Giving by members of Protestant churches in the US reached new lows in 2011 and will probably not recover from the recession, according to a new report by Empty Tomb, a Christian research group.
RNS:
The percentage of a church member’s income given to the church dropped to 2.3 percent in 2011 (the latest year for which numbers are available), down from 2.4 percent in 2010, according to the Empty Tomb study.
In 1968, church members gave an average of 3.1 percent of their income.
Giving has declined for four consecutive years, according to the report. The only other period of prolonged decline in giving per member was from 1928 through 1934, almost entirely during the Great Depression.
In 2011, the 23 denominations researched by Empty Tomb received $22.94 billion. In 2010 they received $22.88 billion.