Church Finances: Where Does the Money Go?

The first column represents total contributions per member per year. That is, in 1995, Joe Average gave about $465 to the Protestant church he attends.

The second column shows the amount of the total that the church spent on internal operations, such as maintenance costs and salaries.

The third column shows the amount of the total that the church gave to "benevolences," which includes such items as international missions, denominational support, seminary funding, and ministries to the poor.

Untitled Document

Year

Total Contributions per Church Member

Church

Finances

Benevolences

1990

$447.57

$369.71

$77.85

1991

$445.17

$368.43

$76.74

1992

$444.74

$368.19

$76.56

1993

$445.50

$370.72

$74.78

1994

$464.92

$389.48

$75.44

1995

$462.84

$386.98

$75.86

1996

$491.32

$414.04

$77.28

1997

$497.04

$418.01

$79.04

Inflation-Adjusted 1992 dollars

Research provided by Empty Tomb, Inc., a Christian service and research organization

Details in the above table may not compute to the numbers shown due to rounding. Denominations included in the data set: American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.; Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (General Synod); Brethren in Christ Church; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Church of God (Anderson, IN); Church of God General Conference (Oregon, IL); Church of the Brethren; Church of the Nazarene; Conservative Congregational Christian Conference; Cumberland Presbyterian Church; Evangelical Congregational Church; Evangelical Covenant Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Evangelical Lutheran Synod; Evangelical Mennonite Church; Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches; Free Methodist Church of North America; Friends United Meeting (through 1990); General Association of General Baptists; Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; Mennonite Church; Moravian Church in America, Northern Province; North American Baptist Conference; The Orthodox Presbyterian Church; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Reformed Church in America; Seventh-day Adventists; Southern Baptist Convention; United Church of Christ; Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod