Protestant Donations Up Slightly in 1996
Members of Protestant congregations gave a slightly larger portion of their incomes to their churches in 1996 compared to the previous year, a new study reports.
“The State of Church Giving Through 1996,” a study by Empty Tomb Inc., a Christian service and research organization based in Champaign, Ill. also reveals a continuing decline in contributions to benevolences, which includes general denominational support, such as local and international missions.
In 1968, church members gave 3% of their income to their congregations. That figure dropped to a low of under 2.5% in 1993 and rose to 2.6% in 1996, the latest year for which statistics are available.
The study includes data from 29 Protestant denominations that published statistics in the “Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.” The denominations include 29 million members and comprise about one-third of the estimated 350,000 religious congregations in the United States.
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