Study: Clergy & Laity Differ on Tithing Mandate
Most Protestant clergy say Christians are biblically mandated to tithe to the local church, but less than half of the laity in Protestant churches agree, a new research study released Thursday revealed.
Most Protestant clergy say Christians are biblically mandated to tithe to the local church, but less than half of the laity in Protestant churches agree, a new research study released Thursday revealed.
Ellison Research conducted two studies on Protestant church ministers nationwide and people who attend Protestant churches at least once a month. Released for the first time on Facts & Trends magazine, findings showed some clergy believe in the 10 percent mandate to the local church, others believe in the mandate but not necessarily to the local church, and still others believe Christians are under no mandate to give anything. People in the pews largely do not believe in giving the 10 percent.
Among all Protestant ministers, 56 percent believe Christians have to tithe to the local church. On a denominational level, 92 percent of Pentecostal clergy agree along with over half of Southern Baptist and Baptist leaders. Less than half of the ministers in other denominational groups agree.
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Similar but smaller proportions were seen in laity attitudes on tithing to the local church with 55 percent of Pentecostals, 51 percent of Southern Baptists, 30 percent of Presbyterians agreeing and 25 percent of Methodists agreeing.
"What’s really sad is that six out of ten churchgoers told us they believe the Bible commands them to tithe 10 percent or more of their incomes, yet other studies have consistently shown that under one out of ten actually do that," said Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, according to the report. "In other words, at least half of all Protestants are clear on what they believe they’re supposed to be giving, but consistently don’t give it."
More than heads from other denominations, Presbyterian ministers believe tithing does not necessarily have to go to the local church and very few Southern Baptists say the same. However, among congregants, more Southern Baptists hold the same belief while few Presbyterians do.
The study also surveyed Christian heads and laity on giving with most saying that support does not have to be limited to religious causes or organizations. Only 3 percent of clergy and 1 percent of laity feel that Christians should only support Christian causes. And three out of ten clergy believe giving should be directed toward Christian causes or organizations.
More than half of each group surveyed has given money to a non-religious organization in the last 12 months. According to the study, 55 percent of all churchgoers feel Christians should be free to support any type of cause or organization, regardless of whether it has a religious connection, and 33 percent of all clergy feel the same way.
"When we work with individual charitable organizations, there's often an assumption that Christians support Christian ministries over non-religious organizations," said Sellers. "This study conclusively shows that assumption to be false, and that in fact over half of all Protestant churchgoers don’t even give any preference to Christian organizations in their giving decisions. It's critical that Christian organizations really understand this about their target market."
Much of the giving was directed toward the slate of disasters that hit America this past year. Americans' contributions to last year's hurricane relief efforts reached a record number of over $3 billion. Eight out of ten ministers and a little over half of laity have personally supported an organization working in disaster relief. Other causes popular among clergy are evangelism, denominational causes or programs and specific schools, colleges or universities. Less popular causes include individual political candidates, veterans' causes, cultural, the environment and animal welfare.
Laity has supported fewer causes outside their own church over the past year than their church leaders. Disaster relief is the only cause that received support from a majority of Protestant churchgoers. Behind disaster relief are evangelism, veterans' causes, denominational programs, health and educational causes.
The study on clergy took a representative sample of 811 Protestant church ministers nationwide. The other was a companion survey of 1,184 people who attend Protestant churches at least once a month.
