Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money

by Christian Smith

Hardcover, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

248.6

Collection

Publication

Oxford University Press (2008), 288 pages

Description

Passing the Plate shows that few American Christians donate generously to religious and charitable causes -- a parsimony that seriously undermines the work of churches and ministries. Far from the 10 percent of one's income that tithing requires, American Christians' financial giving typically amounts, by some measures, to less than one percent of annual earnings. And a startling one out of five self-identified Christians gives nothing at all. This eye-opening book explores the reasons behind such ungenerous giving, the potential world-changing benefits of greater financial giving, and what

User reviews

LibraryThing member A2JC4life
This is one of the driest books I've ever read, page-by-page - I thought I'd never get through it - and yet, taken as a whole, it's far from boring.

The authors explore a variety of research in attempt to the answer the question: Why don't American Christians give away more money? It is jammed full
Show More
of statistics, which is why it's sluggish reading. What it reveals, however, is fascinating (or was to me, anyway).

For a book of a statistical nature, I found this one superbly written. Although it is apparent that the authors are likely Christians themselves, the writing was about as unbiased and well-balanced as it gets. They don't make any assumptions - with a few exceptions, where they are very clear about the fact that they are well-educated assumptions and not facts - but let the facts speak for themselves and arrive at only those conclusions which are firmly upheld by the research. In other words, I found no errors of logic here. The authors are gracious, as well, allowing for the minority of American Christians who truly do not have anything above and beyond that which meets their basic needs and not discounting them.

At the very end of the book, in the conclusion, there is some more subjective content, as the authors make recommendations of changes that pastors, in particular, could make to perhaps encourage more generous giving within their congregations. They make it clear, however, that these are ideas they came up with and are worth giving thought to, but which may or may not work in a given situation. In short, the authors are very humble.

I would highly recommend this to anyone in church leadership.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wbc3
Passing the Plate is a very useful book, but is very dry reading. I would recommend it for pastors, elders, or anyone in church leadership who needs to understand how and why people give money. It probably is best skimmed and used for reference than read cover to cover.
LibraryThing member Jared_Runck
"Passing the Plate" is a sobering sociological study of patterns of American Christian giving, built off prior studies as well as some original survey and interview work by the authors. In its essence, the key finding of the book is that the majority of American Christians barely give any money at
Show More
all to churches and charities, especially when compared with their actual capacity to give. In fact, according to the authors' rather-conservative estimate, American Christians are currently capable of giving $1.334 BILLION to churches and charitable causes…in addition to their current giving.

However, the goal of the study is not to estimate the American Christian generosity deficit but to explore the reasons why so many American Christians choose to give so far below their potential. It is here that the bad news becomes even worse. What becomes quite clear is that there is a clear and fundamental disconnect between church teaching, pastoral leadership, and lay commitment and action that spans denominations. (In that sense, especially, this study is sobering for many aspects of church teaching, say, for example, on the sanctity of human life and/or a biblical understanding of marriage.) Another equally disturbing finding is that many of the Christians who do not give faithfully at their full capacity clearly recognize that they can and should do better in this area, but simply choose not to. They live with what Wiman and Emerson call "comfortable guilt." They know that what they are doing is wrong, but that knowledge is not enough to cause them to change their ways.

There are several things that I, as a non-sociologist and as a practicing church leader, appreciate. First, the opening chapter gives detailed lists of exactly how that untapped $100+ billion could be used across a broad spectrum of Christian missionary and humanitarian efforts; as you can imagine, the change it could affect is immense…"world-changing" in every meaningful sense of the term. Second, the authors' use of interviews (ch. 4) to give "faces to the figures" of the data-based chapters helps to clarify how these oft-contradictory attitudes about giving coexist within otherwise deeply-committed believers and those who lead them.

Third, the authors offer up two very intriguing models (or perhaps patterns) in local congregations' approaches to the spiritual discipline of giving (end of ch. 4). The first (and inferior) model they describe as a "Pay the Bills" approach; the second (and superior) model they describe as a "Live the Vision" approach. In this "Live the Vision" approach,

"Financial giving was cast as an important opportunity to live fully, to grow, to become who one truly is. Money was framed not as a necessary resource for organizational upkeep but as a crucial means of shaping one's values, vision, purpose, identity, and life direction."

Fourth, and finally, the authors humbly offer some suggestions for church leaders to encourage their congregants. These range from the ideological (e.g., move away from the "Pay the Bills" to the "Live the Vision" approach to money) to the practical (e.g., enable online giving methods to "routinize" generosity).

Though I am unable to comment on the validity of the methodology or the figures presented (I can only say there were a lot of 'em), I did get a distinct impression that this was carefully-done research that worked very hard not to overstate its claims, even when such claims were frankly astounding. Even though now about 10 years on from publication, I found the book an enlightening description of some of the challenging patterns I have observed in my own current congregational context. In fact, I think this would be a VERY good book for local pastors and elder boards to read together as a way to start this very important conversation. And if this book can for at least some churches and individuals shatter the stranglehold of "comfortable guilt" and motivate true and lasting change, then it will well repay the authors' efforts. And might even actually change the world.
Show Less

Physical description

288 p.; 9.3 x 6.3 inches

ISBN

0195337115 / 9780195337112
Page: 0.3135 seconds