Ako Američania finančne podporujú svoje cirkvi
How Americans Support Their Churches. Empirical Research of Giving

Summary/Abstract: How Americans Support Financially Their Churches: Empirical Research on Giving. American congregations are supported entirely by voluntary contributions; no money comes from the government. Levels of contributions vary widely from denomination to denomination. In 1993 we studied 125 congregations in each of five denominations, representative of the nation - Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Southern Baptist Convention, and Assemblies of God. We randomly selected congregations in each, and 84,8 % agreed to participate. We visited all the churches, filled out a financial report on each, then mailed short questionnaires to random samples of 30 members in each; the response rate was 61,2 %, producing 10,902 questionnaires. Per-household giving was highest for the Assemblies of God and Baptists. It was much lower for Catholics than for the others. These differences are explained by differences in theology, teachings, and financial procedures. Assemblies of God and Baptists much more than others teach that a tithe (10% of income) belongs to God and should be given; these two denominations have a high percentage of members who title. Lutherans and Presbyterians have a habit of annual pledges more than the others. The level of church attendance is highest for the Assemblies of God and Baptists. The main predictors of giving by households are the level of family income, level of church participation, theological belief that Christians should help others to commit their lives to Jesus Christ, and making annual pledges. Size of the parish is a secondary predictor for Catholics in that per-household giving is lower in the largest Catholic parishes. In other denominations, parish size was unimportant. Contrary to past writers, Catholic giving is not lower because of anger among Catholics or the feeling by Catholics that the church is wealthy and needs no money.

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