bad" and
may feel bad at the moment, things are maybe only beginning to hurt in ways similar to the late 2000s.
According to the Barna groups research from the late 2000s "In the immediate aftermath of the economic
crisis in late 2008, two out of 10 Americans (20%) had reduced their giving to a church or religious
A real head-scratcher
Today's data may seem like a head-scratcher compared to yesterday's post. Yesterday it was pretty straightforward.
All the data pointed towards fewer people attending churches in the United States over a long, multi-decade
downward trend. Today, there seem to be patches of data that show giving is down presently, but also that
giving is relatively steady compared to other periods in the last 25 years. What is going on here?
I think Barna's research gives a great quote to help us make sense of the data today:
"The donors most likely to reduce church-related giving were Boomers, lower income households,
Northeastern residents, and those who identify themselves as Christians but are only moderately involved
What we've seen in the data from yesterday is that people are attending church less. While this might make us
think giving overall is therefore worse, we are forgetting one of the basic principles behind human generosity.
As Scott McConnell from LifeWay Research says:
“The question is, where will churchgoers give this year? The answer lies in having a personal
People give to things that they witness and experience as trustworthy, impactful, noble, and beneficial. At
least one way to read the data on financial giving is to see it as an outliner and counter-intuitive thing. Church
attendance is down, yet giving has somehow remained relatively close to pre-Covid levels. Perhaps the
people who have stuck around, have seen the benefit, and noble impact the church can have in the direst of life's crises. Perhaps another takeaway is that the people who left were not the biggest givers to begin
with. Still another takeaway is that perhaps some who have begun attending and giving to churches
in the midst of the last few years are contributing to roughly similar levels as the people who left. Still
another takeaway may be that people have found other causes they feel more connected to as they give
generously. This is a growing trend as crowdfunding statistics for noble causes like medical expenses
is a relatively newer statistic that has it's own associated research but may "split" giving among
religious charitable donors.
One thing I have tried to do in my own congregation is to build trust within my own congregation regarding
financial practices and accountability. I have a few practices of my own serving as a pastor. I have no access
to any church-related bank accounts, ministry-related funds, or donation/collection storage. I don't collect
tithes or personally have any contact with finances of the church. My knowledge of the church's finances
is only on a need-to-know basis as available to the entire church through regular financial updates provided
by our financial oversight board. I don't do this out of some superstitious reason or "hyper" spiritualized
view of myself or "de-spiritualized" sense of money. I simply believe that in my local congregation,
based on it's history, previous ups and downs, and current situation, it's best for me to have as little interaction
with finances as possible.
Another thing I've tried to do in my local congregation is thank and build up the church. Because I don't know
who is giving in our church, I can genuinely serve everyone in the congregation with an impartial spirit,
regardless of their financial contributions to the church. I'm free from any sort of temptation on my time
in service and ministry with obligation to X person or X family because they are a big giver in the church.
When I look out on Sunday morning, I see a church filled with people who are all contributing. That's very
helpful to me as a servant of the Word.
Lastly, when conversations come up about finances, I'm continually in awe of the generosity of the church.
We've had ups and downs in our church, just as many of these trends show, and yet despite many changes
over the last decade, the people who are faithful, active members of the church after Covid-19 are the
ones who are sustaining and pushing forward the ongoing and future ministries of the church. These people
have been through many excruciating experiences together, and it's an honor to serve Christ's people who
persevere and remain faithful in the midst of life's most difficult challenges.
There are lots of potentialities that could all be true in various circumstances in each of our communities.
One thing that is true throughout all of history, regardless of borders, boundaries, pandemics, or trends,
the covenant-keeping God of the Bible provides and protects his people even in the direst and most uncertain
circumstances.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or
spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What
shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)
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