“Most American Christians are pretty stingy,” sociologist Michael O. Emerson said recently. An example: at least one out of five American Christians gives nothing, “not a dollar, not a quarter in the offering plate.”
That’s among the findings that he and colleague Christian Smith found in researching their book, Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money (Oxford University Press, 2008). And results such as those pose particular challenges for a denomination such as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is confronting the ongoing slide of members; has been forced by finances to repeatedly cut the size of its national staff and its programming; and is trying to provide hope for financially-limping middle governing bodies and congregations struggling to do ministry that matters.
The PC(USA) is once again trying to raise new money for mission – emphasizing world mission, which has a natural base of support, and trying new approaches of direct solicitation from the national level to people in the pews. The denomination will hold its second World Mission Challenge – in which 40 international mission co-workers will visit more than 150 presbyteries from Sept. 25 thru Oct. 18, telling about their work and their challenges, and hoping to build financial support.
Some congregations are investigating ways to combine stewardship with technology. Many Americans, for example, are accustomed to using debit cards and credit cards and would rather do that than carry a checkbook or cash to put in the offering plate. Zane Buxton, executive of the Synod of the Rocky Mountains, said during Emerson’s presentation at the Big Tent gathering that his 35-year-old daughter “doesn’t use cash for anything.”
So some congregations have installed ATMs in church buildings or machines that allow users to swipe their credit cards – giving them a receipt to keep for tax purposes. Some allow for electronic transfers of funds – money automatically taken from bank accounts and sent to the church, which allows for regular giving even when folks are traveling and miss church.
And that led, during Emerson’s presentation, to discussions of the theological ramifications of giving. Some congregations, wanting to emphasize the physical act of giving, allow electronic giving – but also place pledge cards in the pew racks that people who’ve given electronically can fill out, and drop into the collection plate.
That way, they “keep the tradition of passing the plate,” Emerson said, while also bringing the means of giving into line with what folks accustomed to cashless transactions may prefer.
But one bottom line of the Passing the Plate research is that, regardless of the mechanism for giving, many Christians give minimally. As a result, the amount that’s available for ministry and mission is much lower – billions of dollars lower – than it theoretically could be. As they write in the book: “The up-side potential for good in U.S. Christian giving is immense, almost unimaginable. If American Christians were to give from their income generously – not lavishly, mind you, only generously – they could transform the world, starting right away.”
Emerson is a professor of sociology and director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University in Houston. His co-author, Christian Smith, is a professor of sociology at Notre Dame University and director of the university’s Center for the Sociology of Religion and Society. Patricia Snell, programs and research specialist for the Center for the Sociology of Religion and Society, also contributed to the book.
Smith and Emerson, collaborators on previous research involving American evangelicals and race, write in this book about patterns in Americans’ giving to churches – based on analyzing available data, plus conducting a survey and interviews of their own. Among their findings:
• About one in five who call themselves Christians give no money at all to churches. That includes about 19 percent of Protestants and 28 percent of Catholics.
• A relatively small number of people give very generously. Close to 60 percent of all the money given to churches comes from 5 percent of American Christians. But the low givers – the bottom half – collectively give only about 1 percent of the total. “A small group of truly generous Christian givers,” the authors write in Passing the Plate, “are essentially ‘covering’ for the vast majority of Christians who give nothing or quite little.”
• The most generous givers often are those with the lowest incomes. Those making less than $25,000 a year tend to give a greater percentage of their income than do those with the highest incomes. “The more money people have,” Emerson said, “the smaller percentage they’ll give.”
• Protestants, on average, give 1.8 percent of their after-tax income to church. Mormons give 5.2 percent. Pentecostals are more likely to give at higher levels; Jehovah’s Witnesses more likely to give less. Evangelicals tend to be a little more generous – only one in 10 said they give nothing. But only about one in four evangelicals tithe, and 36 percent report giving less than 2 percent of their income.
• If American Christians were serious about giving more, the impact could be stunning. For example, if committed Christians (meaning regular church attenders or those who describe themselves as “strong” or “very strong” Christians) tithed, that would provide an extra $46 billion a year, the book concludes. With that, “we could basically end poverty,” eliminate diseases such as malaria, feed and house and clothe the world’s refugees, provide five million microloans, “and have a lot left over,” Emerson said.
• As the book puts it: “Reasonably generous financial giving of ordinary American Christians would generate staggering amounts of money that could literally change the world.”
So why don’t Christians give more? Emerson cites a number of reasons.
• Some congregations don’t do a good job of asking. Some pastors are uncomfortable talking about money – and may not have a particularly strong track record of giving themselves.
• Voluntary giving takes place within a consumer-oriented culture that sends the message, essentially, that our money is ours to spend however we choose, Emerson said. With incessant advertising, people end up spending a lot – some necessary, some less so – on what the book describes as “institutionalized mass consumerism.” Many people feel locked in and unable to give more to church because such big chunks of their income are going to cover monthly costs – particularly rents or mortgages and car payments.
• Many feel the church has no right to compel people to give money. Asked by the researchers what they would do if their church started to require tithing, 8 percent said they would start to tithe. About 30 percent said they’d attend the same church, would give some but not tithe. About four in 10 said they’d pick a different church. And one in five said, “I’d drop out of church altogether” if that demand were made.
• Many Christians don’t think with any depth about the theological basis for giving. And their process of giving tends to be occasional and situational (think: the folks fumbling through their purses and pockets as the plate is being passed), rather than structured, intentional, and routine.
What suggestions do the researchers have for getting Christians to give more money – and to give more thoughtfully? Emerson offered a bunch.
• Foster a “live the vision” culture, not a “pay the bills” culture, he said. In other words, “we have a vision, we have purpose, we’re going somewhere and we have to have money to get there.”
• Offer personal testimonies about where the money will go, and why it matters if people do give more. “It’s far better to have a person from your congregation simply stand up and say, ‘I started tithing three years ago and here’s what’s happened – all of a sudden I have more money or I feel so blessed,’” Emerson said. “As human beings, we’re connected to stories and we’re connected to individuals.”
* Spend as much time telling people how their money is being used as asking for donations. People respond, “when they see their money is doing good.”
• Create discussion or accountability groups, where people can talk with each other about their struggles with deciding how much to give or explain why they give.
• Talk about the idea of “give, then live.” In other words, “give first, then let’s figure out how to live on what’s remaining.” Talk about what it means to intentionally live on less.
• Give a higher percentage of the church budget to ministries outside the local congregation. People get excited, Emerson said, about making a difference in the bigger world.
• Teach parents how to teach their children about stewardship. The most generous givers were taught to do that as children – it becomes part of how they see the world.
• Talk openly about how the consumer-driven culture is at odds with the world of faith. Talk about the power of advertising to lure people to spend more than they need.
• “Be prepared to lose some members.” When congregations begin to raise their expectations about giving, some will open their wallets, Emerson said. Some will walk away.
