News
Report: Giving, benevolence spending hit record lows G
iving to U.S. Protestant churches as a percentage of income is at
its lowest level in at least 41 years, according to a report, and congrega- tions are keeping a greater share of those donations for their own needs. Members gave about 2.38 per-
cent of their income to their church, according to “The State of Church Giving through 2009,” a report by Empty Tomb inc., a Christian research agency in Champaign, Ill. Just more than 2 percent of income went toward congregational finances, such as operating costs and building expenses. Only 0.34 percent of income went to what Empty Tomb calls benevolences, such as charities and seminary training beyond the walls of the congregation.
Those are lows, at least going back to the first report in 1968. The report is based on data from mainline and American evangelical congregations. Data was not avail- able for Roman Catholic parishes. At first glance, the lagging econ- omy would appear to be a primary culprit. Edith H. Falk, chair of the Chicago-based Giving USA Founda- tion, indicated that the biggest drops in more than 40 years occurred in 2008 and 2009, as the recession took its greatest toll. The Empty Tomb report also pin-
pointed 2008 as the greatest year- to-year drop. But Sylvia Ronsvalle, its executive vice president and the report’s co-author, said previous research identifies no clear pattern that shows donations dropped during past recessions.
In other words, the recession is only partly to blame, if at all. “What we did find is giving tends not to decline in recession
12 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org 10
years, though it might in fact have declined in years around reces- sions,” she said.
This is the second consecutive
year that Ronsvalle’s report has shown a drop in total contribu- tions. More alarming, she said, is an ongoing decline in benevolence spending. This year’s report represents the
fourth consecutive annual decline in benevolences.
If the percentage of income for benevolences in 2009 had been at the 1968 level, 0.66 percent, U.S. churches would have seen an addi- tional $3.1 billion in benevolence spending.
She cited 16 impoverished
nations—10 of them primarily Christian—that have seen little to no progress in improving child mor- tality rates. If churches were more generous, she said, that might not be the case. “These babies do not have to be dying, and yet nobody is mobilized at a scale that would achieve that solution,” Ronsvalle said.
Ronsvalle went so far as to sug- gest that “if a church is turning inward and valuing the happiness of its members” over service to others, “it is moving on a spectrum toward pagan values.”
The bottom line: U.S. churches
seem to be more concerned with their own needs and desires over those of others. “That’s an offensive question even to raise, but if we are moving in that direction we need to see it now,” she said. “These are alarming trends that need to be evaluated.”
© 2011 Religion News Service
Braille ministry leader dies Karen Hoppe, 65, of Ham Lake, Minn., died Oct. 23 of breast can- cer. Hoppe, a certified braillist, coordinated the ELCA Braille and Tape Ministry for 22 years. She was an active member of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Ham Lake, and an instructor for English as a Second Language.
Reformation ‘flash mobs’ The Evangelical Church in Germany, a federation that includes Lutheran churches, celebrated the anniver- sary of the Reformation (October 31, 1517) with “flash mob” perfor- mances made up of schoolchildren and church groups. They flew paper airplanes with Scripture or other inspirational messages from wher- ever they were at 15:17 (3:17 p.m.) on Oct. 31. Church leaders saw it as a way to use new communication methods to say the church is always reforming.
COURTESY OF STEPHEN DEAL
Caught reading ‘The Lutheran’ Hernan Lopez, pastor of Good
Shepherd Lutheran in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, looks over The Lutheran’s article about the congregation, which is a force for good in a neighborhood surrounded by violence (October, page 33). In the background, parishioners scrape and clean the church’s exterior in preparation for painting—a signal to neighbors that the congregation plans to stay.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52