Around one in five (21%) of all U.S. Christians consistently give at least 10% of their income to their church, according to a Barna Group report published September 7.
Nearly the same number (25%) do not provide financial support to their house of faith. The remaining 54% of respondents said they donate to their church in the following ways: 37% do not set a specific amount each year, 9% consistently give less than 10% of their income, and 8% establish a different level of giving each year.
The report divided Christian respondents into two categories: practicing and non-practicing.
According to Barna’s methodology, practicing Christians are “those who attend a religious service at least once a month, who say their faith is very important in their lives and self-identify as a Christian.” Non-practicing Christians are “those who self-identify as a Christian but do not qualify as a practicing Christian.”
A plurality (42%) of practicing Christians set their annual church donations at 10% or more of the annual income, compared to 16% of non-practicing Christians. Only 5% of practicing Christians do not tithe, compared to 28% of non-practicing Christians.
When asked if they knew the term “tithe,” 43% of all Christians said they were familiar with the term and were able to provide a definition, while 22% had heard the term but weren’t sure of the meaning, and 36% were not familiar with the word.
Among practicing Christians, the percentages were 59%, 18% and 22%, respectively, while the percentages among non-practicing Christians were 37%, 24% and 40%, respectively.
The full report is available here. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
