Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

Recovering Christian Stewardship from Secular Fundraising 29
ceased giving to religious causes. 13 If applied evenly over the
estimated 353,000 religious congregations in the United States 14
(83% of whom are Christian), the impact becomes an issue for real
concern. If the trend stayed constant (and early census indications
are that it actually grew), at least 16.2 million people ceased giving
to religious charities from 1995–2001.
To be sure, if the United States has lost 1.6 million people who
had previously supported religious charities, we may safely
conclude that the Church has lost people who used to volunteer their
time and talents in ministry as well. Using the statistics provided by
the United States Census Bureau, it could be conservatively
estimated that of the 16 million people who ceased giving to
religious charity, some 6.9 million people ceased to engage in
volunteer ministry. At the average rate of between 3.7–3.8 hours per
week, this adds up to an alarming loss of 26 million hours of
volunteer ministry each and every week between 1995 and 1998.
To keep the impact of the loss of the faithful’s generosity with their
time in perspective, the following chart quantifies the developing trends,
and signals the crisis which awaits us should they go unchecked: 15
1995 1998 2001
Religious Givers 99,865,244 91,884,321 88,287,035
Number of Volunteers 42,942,054 39,510,258 37,963,425
Volunteer Hours 1.61 billion 1.48 billion 1.42 billion
13 US Census Bureau, 2000 General Census Information and 1997 Economic
Industry Status Report.
14 Independent Sector, America’s Religious Congregations: Measuring Their
Contribution to Society (Washington D.C.: Independent Sector, 2000), p. 3.
15 There are several assumptions in this chart, including that trends will stay constant
over the next 20 years. Further, this chart assumes that the trend toward
increased giving amongst a smaller number of people will continue at current levels.
The data has been presented with a view to addressing the methodology, criticisms
and findings of John & Sylvia Ronsvalle in their paper, “Giving to Religion: How
Generous Are We?,” Copyright 1998 Christian Century Foundation. Cited by permission
from the June 3–10, 1998, issue of the Christian Century. Subscriptions: $49/yr.
from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. 1-800-208-4097.