CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (ABP) — Church members are giving less of their income to churches today than 35 years ago, and even less of those contributions are put to work outside the local congregation, according to a new study.
Giving as a percentage of per capita after-tax income dropped 16 percent — from 3.11 percent to 2.62 percent — among Protestant church members between 1968 and 2002, said empty tomb inc., an Illinois organization that studies congregational giving patterns.
But church-based giving to ministries beyond the local congregation dropped even more — 41 percent — from 0.66 percent to 0.38 percent during the same period.
The study, “The State of Church Giving Through 2002,” looked at contribution data from about a third of the 350,000 congregations in the United States, the organization said. The study's authors said recent reports of increased charitable giving through churches are misleading because they don't account for increases in population, inflation and per capita income.
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