Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Well, nonprofit Source just released some new stats on giving in churches. And to say it bluntly, the results are pretty shocking. We're gonna unpack all of those results in this conversation. Let's do this. You are listening to The Reach right podcast, the show dedicated to helping your church reach more people and grow. Hey guys, I'm Thomas.
Speaker 1 00:00:24 And I'm Ian.
Speaker 0 00:00:24 And today we're talking about eight shocking church giving statistics that you need to know. Um, we just got these stats. They're hot off the press from nonprofit source. Uh, they did the research and we're just, uh, wanted to dig into 'em a little bit today and chat about some of the numbers. Uh, surprising stuff, right, Ian?
Speaker 1 00:00:44 Yeah, I was actually surprised and we've seen statistics over the years for church giving and, and tithing and different things along those lines. And yeah, there were some new ones here on me and, uh, we know stuff changes over the years. Stats change, uh, trends change, uh, all of that. So yeah, I think this will really be helpful for some folks out there. It was helpful to and surprising to me.
Speaker 0 00:01:05 Yeah, agreed. That's true. So, well, why don't we just dig right into it. Go ahead and give us the first one. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:01:10 So here's a cool one. You know, and this may be a surprise to some pastors and ministry leaders out there, 49% of all church giving transactions are made with a card. Hmm. Um, uh, this one didn't really shock me, uh, personally. It might be a shock to some churches that traditionally haven't utilized online giving as much, but, um, but I think it's still a big deal because it, that's, that's virtually half, uh, made with a card, uh, compared to obviously seasons and years past where we think of just the check being wrote and put in the offering plate. Still a valid form of giving, but, uh, but the fact that they're made with a card, um, I mean, I guess I'm not too surprised about this, but half is a big deal, right?
Speaker 0 00:01:54 Yeah. I, I was surprised by it, but I was surprised cause I thought it would be higher. Um, that was, uh, oh, A little bit surprising to me.
Speaker 1 00:02:00 Okay. Yeah, I guess so that's one flip side to look at it. I, I
Speaker 0 00:02:03 Have, I, I don't know like what you would even call using a card. I mean, I've never actually pulled out a card, uh, to do it. Right. I mean, it was all done on my phone, I think, online. Yeah. So
Speaker 1 00:02:15 My card is saved on, you know, you know, on my church is giving software and
Speaker 0 00:02:20 Everything. Yes. And so I guess that that is a, like, that wouldn't include things like ACH transfers and those kinds of things. Right. So I, I think what was surprising to me is I think I, I would, if you're comparing it like to digital giving versus physical giving, so checks and cash versus digital forms like ACH transfers, transfers and credit cards. Yeah. Then that would be surprising to me cuz I've heard other numbers like 70% or right. Deep being done digitally now. Um, yeah. But I guess that does make sense when I think about it. When you include ACH transfers as not Right. The transactions with a card. Right. They're, they're done that way. So, um, um, yeah, I think that I do both. I do some card, I do some ACH transfers, uh, for my giving. Right. I've haven't done a check or, um, I don't even remember the last time I put cash into the bucket or something like that.
Speaker 0 00:03:11 But I haven't done that in, I mean, probably a decade at this point it seems like. So that's, that's so, uh, so beyond something that I would consider, but yeah, that's interesting to say. Now the thing about ACH transfers is you can save, the church saves a bunch of money on fees Yeah. Uh, when you do an ACH transfer. So hopefully that's why that number is lower than I would expect. It's because, yeah. Most of it is, uh, ACH transfers and it's not all just with a credit card. Um, and when you think about it, I guess if we are paying on average, churches pay about 3%, I think in transaction fees on card transactions, that's a lot of money. Um, if, you know, if you're talking about half of all money donated to churches, card companies are taking 3% off the top of that. I mean, we're talking about literally like probably billions of dollars at this point. So, uh, pretty incredible stuff. But yeah, I thought that was pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 00:04:03 Yeah, I guess where you were shocked it does make sense. But yes, I think when you put in probably ACH that, cuz I know a lot of the older, I think a lot of the older demographic, uh, of church members, um, possibly prefer ACH over a card. So maybe those, those folks, uh, represent a, a good chunk there. But, um, yeah, that was still good.
Speaker 0 00:04:24 Yep. The good stuff. Okay, next one. Uh, tithers make up 10 to 25% of a normal US congregation, a normal church congregation tithers. So people that give 10% of their income, uh, they make up 10 to 25%. And I believe for this number, that's people that identified themselves as tith, uh, because we have some statistics that come up later that kind of go, uh, seem opposite to this, but Right. That's people, if you ask them, do you tithe, uh, 10 to 25% of people that go to a church regularly say that they do tithe. Yeah. Uh, so I found that that's probably about in keeping with, uh, with what I would expect, maybe I would've thought a little bit higher, uh, would've, I mean, the 25 seems about right. The 10% seems a little bit low to me.
Speaker 1 00:05:14 It's weird that there's that range. To me that was a little strange. So, but I know that they can't probably exactly pinpoint that. So
Speaker 0 00:05:20 Yeah, I imagine it, it varies by denominations and, you know, some teach tithing more than others and so Right. You know, don't teach tithing at all. Uh, so I think that that's something that didn't really, it didn't really surprise me. I think we'll talk a little bit later about what the numbers really look like of how many people actually tithe. I think that's a future statistic, but yeah. Interesting stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:05:41 Yeah. That's good. Yeah. This next one I think is, uh, I think this is cool. This is positive. Um, churches that accept tithing online increase overall donations by 32%. Yeah. Crazy. So that's a, that's a big deal.
Speaker 0 00:05:54 Yeah, absolutely. It is. Yeah. So 32%, I mean, that's, uh, if you're a, if you're a small church, and let's say you have a hundred thousand dollars a year, or, you know, that's something like $8,000, a little over $8,000 every month coming into your church. So relatively small church, um, you know, we're talking about about 32 extra thousand dollars a year. That's almost like a, that's a, a good size chunk of an average salary or a salary maybe for a, uh, uh, at least a, a part-time youth pastor or something like that. Yeah. That's what you can make a difference by if you pivot to doing online giving. So yeah, I mean, 32%, uh, it, it's, I hope that most of our audience has already made this pivot. Uh, right. And I, I remember that in the pandemic time. This is funny. So we have a, a blog post, uh, that is all about online giving providers and you know, how to choose the best one and those kinds of things.
Speaker 0 00:06:47 Yeah. And yep, we saw this, the, a few of our posts really skyrocketed in March of 2020. It was that post. Yep. There was a post about, oh, how to stream your services with like an ultimate guide to live streaming your church services. A few other ones, but that one in particular, it like, went up by tenfold Right. In like a Yeah. Two week period. And it stayed high for a long time because every church had to figure this out, it seemed like Yep. During the pandemic or we go belly up, basically. So That's right. I think you probably have this figured out. Uh, but I think really encouraging it is another thing. So, uh, I would really encourage churches to run with that. Like, to, to encourage people to make online giving their primary way of giving. There's all kinds of reasons. Yeah. And I think you'll see an increase in your giving when you do something like that.
Speaker 1 00:07:33 Yeah. I think it's, uh, well, you know, having consulted with pastors, uh, for years now, I, I used to run into, you know, this, uh, we're not sure if we want to do online giving and blah, blah, blah. I don't, I virtually, I don't hear that with many churches. I, it comes up every once in a blue moon. So it, well, we've
Speaker 0 00:07:53 Been doing this since 2006, 2007. Right, Ian? So it's like, yes. Back then, like most churches were very cautious about that. Oh, I don't wanna do online giving. Oh yeah, that's, I don't know about the security. That's what we had to overcome typically is how do we help people feel comfortable at the mark of the beast. Right. Exactly. Some of the more spiritual, uh, complaints for that there. So there you go. Let me get the next one. This one, I think is one of those ones that might make you feel a little bit, uh, disappointed or sick to your stomach. Christians are giving at, um, Christians are giving at 2.5% of their income. So that's the overall giving that when they take it, people that define themselves as Christians, 2.5% of their income. And listen to this. During the Great Depression, it was 3.3%. Uh, so 90 years ago Wow.
Speaker 0 00:08:42 In the middle of the Great Depression. Um, that was the, the giving rate was like, n not even a small amount higher. It was like, yeah. Like 40% higher at that time there. So Wow. Pretty incredible to think about some of those kinds of numbers and what that, what that means there and how much we've changed in this. This is what I was mentioning before too. This in part, when we talk about tithing, well, you know, clearly the vast majority of Christians are not tithing if 2.5% of income is that number there. So I don't know any thoughts on that, Ian?
Speaker 1 00:09:14 Those saints of old have bigger homes in heaven. That's my, uh, first thought. So, yeah. But no, uh, it does say it is a little depressing. It says a lot about how times have changed and how Christians perceive, uh, giving and tithing. Um, so yeah, no, um, not much to add. I think this next one actually is a good segue cuz it, it, it identify, it's, it identifies kind of what we're talking about and it's also not as, uh, positive of one, but only three to 5% of Americans who give to their local church do so through regular tithing. Yeah. So again, yeah, that one, you know, coincides with the one we just, uh, hit on because it's, it's identifying how many, um, actually tithe regularly. So
Speaker 0 00:09:58 Yeah, think about what that's saying. So it's saying that of all the people that give to their church, like, so this isn't like taking all Americans. This is taking all people who give to their church only three to 5%, let's call it 4% of them are doing so through regular tithing, which regular tithing. Yeah. By its very definition. I think that's what tithing is. Like you can't be right. Like irregular tithing is not tithing. Right. So you can, it's not
Speaker 1 00:10:23 Tithing, right? Yes.
Speaker 0 00:10:24 If you just kind of, I occasionally give 10% sly, right? Yeah. So, so that number means 4% of a Americans who give to their church. Like, so not all Americans, but 4% of the ones that give are doing so like giving 10% that way. So, yeah. Um, you know, I'm surprised by that. Again, I, I'm from a background that teaches tithing. We believe in tithing, right? Same. I, it's one of my favorite topics to teach on. I've seen tithing make, uh, a bigger impact on my life than just about any spiritual discipline that we have taken on. And so, uh, I have it set up at my own life where on the first of the month, I have a tithe of our income come out of our, uh, out of my bank account into our church's account, and it just goes like clockwork. Um, it's surprising to me, I, I don't know, like I always, I I know it's not like everybody I know, not everybody does it. Yeah. I would've hoped that it would've been 20% or some kind of number like that, right? Yeah. I think four is maybe a little bit lower than I would've expected, but I knew, yeah. I was ready to be disappointed by this number, I guess. Sure. Yeah. So
Speaker 1 00:11:29 I guess it wasn't too terribly shocking. Right? Unfortunately. So,
Speaker 0 00:11:32 Yeah. No, that's it. So, all right. Am I up next?
Speaker 1 00:11:36 You are. You got this next one. Okay. Yep.
Speaker 0 00:11:37 Here we go. Next one is, when surveyed 17% of Americans, they say that they regularly tithe. So here's one of those ones that we get back to this, uh, this idea that what people are actually doing and what people say that they're doing, say they're doing very different things. Cuz again, that last one is 4% that regularly, that regularly give and then
Speaker 1 00:12:00 Do
Speaker 0 00:12:00 This of all Americans. This is not just those that give to churches. This is of all Americans. 17% of them say that they regularly tithe,
Speaker 1 00:12:09 But you,
Speaker 0 00:12:10 It's a bigger
Speaker 1 00:12:11 Sample size. You
Speaker 0 00:12:12 This one in, what's that? I'm
Speaker 1 00:12:13 Sorry. It is on the tip of my tongue. I have to interject it. So, uh, yeah, I won't name this person, but they were in my family and, uh, when I asked them if they were tithing, they said, oh yeah, no, I pay off my credit cards every month.
Speaker 0 00:12:27 Yeah. <laugh>, that's
Speaker 1 00:12:28 The kind thing. So again, what they're saying again, and that's, that's left field, like someone who's really does not understand what tithing is all about. But, uh, yeah, in their mind it was taking care of their debts and bills and all of those things right off the bat at the very beginning when they got paid. But yet, so again, there's a <laugh> I
Speaker 0 00:12:47 Think in, in part it's an education problem. I think you're right. Like, so people don't know, like I think people, um, when they think of tithing, they just think that yes, like if I say, do you tithe to an average person, they may say, yes, I give regularly. Like I, I give somewhere to my church, right? To someone regularly. They consider that to be tithing. And, you know, I, I'm all, we're all for that. I'm not here to cast judgment on those things. I just think there's a stark difference between, like, again, that 4% of ones that actually give to church, like they give to their church, only 4% of them are tithing versus 17% of all Americans say that they're tithing. Uh, so that, that would probably be of people that go to church regularly and give to their church, you'd probably guess that would be something like 40 or 50% of them will claim to be tithing when the numbers show that really, maybe it's, it's far lower than that. So, and I guess, you know, disappointing, I don't know if I'd say necessarily surprising, uh, but it's something that yeahm not shocking, but just the kinda of stuff that we're used to seeing, I think when we look at these numbers,
Speaker 1 00:13:49 Yep. Here's a unique one I think next for families making 75,000, uh, plus a year uhhuh, 1% of them gave at least 10% in tithing. Right. So that it might be surprising. You know, it's funny, the first thing that I, I thought was, well, maybe because these folks are being taxed more heavily, they're giving less <laugh>. And maybe that's one, one reason in the whole, uh, pot. But, uh, but yeah, it's definitely, this one was very interesting. You would think, right? That uh, those that are, that have a higher income would, um, would give more. So,
Speaker 0 00:14:26 Yeah. I mean, what you could infer from that is that people with lower income, based on the other numbers we've talked about already are giving a higher percentage of their income. Then those that with a are with a higher income on things. So Correct. You know, 75 k I think of that kind of like as a family, that's kind of like a, maybe a line for, um, you know, middle class, I guess. Yeah. Um, just, you know, it depends on where you live. Obviously 75 K is different in Hawaii where I live than it is in or rural Arkansas or something like that. Right, right. And yeah, but just if we use that as a placeholder for, you know, median income, and if, you know, I think it's a little bit lower than that is what the median income is for a family. But if you use that as a marker, like that's surprising to me that, um, 1% of them <laugh> of those families, uh, they, they're actually giving 10% of their income there.
Speaker 0 00:15:17 Um, yeah. I think, I assume that's not what they say they're giving. I think that's probably actual numbers of how much they're giving. Right. Yeah. Um, I heard a story once, I'm gonna try and recount it, but it's a, a pastor has a guy in his church and he, it's just kind of a, it's a fable, let's say. Yeah. A pastor is a guy at his church and the guy comes to the pastor. As the pastor, I'm really struggling. I'm just starting a business right now. Uh, you know, would, is it okay, uh, if you just pray for me, I want to tithe, but if you would just pray for me to, for God to grow my business so that I can finally afford to tithe, uh, I would really appreciate that. So the pastor, yeah, not a great pastor, but he actually says, okay, I'll pray for you for that, and then you can tithe.
Speaker 0 00:15:58 So he prays for him and God answers his prayer. The guy's business thrives. He's doing really well. He's making $500,000 a year, absolutely killing it. And he goes back to the pastor and he says, Hey pastor, I just wanted to chat with you. Like, I'm, I'm doing so well in my business now, and I'm, I feel like I told you I was gonna tithe, but I'm making $500,000 a year, so that's $50,000 that I'm supposed to tithe. Surely that's too much. And so the pastor said, you know, you're right. And the pastor prayed that the guy, the guy would reduce the man's business size and make his business even smaller to teach him a lesson. So that's kind of the story. I probably butchered it a little bit, but I think that that's, uh,
Speaker 1 00:16:36 I haven't heard that one. That's funny. Uh, but not funny.
Speaker 0 00:16:39 That's, that's the point. But I think that's what that shows is that there is no, not the best lesson. There's no amount of money that we can make that makes tithing comfortable. Right. So I've, I've been, I've been practicing the tithe. I remember it clearly since April of 2009 was the first time Wow. That I really, I, I had given, and I would've said, I would've been one of those people that said, yeah, I tithe. But I was kind of like, I kind of had an understanding with God. I thought that, yeah, you know, I I'm doing ministry for you. So, you know, you can kind of count that as a tithe. But in April of 2009, we made that pivot to really giving that kind of sacrificial level. And we have seen lots of different income levels in our lives since April of 2009, uh, from being very poor, uh, at the time and, you know, below the middle class, uh, line, uh, to being above it in this season of our lives. Like, it's something that, um, it's always a sacrifice no matter how much you're making, it always hurts whether you're giving $400 or $200 a month, or you're giving $2,500 a month, whatever it would be. Uh, it always feels like it pinches a little bit when you, you do it.
Speaker 1 00:17:49 Oh, indeed. I, I can relate as well as we've tithe for years and have seen, again, God bless us abundantly through that. Um, you know, I've told a little bit of my story when it comes to that. That was one of, I was brought to faith a lot later and, uh, while I was getting outta college or right around that time, and one of the first messages I heard was, was about tithing. And at that time I was not making really any money, and I was like, valeting cars and, uh, so <laugh>. So yeah. And then, and then now, yes, you're right. It's always, it, there's, it's always never gonna be totally a comfortable thing, I don't think for most believers. So, no. But yeah, these are, I don't think it
Speaker 0 00:18:25 Should, like, I think it should cost you something, right? I think it shouldn't be comfortable. Yeah. If it's comfortable, it's probably a sign that you should be giving more. Uh, so I think it's one of those things that it's designed that way to make us feel it, and it's a way that we put God first in our lives. So yeah, I think that's, uh, that's good. Important to remember. So I think we
Speaker 1 00:18:42 Have one more,
Speaker 0 00:18:43 One more. Yes. And this is probably, uh, the one that, uh, was, I, I think it's, well, I'll just share it here. It's the average giving by adults who attend us Protestant churches, uh, is about $17 per week. So that's how much the average adult gives to a church. Um, yeah. So this one I would say is I, I was actually a little surprised because I've been using a higher number when I think of how much as when we look at all the, the general numbers that people give to churches. So what that amounts to is something in the neighborhood of about, uh, $80, uh, per month, is how much the average adult would give to their church. Uh, and again, this is not all Americans, this is people that attend, not even Catholic churches, but Protestant churches only. Um, they give about $80 a month, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars a year, maybe a little bit under a thousand dollars a year, call it $900 a year, something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:19:48 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:19:48 So, uh, I have been using as a placeholder, uh, the numbers that I had seen at, at times in the past where it was a hundred dollars per person in attendance per month. Uh, and that includes children, right? So that, that's not just adults, because presumably, uh, family that has three kids, you know, maybe they have a higher income and they're able to give a little bit more in those areas. So, yeah. Um, so to me that's a little bit surprising, but I think that's actually a really important number for us to keep in mind. You can kind of use it as a placeholder, $80 a month, and you can take a look at your own church if you're pastoring a church to kind of see, you know, how is my church like kind of a, a little barometer? How are we doing benchmark? Are we, are we, are we better than the average, uh, church in these areas?
Speaker 0 00:20:34 Yeah. Like if we have, uh, by adults again. So if you take a look at the, the number of people that are adults in your church, and you times that by 80, is that kind of in line with your monthly income, uh, at your church there? And yeah, you know it, if it's not, then maybe you have some conversations. Maybe you, you talk about this more from the pulpit and think through how we can, you know, help people to make that leap to online and do some of those kinds of things. Yeah. So, yeah, I was interested by this. It's lower than I expected. Um, I would've hoped that it would've gone up by now. I was hoping to see something like $30 a month, uh, I'm sorry, $30 a week as the number there. But, um, yeah, I thought it was interesting thoughts.
Speaker 1 00:21:14 No, you know, I think I, I think stats really will help pastors, kind of like you just said, uh, have, use this as a barometer. Like, so my hope with all of this for every pastor ministry leader listening is that it'll, as you kinda think through this, maybe like you just said, help you kind of understand how to address this with your church. Yeah. Maybe what you preach across the pulpit to know the, uh, health of your church to a large extent. Um, so, um, I love statistics. I've loved them for years. And I do think that they not only identify, they, they help us know what goals we should strive for. So I just hope that that's the takeaway. Like I said, some of these are depressing, but we always want to turn that into something positive, right? Yeah. So
Speaker 0 00:21:58 It's like, don't be that guy that refuses to get onto the scale and take a look at your weight because you don't want to be bummed out by it. Just know the reality and then we can take some steps to address it. So you should be measuring all these kinds of things in your church anyway. Um, you should know, you know, the amount that the average family gives to our church or the average adult, and what do these numbers look like for us? These are important metrics. I think that there, there's certainly sometimes you have this reputation that they're the only metrics, and obviously that's not the case. There are lots of metrics we can be using and measuring and looking at those things. But these are important ones because they do measure people's faithfulness and how well we're discipling people if we're encouraging them and teaching them what the Lord says about giving.
Speaker 0 00:22:39 So, uh, all I have to say, I hope this has been helpful to you. Uh, if it has, uh, please let us know down in the comments if you have any questions or if you found any other stats that maybe you, you've seen out there that maybe contradict these or one of these that you found really surprising, let us know down in the comments. We do love to take these comments and turn them into future episodes of the Reach Right podcast. So yeah, uh, yeah, please do drop us a line in there. Thanks so much for being a part of the Reach right family, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1 00:23:07 See ya.
