Evangelicals More Generous: American evangelicals gave four times as much, per person, to churches as did all other church donors in 2001. Eighty-eight percent of evangelicals and 73 percent of all Protestants donated to churches.¹

Giving to Churches: Among evangelicals, almost 90 cents of every donated dollar goes to their churches. The proportion drops, however, as people's spiritual intensity and commitment to Christ decline.²

Overspending: Forty percent of church members say they overspend monthly; also, 40 percent of church members pay more than $2,000 a year in interest, not including their mortgage.³

Credit Cards: "About 10 percent of credit card holders had total card balances in excess of $10,000."⁴

Debt versus Income: "More than a third-36 percent-of those who owe more than $10,000 on their cards have household incomes under $50,000."⁵

Rising Debt: "The median value of total outstanding debt owed by homeowners rose 9.6 percent between 1998 and 2001."⁶

College Loans: "Nearly two of every three undergraduate students are going into debt to go to college, owing an average of more than $19,000, most often to the government."⁷

Trouble in Good Times: About 80 million families in the United States would say that they are in financial trouble, after 50 years of almost unparalleled prosperity.⁸

Debt: Thirty-three percent of U.S. born-again Christians say it is impossible for them to get ahead in life because of the financial debt they have incurred.⁹

Unevangelized: In 2007, 1.9 billion people worldwide (28% of the population) had yet to hear the message of the gospel.¹⁰

Lost: Two-thirds of people alive today do not know the Savior of mankind. This includes 1.35 billion Muslims, 888 million Hindus, 388 million Chinese folk-religionists, 386 million Buddhists, 262 million ethnoreligionists, 106 million New-Religionists, 26 million Sikhs, 15 million Jews, and 154 million atheists.¹¹

Unchurched: The population of un-churched Americans is nearing 100 million.¹²

Church Attendance: 20 percent of Americans attend weekly religious services. 25.4 percent of conservative Protestants attend a weekly service.¹³

Poverty: More than 1 billion people live in absolute poverty. This includes 700 million people living in slums, 500 million people on the verge of starvation, 93 million beggars, and 200 million children exploited for labor.¹⁴

Christian Wealth and World Poverty: On average, American Christians enjoy an annual household income of $42,409, while 1.2 billion of the world's poorest people must survive on $1 a day.¹⁵

The Top Half: In the year 2000, net assets of $2,160 was sufficient to place a household in the top half of the world's wealth distribution.¹⁶

Hungry: More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.¹⁷

Sick: 1.5 billion of the world's people have no access to medical care.¹⁹

Homeless: 55 million of the world's people live in caves.²⁰

Uneducated: 121 million children around the world are totally outside of the educational system.²¹

Oppressed: Oppressive governments deny religious freedom to 2.2 billion people worldwide.²²

Enslaved: More than 27 million of the world's people are slaves.²³

Already Enough Wealth: Eighty percent of the world's evangelical wealth is in North America-and the total represents way more than enough to fund the fulfillment of the Great Commission.²⁴

Even a Little More Giving: There would have been an additional $164 billion available for the work of the church in 2004 had American church members given at least 10 percent of their incomes, instead of the 2.5 percent that was actually given.²⁵

Posthumous Giving: Only 8 percent of American wills contain any charitable giving whatsoever.²⁶

A Reachable Goal: "According to the Borgen Project, annual expenditures of $19 billion between now and 2015 could eliminate global starvation and malnutrition. Another $12 billion per year over that same time period could provide education for every child on earth. And an additional $15 billion each year could provide universal access to clean water and sanitation."²⁷

Billions Possible: If Christian churches chose to give 10% of their income and to devote 60% of their increased giving to international missions, there would be $98.4 billion available for the international church and $32.8 billion for domestic missions.²⁸

Fulfilling the Great Commission: Conservative estimates indicate that $1 billion a year could be all that's needed financially to complete the task of the great commission.²⁹

Explosive Growth: The church has grown more in the 20th century than in all the previous 19 centuries since the time of Christ combined, with almost 2 billion adherents worldwide.³⁰

Daily Evangelism: Every day 166,000 people hear the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time.³¹

Professions of Faith: Every year, 27 million people profess faith in Christ as Savior for the first time.³²

Projected Growth: The percentage of the world population which may be identified as Christian is expected to increase by 475 million people between 2007 and 2025.³³

Asia and Africa: The church is growing exponentially in China, India and Africa. The current ranks of 81 million believers in China are expected to swell to 135 million by 2025. The 50 million faithful in India could mushroom to 125 million by 2050. And today's census of 90 million Christians in Africa is likely to explode to 1 billion in 2050.³⁴

United States: Evangelical Christians comprise between 8 percent³⁵ and 35 percent³⁶ of the U.S. population, or between 18 million and 100 million people. Researchers do not agree on the actual number.

U.S. Evangelical Assets: Between $1.54 trillion and $6.72 trillion in assets are in the hands of American evangelicals, not including the value of their primary homes. Researchers do not agree on an exact dollar amount.³⁷

U.S. Evangelical Income: In 2000, American evangelicals collectively made $2.66 trillion in income.³⁸

Worldwide Income: Worldwide, Great Commission Christians have personal income totaling $6.8 trillion a year.³⁹

Transfer of Wealth: Over the next 50 years, between $41 trillion and $136 trillion will pass from older Americans to younger generations, suggesting that roughly $1 trillion to $3 trillion in wealth will change hands every year.⁴⁰

Buildings over Evangelism: When asked "What would you do with an unexpected financial windfall?" 31 percent of Protestant pastors said they would build, expand or update their church buildings and facilities. 7 percent said they would give more to foreign missions and evangelism.41

Salaries over Missions: Almost 50 percent of the average church's budget goes to staff and personnel salaries. Missions and evangelism accounts for about 5 percent.42

Large Staff: On average, mega-churches in America had 20 full-time leadership staff in 2005, up from 13 in 2000.⁴³

American churches spend an average of 22 percent of their budgets on the upkeep or expansion of their physical buildings.⁴⁴

Overseas Ministries: Only 2 cents of every dollar given by American Christians goes to support overseas ministries.⁴⁵

Focus on Internal Operations: 85 percent of all church activity and funds is directed toward the internal operations of the congregation, such as staff salaries, utility expenses, and Sunday school materials.⁴⁶

Giving from Childhood: People who do not give philanthropically as youngsters are less likely to do so as they mature and age.⁴⁷

No Training: Only 2 to 4 percent of seminaries and only 1 to 2 percent of Christian colleges and universities teach biblical financial principles at all.⁴⁸

Uneasy Subject: Generally, pastors are reluctant to use the word "money".⁴⁹

Uncertain Value: Many pastors feel they are irrelevant to the financial process and that money is not a core spiritual value.⁵⁰

Untrained Pastors: Eighty-five percent of pastors are untrained in the theology of stewardship and have no books in their libraries on Christian stewardship, money or giving.⁵¹

Problem in Marriage: Sixty percent in marriage counseling identify money as a major problem.⁵²

Low Giving: While church budgets typically are planned with the assumption that congregants will give only 2-3% of their incomes, most pastors do not cite this as an indication of lukewarm faith.⁵³

Giving as Maturity: When asked how they measure the spiritual commitment of their congregants, only one out of 10 pastors mentioned financial giving as an indicator of spiritual maturity and commitment.⁵⁴

Giving by Class: The two groups in the United States that give the highest percentages of their income are the poor (those making less than $20,000 per year) and the rich (those making more than $100,000 per year). Middle-class Americans (those making between $40,000 and $100,000 per year) are the smallest percentage givers.⁵⁵

Few Support the Church: Only one-third to one-half of U.S. church members financially support their churches.⁵⁶

Religious Donations: More than $60 billion a year is donated to religious nonprofit organizations. The vast bulk of that sum-more that $40 billion annually-goes directly to churches, almost all of it from individuals.⁵⁷

Pets: In 2007, it is estimated that Americans will spend over $40 billion on their pets.⁵⁸

Weight Loss: It is estimated that by 2010, Americans will spend over $60 billion on weight-loss programs.⁵⁹

Giving Not a Priority: Christians worldwide had personal income totaling more than $16 trillion in 2007 but gave only 2 percent, or $370 billion, to Christian causes.⁶⁰

Donating over Tithing: Overall, only 3 to 5 percent of those who donate money to a church tithe (give 10 percent of) their incomes.⁶¹

Tithing: 9% of American "born-again" adults tithed in 2004.⁶²

Then and Now: Giving by North American churchgoers was higher during the Great Depression (3.3 percent of per capita income in 1933) than it was after a half-century of unprecedented prosperity (2.5 percent in 2004).⁶³

Sunday Offerings: The average amount of money given by a full or confirmed member of a U.S. Christian church in 2004 was $691.93. This comes to an average of $13.31 per week.⁶⁴

Income versus Net Worth: Ninety-six percent of evangelical giving is given out of income, and only 4 percent is given out of net worth. (Ron Blue & Co.)

Enormous Prosperity: At the turn of the 21st century, the United States was home to 276 billionaires, over 2,500 households with a net worth exceeding $100 million, 350,000 individuals with a net worth of $10 million, and 5 million millionaires.⁶⁵

High Wealth, Small Population: Americans own approximately 40 percent of the world's wealth but comprise only 2.5 percent of the world's population.⁶⁶

Incomes Up, Giving Down: Incomes have gone up nine to 10 times in the last 20 years while giving has gone down about 50 percent.⁶⁷