Where Your Treasure Is: Toward Explaining Financially Ungenerous American Christians

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Passing the Plate
Under the Big Tent
PCUSA Stewardship and Investment Conference
Atlanta June 13th
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Context

• Americans are more generous in voluntary
  financial charitable giving than most people in
  other industrialized countries.
• Religious Americans are more generous in
  financial giving than non-religious Americans.
• glass half full

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However

• Most American Christians turn out to be pretty
  stingy financial givers
• When measured against the normative teachings of
  their own religious traditions (nearly all teach
  open-handed generosity, if not tithing)
• Considering the financial resources American
  Christians have w/which they could be generous
• glass half (90?) empty

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Some quick facts about Christian giving.
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Fact 1 At least one out of five self-identified
American Christians 20 percent of all U.S.
Christians gives literally nothing to church,
para-church, or non-religious charities. Zilch.
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Fact 2 A small minority of Christians cover
for the rest of Christians by extremely generous
giving.
Over half of all money contributed by
church-attending Christians is given by
just 5 of those Christians
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Figure 4 Percent of Total Dollars Contributed by
All Christians Grouped in Five Percentiles by
Increasing Levels of Generosity
Source General Social Survey, 1998.
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Fact 3 A Christians income is not related to
the percent of income given back to God.
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Source Giving and Volunteering in the United
States, 2001.
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Source Giving and Volunteering in the United
States, 2001.
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• Contemporary American Christians the most
  affluent single group of Christians in two
  thousand years of church history.
• U.S. Christians who are members of churches
  earned a total collective 2005 income of more
  than 2 trillion.

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• ? 2,000,000,000,000 earned yearly
• more than the total GDP of every nation in
  the world, except the six wealthiestUnited
  States, Japan, Germany, China, the United
  Kingdom, and France.

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Vast Giving Potential

• If serious American Christians gave 10 of
  after-tax income, and 1/3rd of less-serious
  Christians gave 5, they could generate (over and
  above what they currently give) a total of
  another 133 billion a year
• for Gods work.

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What could be done with the extra money?

• One Scenario

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Global Development and Relief

• 2,000,000,000 Finance 5,000,000 grassroots,
  micro-enterprise economic development projects
  per year in poor nations
• 500,000,000 Completely close funding gap on
  resources needed by current global campaign to
  eradicate polio
• 1,000,000,000 Finance 10,000 comprehensive
  faith-based programs of AIDS/HIV prevention,
  education, and medication

• 2,000,000,000 Fund 1,000,000 new clean water,
  well-drilling projects per year in poorest
  nations, dramatically improving health of tens of
  millions of people
• 3,900,000,000 Provide full resources needed for
  a global campaign to prevent and treat malaria
• 2,000,000,000 Supply 1 heifer or 4 hogs to 4
  million needy families per year

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Global Development and Relief 2

• 1,600,000,000 Double the current annual
  operating budget of World Vision
• 200,000,000 Boost funding to organizations that
  provide free/subsided eye exams, vision care,
  glasses, limb braces, prosthetics for 1 million
  needy people
• 10,000,000,000 Sponsor 20 million needy
  children food, educ, hlthcare
• 810,000,000 Quadruple resources being spent by
  Christians on medical missions

• 4,555,000,000 Provide food, clothing, and
  shelter to ALL 6.5 million current refugees in
  Africa, Asia, and Middle East
• 9,000,000 Finance organizational infrastructure
  of major Christian think-tank and advocacy
  organization working on creative means to reduce
  poverty and hunger
• 480,000,000 Quadruple current annual operating
  budget of Habitat for Humanity

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Global Missions

• 330,000,000 Sponsor 150,000 new indigenous
  missionaries and pastors
• 2,200,000,000 Triple the resources being spent
  by all global Christians on Bible translating,
  printing, and distribution
• 30,000,000 Translate into different languages,
  publish, and distribute 20,000 copies of 100 new
  titles per year of best Christian books

• 350,000,000 Provide 50,000 needs-based
  scholarships of 7,000 each per year for
  Christian seminary and Bible school students in
  Africa, Asia, and Latin America
• 120,000,000 Hire 1,500 new Christian ministers
  to work in hospitality, evangelism, justice, and
  discipleship with foreign students studying in
  U.S. universities

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Global Missions Continued

• 9,000,000 Finance organizational structure of a
  major Christian research and advocacy
  organization fighting against contemporary
  economic and sexual slavery worldwide
• 75,000,000 Provide funds to help build, expand,
  or upgrade 75,000 church and ministry buildings
  in Africa, Asia, Latin Am.
• 1,000,000,000 Quadruple the total resources
  spent on global missions to evangelize the
  unevangelized world

• 9,000,000 Finance the organizational
  infrastructure of a major research and advocacy
  organization fighting for religious freedoms
  worldwide
• 95,000,000 Finance 350 new Christian radio
  stations broadcasting Christian programming
  across the globe
• 50,000,000 Finance 1,000 new interreligious
  study groups and travel tours per year

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U.S. Christian Ministry

• 750,000,000 Hire 10,700 new Youth Ministers
• 750,000,000 Raise salaries of 50,000 most need
  U.S. pastors by average of 15,000
• 75,000,000 Fund 500 new Prison Ministry
  organizations
• 10,000,000 Translate into English 200 per year
  of best Christian articles/books by foreign
  language authors

• 1,800,000,000 Finance refitting of heating,
  cooling, and electrical systems of 20,000 most
  desperate U.S. church buildings
• 1,100,000,000 Fund 5,500 new Family Counseling
  and Support organizations
• 4,000,000,000 Hire 50,000 new, trained,
  church-based adult Christian educators for the
  re-education of U.S. Christians in theology,
  discipleship, and ministry

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U.S. Christian Ministry

• 9,000,000 Finance the organizational
  infrastructure of a Christian think-tank working
  on Christian perspectives and moralities of new
  biotechnologies and emerging medical ethics
• 9,000,000 Finance the organizational
  infrastructure of a Christian research and
  training center addressing Christian views on
  mass media and media production and consumption.

• 3,375,000,000 Provide the hiring of 45,000
  church-based U.S. ministers to the elderly whose
  mission would be to provide Christian friendship,
  care, and support to millions of isolated,
  abandoned, disabled, and lonely aging Americans
• 75,000,000 Launch 300 cross-race immersion
  programs around U.S. to allow Christians to live
  for two weeks in different race environments and
  work for racial justice

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Economic Stewardship Diaconal Ministry

• 150,000,000 Provide financial and debt
  management training to 200,000 Christians per
  year
• 100,000,000 Provide church-based jobs training
  and career counseling to 100,000 unemployed
  Americans

• 50,000,000 Finance 25 new U.S. regional
  faith-based organizations that would provide
  assistance and subsidies to pay heating and
  utility bills to the most needy of the poor and
  elderly

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U.S. Christian Educational Scholarship
Development

• 15,000,000 Pay down mortgages of 500 Christian
  middle and high schools by 30,000
• 150,000,000 Provide needs-based scholarships of
  15,000 each to 10,000 college students
• 45,000,000 Provide needs-based scholarships of
  15,000 each for 3000 seminary students

• 12,000,000 Provide research and writing
  fellowships to 150 of the best Christian scholars
  to work on scholarship informed by Christian
  perspectives
• 202,000,000 Provide 101 2 million
  contributions to Christian seminaries, divinity
  schools, and colleges
• 6,000,000 Provide graduate school scholarships
  for 300 of the most promising Christian Ph.D.
  students

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Grand Total of Previous 8 slides

• 46 Billion

That leaves more than 87 Billion to be spent on
local congregations and their denominations
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Riddle Why Dont Christians Give More Generously?

• Obvious (unsociological) answers selfishness,
  greed, ingratitude, individualism, consumerism,
  etc.
• But
• 1. These do not explain variance between
  different religious traditions (Jews Mormons
  Baptists vs. Catholics LibProts)

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Figure 3 Total, Religious, and Non-Religious
Giving as a Percent of Household Income, by U.S.
Religious Group
5.2
3.5
3.4
2.8
2.5
2.3
2.0
1.8
1.7
1.5
1.6
1.1
.9
Source Center on Philanthropy Panel Study, in
PSID, 2000. Note Bottom of bars is religious
giving portion, top of bars is non-religious
giving portion, percent is mean total giving as
percent of income. Results for Mormons, Jehovahs
Witnesses, and other non-Christians should be
treated with caution due to low Ns (25, 21, and
46, respectively).
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Riddle Why Dont Christians Give More Generously?

• Obvious (unsociological) answers selfishness,
  greed, ingratitude, individualism, consumerism,
  etc.
• But
• 1. These do not explain variance between
  different religious traditions (Jews Mormons
  Baptists vs. Catholics LibProts)
• 2. Fail to specify actual causal mechanisms
  involved in cultural framing, perceptions,
  decision-making, etc.
• 3. Do little to suggest means of change

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SO WHY? First Reason for Not Tithing

• Voluntary Giving takes place within context of
  powerful culture Money is YOURS and YOURS ALONE.
  

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Survey-Based Mental Experiment

• National Survey Sample of Christians
• Suppose your church made a new requirement for
  church membership Members must give 10 percent
  of their after-tax income to the church or other
  good causes. Those giving less than 10 percent
  could still attend church, but would not be
  considered members in good standing. How would
  you personally most likely respond to this
  requirement?

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Answers, Church-Attenders

• I would start tithing 8
• I would attend, but not tithe 30
• I would go to a different church 42
• I would drop out of church life 20

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For those who said would not tithe, why?

• 59 said the church has no right
• 52 said they could not afford to tithe

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Second Reason for Not Tithing

• Powerful media and advertising
• The economy runs on CONSUMERISM

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Third Reason for Not Tithing

• No Accountability
• Personal and family finances are privatized,
  removing giving from public discussion or
  accountability.

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• Most Christians lock themselves into not tithing
  with just two consumer choices
• Housing
• Transportation

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RESULT

• Christian impulse to give generously runs up
  against powerful
• counter-impulses to consume.

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Fourth Reason for Not Tithing

• Non-Routine Giving Process
• Giving tends to be occasional and situational,
  not consistent, structured, and routine.
• In short, we dont know how!

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10 Recommendations for Change

• Foster a Live the Vision Culture, not a Pay
  the Bills culture
• Have personal testimonies, share specifically
  where money going, personalize
• Spend as much time telling members what their
  money has accomplished as asking for money
• Create discussion/accountability groups
• Have lay leaders lead calls for giving

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10 Recommendations for Change

• Give then Live
• Give higher percentage of church budget to
  ministries outside the local congregation
• Encourage parents to actively teach their
  children about stewardship
• Teach specifically about ways our culture at odds
  with faith (mass consumerism, masters of own
  fate, in charge of money)
• Be prepared to lose some members

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Questions?Discussion?