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Survey says Christians more generous if taught about giving by their churches
12 Jan 2006 - Source: Ramon A. Williams
Church leaders who regularly teach their congregations about giving can expect to find more money in their collection plates, according to a new survey.
Christians whose churches teach that people should give at least 10% to church or charity do seem to take note. They give an extra 26%, compared to people whose churches do not teach this.
And the more often a church teaches about giving, the more people give.
The survey was conducted on Christians who attend evangelical churches, which are often thought to be more proactive in teaching about giving than other churches.
Bill Lattimer, of Christian Research, who was responsible for carrying out the recent research on money management among evangelicals, commented: “Church leaders sometimes wonder if their preaching has a real impact on people’s behaviour. They are also sometimes reticent about seeming to ask for money. This survey has shown that people do listen and respond to teaching about giving”.
Helen Calder, Finance Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said, “These figures show that churches could do more to teach people about how to use their money. Use of the resources that God has given each of us is an integral part of Christian discipleship. We want to encourage churches to teach regularly from the many Bible passages on the use of money.”
The ‘Money Management’ survey of 1,200 evangelical Christians, from all the main Protestant denominations, such as Anglican, Baptist and the Salvation Army, was sponsored by Kingdom Bank. Some of the questions were framed by the Stewardship Forum of the Evangelical Alliance, which helps Christians develop their understanding and practice of biblical principles of stewardship.
Chris Sheldon, Director and Deputy Chief Executive of Kingdom Bank said, “Kingdom Bank has been delighted to sponsor this research which shows that evangelical Christians are generous with their money, regularly giving a significant proportion of their income away to help charities and churches. As a leading Christian Bank we aim to use this information to develop our services to enable evangelicals to make even better use of their money across the UK and beyond. It is also worth noting that we too, as part of our strong Christian values, distribute 10% of our annual profits to Christian charities.”
12 Jan 2006