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Available now: The
State of Church Giving through 2005 (Seventeenth edition, October 2007)
- Missions giving in 34 denominations, 2003-2005
- Giving and membership trends through
2005
- Why and how much do Americans give?
- "Abolition of the Institutional Enslavement of Overseas Missions," including Signs of Hope
Figures and tables from The
State of Church Giving through 2005 |
| •
Figure 1: U.S. Per Capita Income/Per
Member Giving as a Percent of Income, 1916-2005 |
| •
Figure 2: Giving as a Percent of
Income and Membership as a Percent of U.S. Population, 1968-2005 |
| •
Table 1: Per Member Giving as
a Percentage of Income, 1968-2005 |
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Lifestyle |
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Mobilizing the Church |
| • National Church Leaders Response Form |
|
A mailing to 202 denominations resulted
in a 41% return rate for those denominations successfully contacted. The statement
posed read, "Church members in the United States should increase giving through
their churches in an effort to stop the millions of annual preventable global
child deaths in Jesus' name." Of those responding, 81% said yes, 6% said no, and
14% did not choose yes or no. The detailed text
from The State of Church Giving through 1999 (published 2001) is available. The full list
of the national leaders who received the mailing is available by denomination
or by zip code. In the
table, "Y" equals a "Yes" response. "N" equals a "No" response. "O" equals a response
that was "Neither" Yes or No. Comments written by the respondents are provided
as well. |
• Systems
Analysis |
|
Systems
and Subsystems Analysis: A Case Study, an excerpt from The State of Church
Giving through 1998 (published 2000), considers denominational structures
that work against increased mission giving, including a case study of The United
Methodist Church. [PDF] |
• Two
Solutions |
|
Two
Solutions for the Vacuum of Leadership in the Church in the U.S., an excerpt
from The State of Church Giving through 2000 (published 2002), offers two
strategies to encourage church members to improve giving in order to impact global
need in Jesus' name. [PDF] |
• Needs
Analysis |
|
Reversing
the Decline in Benevolences Giving: A Country-by-Country Needs Analysis, an
excerpt from The State of Church Giving through 2001 (published 2003),
describes the need for a country-by-country needs analysis with a reference point
of stopping, in Jesus' name, global child deaths. [PDF] |
• Priorities and Consequences |
|
Giving Trends and
the Church’s Priorities, an excerpt from The State of Church Giving through 2003
(published 2005), explores national and local church priorities; reviews Yearbook
of American and Canadian Churches editions from 1916 through 1982 for historical
perspective; discusses possible social consequences of current giving trends; and
offers recommendations to encourage the church’s commitment to the Great Commission
in the context of the Great Commandment. [PDF] |
• Potential |
|
The
Potential of the Church, chapter 6 from The State of Church Giving through
2002 (published 2004), explores potential Christian missions giving, the positive
impact such giving could have, and possible reasons why Christians do not give
more.
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Why Is There
No Creative Leadership? |
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Are There
Signs of Hope? |
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The Church
of Thyratira and the Church of Laodicea |
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• |
The Chicago
Archdiocese and Tithing: $7 billion |
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• |
What Is Joe
Christian Supposed to Do? |
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• |
A Korean Church
That Gives 60% To Missions |
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The
Potential of the Church, chapter 6 from The State of Church Giving through
2003 (published 2005), presents a survey of 28 Protestant denominations’
overseas missions giving, and a historical review of missions support.
| |
• |
Per Capita Giving to International Missions |
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• |
Denominational Overseas
Missions Income, 1916-1927 |
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• |
Denominational
Overseas Missions Income, 1924-25 and 2003 |
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Changes
in Denominational Priorities |
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Potential for
Overseas Missions Funding |
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• |
Potential
Giving at 10% of Income in 2003 |
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• |
Positive
consequences of Increased Overseas Missions Giving |
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Can
Congregations Allocate More to Missions? |
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Two
Maryland Congregations Focus on Africa |
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• |
Antioch
Presbyterian Church, Chonju, South Korea |
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Re-Imagining
Missions |
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Will
the Potential Be Realized? |
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Perspectives on Faith and Money |
| The following papers consider various
aspects of the spiritual implications of faith and money. The documents are provided
in PDF format [PDF] or html [html] as noted. A link to download the free software
to read PDF is available on this site under "Printing
Helps." |
| • Theory,
Giving |
|
A
Unified Theory of Giving and Membership, an excerpt taken from The State
of Church Giving through 1993 (published 1995), considers five denominations
in terms of changes in membership compared to per member giving to missions. [PDF] |
| • Theology,
Scripture |
| |
The
Theological Implications of Church Member Giving an excerpt taken from The
State of Church Giving through 1995 (published 1997), considers writings by
Luther, Calvin and Bonhoeffer, as well as Scripture, on the implications of discipleship
and grace. [html] |
| • Theology,
Philosophy |
| |
A Trilogy
of Papers: A Framework for Considering the Existence of God and the Universe,
includes an introduction and three papers (click
for more detailed descriptions). The papers include: |
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| • Theology,
Technology |
| |
"Excerpt
from Chapter 5: Evaluation of the Church in the U.S.A." was written
in 1982 as part of a typescript that was later published sans this chapter as The Hidden Billions: The Potential of the Church in the U.S.A. This chapter
explores the relationship between the level of spiritual commitment and a willingness
to accept technology similar to that described in Revelation as the mark of the
beast. [html] |
| • Theology,
Technology Update |
| |
Charagma
Watch, (July 22, 2003) An Annotated Update of "Evaluation of the Church in the
U.S.A." (1982, 1983) is a document that reviews technological developments
and the possible relationship to the Mark of the Beast as described in Revelation.
[html] |
| • Endowments
Analysis |
| |
The
Future of Congregational Giving: The Need for Creative Church Policy, an excerpt
from The State of Church Giving through 1997 (published 1999), develops
a mathematical model to compare the efficiency of distribution through endowments
with immediate distribution to address global need. [PDF] |
| • Catholic
Giving |
| |
An
Exploration of Roman Catholic Giving Patterns, an excerpt from The State
of Church Giving through 1993 (published 1995), develops a model that takes
into account three factors that are different between Catholic and Protestant
organizational structures and that could produce different patterns of giving.
[html] |
| • Discipleship |
| |
A
Profile of the Lukewarm Church Member is an excerpt from a presentation that
presents telltale signs of the Christian who is neither hot nor cold. [PDF] |
| • Discipleship |
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A
Deleted Analysis of the Church in America. [html] |
| • Lifestyle |
| |
Can
Religion Influence the Middle Class?, an excerpt from The State of Church
Giving through 1996 (published 1998) asks if religion is having an impact on
the values and ethics of middle class American church members. [html] |
| • Recession
|
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Church
Member Giving and Recession Years, 1968-2005, an update of an earlier report, considers
church member giving in the six recessions that occurred in the 1968-2005 period. The analysis
found that church member giving declined in three recessions and increased in three during
the 1968-2005 period. It may be observed that church member giving does not necessarily decline
in a recession. |
| |
Church
Member Giving in Recession Years: 1970, 1974, 1980, 1982, and 1990 an excerpt
from The State of Church Giving through 1990 (published 1992), compares
church member giving in first-year recession years and finds no clear pattern
of decline or increase. [html] |
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Philanthropy Measurement |
• Consumer
Expenditure Survey Analysis |
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| • |
Analysis
of U.S. Department of Commerce,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Consumer Expenditure Survey 2004 Data
of Americans' Giving [html] reviews giving by categories: |
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Age, Region, Income
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Charities and other organizations; churches,
religious organizations; educational institutions |
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• Disparity in
Reporting of Philanthropy |
|
Chapter 7 of The State of Church Giving through
2003 (published October 2005), reviews national media reporting of philanthropy
estimates in the United States, and provides recommendations to improve both reporting
and estimates. [PDF] The chapter includes: |
|
| • |
Recommendation:
"Reports of philanthropic giving need to be adjusted by population and income, as are
other national statistics. The Associated Press told the American public that a
fundraising industry estimate of giving rose 5.0% in 2004, while the percent
change in the industry estimate of individual giving, when adjusted for
population and income, was actually -1.6%" (p. 71) |
| • |
"The Key
Role Played by the Associated Press" (p. 76-77). |
| • |
"Table
and Chart regarding the Disparity between Associated Press Reports on Aggregate
Charitable Giving Levels, and Giving Adjusted for Population and Income" (pp.
78-81). |
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"Detail for 2005
regarding the Associated Press Headline and Lead Sentence Focus on Aggregate Charitable
Giving Data, Unadjusted for Population and Income" (pp. 81-89). |
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• Update of Disparity in Reporting of Philanthropy |
|
Chapter 7 of The State of Church Giving through
2004 (published October 2006), includes an update through 2005 of
national media reporting of philanthropy measurement. The chapter also
includes the Consumer Expenditure Survey 2004 Data of Americans' Giving. [PDF] |
• Report
Card on the Measurement of Philanthropy |
|
Chapter
7 of The State of Church Giving through 2002 (published October 2004),
reviews various national measurement of philanthropy efforts, giving the combined
efforts an "F." [PDF] |
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Tidbits |
| The following articles
are brief reflections by John and Sylvia Ronsvalle from
empty tomb, inc.'s Opportunities Newsletter. |
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