To Give or Not To Give
That is the question Hamlet might be asking if he were a 21st Century Christian. A new book out, Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money, puts some statistical teeth to the notion that maybe us Christians aren't giving like we say we are or should.
A review of the book hits some high points:
an extra 46 billion dollars available for the Kingdom of God! What kind of impact could that money have?
Of those giving:
So why aren't more of us giving?
We regularly here about the importance of prayer, the neccesity of being in God's Word, and the command to fellowship with one another. What about giving?
HT: Anderw Sullivan
A review of the book hits some high points:
If just the "committed Christians" (defined as those who attend church
at least a few times a month or profess to be "strong" or "very strong"
Christians) would tithe, there would be an extra 46 billion dollars a year available for kingdom work.
an extra 46 billion dollars available for the Kingdom of God! What kind of impact could that money have?
Of those giving:
A small minority of American Christians give most of the total donated.
Twenty percent of all Christians give 86.4 percent of the total. The
most generous five percent give well over half (59.6 percent) of all
contributions. But higher-income American Christians give less as a
percentage of household income than poorer American Christians. In the
course of the 20th century, as our personal disposable income quadrupled, the percentage donated by American Christians actually declined.
So why aren't more of us giving?
They think there are five primary reasons for the fact that "the
wealthiest national body of Christian believers at any time in all of
church history end up spending most of their money on themselves." The
most important is our society's "institutionalized mass consumerism."
The second is the failure of pastors to deal with the issue. The third
is that many Christians seem to be confused about the meanings,
expectations, and purposes of faithful Christian giving. Fourth, some
have distrust about whether their donations will be used wisely.
Finally, the near total privatization of the topic means that almost no
American Christians discuss their giving with anyone else.
We regularly here about the importance of prayer, the neccesity of being in God's Word, and the command to fellowship with one another. What about giving?
HT: Anderw Sullivan
Very, very interesting. I have two thoughts:
1. Based on some things I've read, the people that are giving are senior adults. In other words, in 20-25 years there will be no church giving!
2. There is truth to the claim that churches aren't using their money wisely. Many churches only spend the money on themselves and aren't having much impact on the kingdom of God. Perhaps the best remedy is for the church to get out there and actually make a difference so that people can see their dollars are having a kingdom impact.
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