STUDY REVEALS TITHING NOT EMBRACED BY MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS

***Note: I received this article in a newsletter emailed to me by The A/G News & Information Service, (c) 2008. A service of the Assemblies of God’s Office of Public Relations. [news@ag.org]***

In a recent study conducted by the Barna Group, it was learned that
only five percent of Americans gave away at least 10 percent of
their income (to the church or any charitable organization) in 2007.
This level of giving was not a great surprise, as it has been around
five percent since 2000.

Although the number of Americans not tithing (10 percent) of their
income may not surprise people, perhaps what may surprise those who
do tithe is how few of their fellow Christians join them. According
to the Barna Group’s research, evangelicals were the “elite” when it
came to being generous, with 24 percent tithing. However, those
identified as charismatic or Pentecostal Christians, just 11 percent
tithed, which fell just behind conservatives where 12 percent tithe.
In addition, it was found 8 percent of Protestants tithed, while 2
percent of Catholics tithed.

Evangelicals also set themselves apart in another giving category as
it was learned 83 percent gave at least $1,000 to churches and
non-profit entities during 2007 - a far greater percentage than any
other population segment.

The research also revealed that when it comes to giving to any
non-profit, atheists and agnostics are the least generous. While
Protestants gave a mean of $1705, Catholics a mean of $984 and
non-Christian faiths a mean of $905 in 2007, atheists and agnostics
gave a mean of $467.

One of the most significant changes Barna has found occurring is
with those identified as “born again.” The study revealed an
increase level of giving, but a decrease in the numbers giving money
to the church. According to the report, “During the first five years
of the decade, an average of 84 cents out of every dollar donated by
born again adults went to churches. In the past three years, though,
the proportion has declined to just 76 cents out of every donated
dollar.” Researcher George Barna cautioned that if this trend
continued, “conventional churches will have to adopt new ways of
assisting people in need.”

Although the Barna Group study was not broken down to the point of
individual denominational giving, according to a 1996 book, “Money
Matters: Personal Giving in American Churches,” compiler Dean Hoge’s
statistics indicated that 73 percent of Assemblies of God lay
respondents said they tithed. This would, obviously, dwarf the
current giving of any other group in the Barna study, but with the
statistics being more than a dozen years old, Barna’s findings may
indicate a cause for concern.

“No definitive conclusion can be made concerning just the Assemblies
of God percentage of tithers or individual donations through the
Barna Group’s findings, as AG members would be lumped into all
charismatic and Pentecostal groups for this study,” states AG
Statistician Sherri Doty.

Barna notes that with “millions of people shifting their allegiance
to different forms of church experience, and a more participatory
society altering how people interact and serve others, many
Christians are now giving their money to different types of
organizations instead of a church.”

For a complete report on the Barna Group’s findings, see
http://www.Barna.org/. For statistics concerning the Assemblies of
God, see http://ag.org, click on “About Us” and scroll to
“statistics.”

–Dan Van Veen