Giving Patterns 2012--2013

           During the last couple of months several of our leaders and staff members asked questions about the patterns of giving at Calvary.  It is evident that we are experiencing numerical growth in membership and total Sunday morning attendance (especially in our Spanish Language Ministry).  The questions that have been raised include: Is giving increasing, decreasing or staying the same?  Do we have more contributors than before or not?  Are new members giving/tithing?  Have some members stopped giving or decreased their giving?  Is the per-capita (average given per person/family) giving the same or less? Etc., etc.

          These questions are relevant for several reasons.  The answers can point us to areas of growth and areas where growth is needed.  This has implications for our teaching.  They can also tell us something about the health of our church in regard to giving.  Recent research indicated that the number of contributors in North American churches is decreasing and that the percentage those contributors are giving is also decreasing.  Twenty years ago it was said that in general 20% of the people in a church gave 80% of the money.  Today it is said that generally 10% of the people give 90% of the money.  There are many reasons given for those shifts.  One of the big ones is that the "builder" generation (those born before WWII), who have always been committed and generous givers, is decreasing.  Younger generations give less because of their standard of living, level of indebtedness and lack of agreement (or knowledge) about biblical teaching on giving.

           This post is not meant to analyze giving patterns in the North American church.  Neither is the intent to present a biblical teaching on giving (We recently studied "The Treasure Principle").  The objective here is to share how Calvary is doing in this regard.  However, this study and report assumes certain biblical principles including:

1. That the tithe (10%) of our income is a proportional principle for giving to God's work demonstrating that He is the owner of the 100% (Leviticus 27:30).
2. That this principle of the tithe as proportionate giving pre-dates and post-dates the Mosaic law (Genesis 14:20; 28:22; Matthew 23:23; 1 Corinthians 16:2).
3. The tithe as a biblical principle is not to be practiced as a legalistic obligation imposed by others but as a starting principle to respond to God's grace.  Grace always goes beyond the law.  Grace always goes beyond the minimum.  (Matthew 10:8).  It is a voluntary response to God's grace and to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7) but the tenth is the Scriptural guide for proportionate giving.
4. The tithe is meant for the place of worship and service of God's people.  When the prophet Malachi exhorted Israel to seek spiritual renewal, he told them on God's behalf, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house" (Malachi 3:10).  Surely there were poor to help everywhere and there might have been other benevolent causes to support outside of having provision in the Temple.  But the spiritual renewal of Israel called for the investment of their heart in the place they worshipped God and where God's Word was taught them.  To put it in New Testament terms, Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  In other words, spiritual commitment to the place where a believer worships, serves, and experiences discipleship is accompanied by financial commitment and vise-versa.  In turn, the church has a responsibility to support missions and to help the poor, etc., etc.  As individuals, we are free to contribute to causes outside our local church but we have a spiritual commitment to pray and support our congregation as a matter of priority.

          As Lead Pastor I have purposed myself not to have access to the contribution records.  In other words I don't know who gives what at Calvary.  I have never known and I want to keep it that way.  In order to have an idea of giving patters at Calvary I asked the support staff that has access to contribution records (there are only two staff members who do) to prepare a report.  This report was shared with the stewardship committee at their last monthly meeting.  The three-page report is available to Calvary leaders who request it.  This report is not a thorough long-range report but it gives a good idea of the present situation.  I share some of the findings with you below:

1. A significant number of families make some financial contribution to Calvary.  Of the 1,760 families in our database (members, attendees and prospects), 822 families contribute financially (47%).  When only the member families (700) are considered, 68% (474) contribute.
2. English Language Ministry (ELM) and Spanish Language Ministry (SLM) compliment each other in giving.  The percentage of member families who contribute from the ELM is lower (54%) than the percentage of member families who contribute from the SLM (100%).  However, the per capita family giving in the ELM is about three times as much as the per capita family giving in the SLM.
3. There were more individuals (654) contributing in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 (611).  In the first six months of 2012 an extraordinary gift was made by one individual.  Removing this extraordinary gift, more money was given in the first six months of 2013 ($949,157) than in the first six months of 2012 ($888,669).  This represents a 7% growth in number of contributors and in dollar amount from last year to this year.
4. We have gained more new contributors than lost former contributors but the dollar amount given by the new contributors is less than former contributors.  There were 197 individuals who gave in 2012 and have not given in 2013.  That represents a total of $116,488.  However, there were 232 individuals who have given in 2013 and did not give in 2012 representing a total of $85,123.
5. We have more current contributors who have increased their giving than those who have decreased their giving.  There were 182 individuals who gave less in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total decrease of $100,511.  On the other side, there were 210 individuals who gave more in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total increase of $191,365.
6. About 32% of member families might be considered tithers or significant-proportinate contributors providing 92% of the total budget dollars received.  (Compare this with the 10%-of-people-give-90%-of-the-money pattern mentioned above).

          It should be noted that our database includes families and members who are inactive.  Also some of the changes in giving relate to people who have moved away or changed church membership.  The analysis of reasons why these things are so is outside the scope of this report.

          A couple of observations are in order in regard to this information.  The first one is that the state of giving in our church is healthy.  There is room for growth but there is wide participation and many of the numbers are above the "norm" of churches in the nation.  We have grown in the amount of contributors and thus in the amount of money given.  However, the per-capita giving has decreased some.  This is somewhat in keeping with general trends in the nation. It means it will take more people to do some things.  It means we may have to find ways to do more with less.  The future, nevertheless, remains bright.  We have growing to do but we have a congregation that is committed.

          This July was one of the best "Julys" in the last several years.  At the beginning of the summer our staff had projected that July would incur $12,000 in expenses over income.  This is due to the nature of summer events and to the giving trends in summer months.  However, we had a July in the black!  We received more money than was spent!  The financial reports are not complete yet but we are confident that we did much better than we had projected.  Our YTD deficit has been decreased and there is still hope to get in the black for YTD in the next couple of months.  We praise God for that!

        We thank you in your role as a leader of Calvary for your prayers and your support of the Lord's work in our midst.  To God be the glory!