The State of Church Giving through 2003 – Chapter 2 Highlights

Chapter 2 Highlights

• The composite denominations data set was expanded to include fifteen additional denominations for which 2002 and 2003 data was available.
• In both the composite set and the expanded set, from 2002 to 2003 per member giving as a percentage of income decreased to Total Contributions, Congregational Finances, and Benevolences.
• Although both sets evidenced the same trends, the rate of decrease in giving as a percentage of income from 2002 to 2003 was higher in the composite set of communions than in the expanded set. However, when an adjustment was made to one of the fifteen denominations added to the composite set, the difference between the two sets of data became smaller.