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Report: Tithing, Church Benevolence at Record Lows

The Washington Post reported on a study by Empty Tomb, Inc. showing that tithing in mainline Protestant churches reached its lowest level in over 40 years (an average of 2.38 percent) in 2009. It also showed that these churches have been decreasing their benevolence to charities and needs outside their churches—only 0.34 percent of congregational giving went to benevolence in 2009. Study authors say trends in mainline churches broadly reflect conditions in all U.S. churches, even though data for the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical churches was not available. Executive vice president of Empty Tomb Sylvia Ronsvalle called the downward trend of benevolence spending “alarming,” saying “churches on the whole are continuing to spend more on current members and less on the larger mission of the church and cutting back on missionaries.” In other words, said the article, the trend shows that U.S. churches are becoming more interested in their own needs and less interested in the needs of others outside their congregations.

The article interviewed Major George Hood of the Salvation Army, one of the few organizations which increased their charitable giving in the past year, who remarked “We all have to be concerned any time there’s a decline in charitable giving. People are not being served at the same level that they have been.” The report added that benevolence spending in 1968 reached 0.66 percent; at that rate in 2009, U.S. churches would have given an additional $3 billion in benevolence that year.