Every year, summer comes around with its
cookouts, lemonade, vacations, high electric bills, and lower numbers in
church. It's a given you can pretty much plan on, the number of people coming
to church on Sundays in the summer is lower than pretty much any other time in
the year. Lower numbers means it can be harder to find the volunteers and
attendees at meetings and events (people aren't there to hear the announcements).
It also means that the amount of giving also goes down. In the last few weeks I've spent some time
looking at the giving here at Zion, and I want to share with you what I've
found out. I think it's interesting and also challenging. (All of these numbers are based on 2017) Annually the members of Zion contribute
$17,945 in the offering plate. That averages out to $345 per week. Our average
attendance in 2017 was 27.91 so that means each person put $12.36 in the plate per
week. Now, our attendance numbers include infants and children so that's not
really accurate; and, there are individuals who contribute to the church, but
are not able to join us for worship on Sunday. Of the 49 households that are members at Zion,
23 actually contributed. Not even 50%! That's shocking! In Jefferson County the
median household income is $42,327. If our 23 giving households contributed a
tithe at that level the annual giving would be $97,352.10 (MUCH larger than our
current giving of $17,945). Now, I fully realize that there are a large number
of folks who don't make the median household income, and are on a fixed income.
Did you know the average Social Security disbursement is $14,760 per person? If
our 23 households (not all of whom are retired) gave a tithe at that level our
annual income would be $33, 948 – almost twice our current income. These numbers were surprising, so I dug a
little deeper with our Treasurer, Jeff Knauff's help. Of our 23 giving households only 3 contributed at
least a tithe at the Social Security disbursement level ($1476), and 6 contributed annually at half
that ($738). Of those 9 households, only 3 are not of retirement age, which
means 6 are. I share with you these numbers for several
reasons: First, looking purely at the numbers it appears that few of us are
following through on the Biblical call to give ten percent of what we make to
God. I'm sure all of us can do better. I fully realize that many of us are
living paycheck to paycheck and we give financially as we are able; there are
other ways to contribute. So, secondly, when was the last time you volunteered
to prepare or serve a meal? When was the last time you called the church to ask
if you could help out planting flowers, or cleaning the nursery? When was the
last time you served as a lay reader, a greeter, an usher? So I challenge you: Are you giving what you
can? Either in acts of service or money? What would it look like if you did?
Can you imagine what the church could do to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ
if all of us gave what we could? (Whether it's Summer, Fall, Winter, or
Spring.) With the Greatest of Hope! |
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