Shocking Stats on Missions Giving - David Joannes https://davidjoannes.

com/shocking-stats-on-missions-giving/

How much money do

Christians pull in and where
does it go?
As a cross-cultural missionary focused on the 10/40 Window—the
final frontier of missions efforts—I am always thinking about the
misallocation of Christian giving. I s ay “ m i s a l l o ca t i o n” b e ca u s e t h e
n u m b e r s a re co m p l e t e l y l o p s i d e d .

Here are a few numbers to think about:

“Christians make up 33% of the world’s population, but receive 53%

of the world’s annual income and s p e n d 9 8 % o f i t o n
t h e m s e l ve s.” – Barrett and Johnson, 2001, 656
“North American and European Christians s p e n d $ 1 2 . 5 t r i l l i o n
o n t h e m s e l ve s a n d t h e i r fa m i l i e s e a c h ye a r.” – Barrett and
Johnson, 2001, 656

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“ O n l y 0 . 1 % o f a l l C h r i s t i a n g i v i n g i s d i re c t e d t owa rd m i s s i o n
e f fo r t s i n t h e 3 8 m o s t u n e va n g e l i z e d co u n t r i e s i n t h e wo rl d .”
– Barrett and Johnson, 2001, 656
“American Christians spend 95% of offerings on home-based
ministry, 4.5% on cross-cultural efforts in already reached people
groups, a n d . 5 % t o re a c h t h e u n re a c h e d .” – The Traveling Team
“Christians’ annual income is $12.3 trillion. $213 billion is given to
Christian causes. $11.4 billion is given to foreign missions, 87% of
which goes to work being done among the already Christian, 12%
goes to work among the evangelized non-Christians, 1 % a m o n g
t h e u n e va n g e l i z e d .” – The Traveling Team

Do we really care about those

missionaries?
I have spent a lot of time in some of the poorest of Asia’s villages over
the last decade and a half with Within Reach Global

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[http://withinreachglobal.org/] . I have shared life and the gospel

message in the huts and homes of people who have never heard the
name of Jesus before.

I t b u r n s i n my h e a r t t o s e e t h e s e co m m u n i t i e s r e a c h e d w i t h t h e
l ove o f Je s u s, b u t a p p a re n t l y, b r i n g i n g t h e h o p e o f t h e C h r i s t i a n
g o s p e l t o t h e s e p e o p l e i s s i m p l y n o t a m a j o r p r i o r i t y fo r
C h r i s t i a n s w o r l d w i d e.

Foreign and indigenous missionaries in the unreached and

unengaged world are being hung out to dry as they try to reach the
people groups in the 10/40 Window. If they were fully funded, there is
a great chance that we could finish the task of reaching the world for
Jesus.

“In AD 100 there were 12

unreached people groups for
every congregation of believers.
Now there is 1 unreached people
group for every 1000
congregations.” – Ralph Winter
[http://davidjoannes.com/the-
most-epic-monster-list-of-

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missionary-quotes-on-the-
internet/#winterralph]

But only a tiny percentage of Christian giving goes to reach the least
reached people of the globe.

We tip our waitress 15% but

we can’t even give God 10%?
O n a v e r a g e, A m e r i c a n c h u r c h m e m b e r s g i v e j u s t 2 . 5 8 % o f t h e i r
i n co m e w i t h 2 5 % g i v i n g n o t h i n g a t a l l . Discovering for the first
time that Christians are not giving at the level you may have thought
can be depressing, but even at 2.58% it still adds up to over $103
billion given to American churches each year.

$103 billion dollars every single year is an incredible amount. It’s

enough for the American church alone to eliminate the most extreme
poverty in the world by many estimates.

So how is the money being spent? Here are the stats according to
Empty Tomb, Inc. [http://www.emptytomb.org/pubs.html] :

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8 5 % g o e s t o In t e r n a l O p e ra t i o n s :

50% to pay the salary of pastors and church staff.

22% to pay for upkeep and expansion of buildings.
13% for church expenses such as electricity and supplies.

1 5 % g o e s t o O u t re a c h :

13% local ministry.

2% for overseas missions (both evangelistic and charitable).

“The Lord did not tell us to build

beautiful churches, but to
evangelize the world.” – Oswald J.
Smith [http://davidjoannes.com
/the-most-epic-monster-list-of-
missionary-quotes-on-the-
internet/#smithoswaldj]

In the end, if you only give to your local church, o d d s a re t h a t o n l y

2 % o f 2 . 5 8 % , o r 0 . 0 5 % o f yo u r i n co m e i s g o i n g t owa rd s
“ p re a c h i n g t h e g o s p e l t o e ve r y n a t i o n” a n d h e l p i n g t h e “ p o o re s t
o f t h e p o o r ” co m b i n e d .

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To put that in perspective, if you make

$50,000 a year, that is only $25.80 per
ye a r t h a t g o e s t owa r d m i s s i o n s
work—that is, IF you give toward
Gr e a t C o m m i s s i o n e f f o r t s a m o n g t h e
u n re a c h e d .

Of course, all of this depends on what church you attend and how
much you give, but it’s a sobering statistic for sure. – Believers
Resource [http://www.believersresource.com/forum/statistics-on-
how-christians-are-giving-6.html]

The epic fail of Church

embezzlement.

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And if the statistics of Christian giving do not impassion us already,

compound the disaster with the epic fail of Church embezzlement:

“Emboldened by lax procedures, trusted c h u rc h t re a s u re r s a re

e m b e z z l i n g $ 1 6 b i l l i o n e ve r y ye a r out of church funds, but only
5% ever get found out.”
“An n u a l c h u rc h e m b e z z l e m e n t s by t o p c u s t o d i a n s exce e d t h e
e n t i re co s t o f a l l fo re i g n m i s s i o n s wo rl d w i d e.” – World
Evangelization Research Center
“Christians spend more on the annual audits of their churches and
agencies ($810 million) than on all their workers in the non-
Christian world.” – World Evangelization Research Center
“ C h r i s t i a n s wo r l d w i d e w i l l co m m i t m o re t h a n $ 3 7 b i l l i o n i n
c h u rc h - re l a t e d fi
finna n c i a l f ra u d d u r i n g 2 0 1 3 . Co m p a re t h a t t o
t h e $ 3 3 b i l l i o n c h u rc h e s a re ex p e c t e d t o s p e n d o n wo r l d w i d e
m i s s i o n wo rk t h i s ye a r.” – Center for the Study of Global
Christianity

That may be a lot to swallow. Do you find it as incredulous as I do?

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Partner with God to reach

unreached people groups.
My q u e s t i o n i s t h i s : Ar e w e a s b e l i e v e r s t r u l y i n t e r e s t e d i n
fi
finni s h i n g t h e t a s k o f re a c h i n g t h e wo rl d fo r C h r i s t , t h u s
u s h e r i n g i n t h e e n d o f t h e a g e ? Do we truly want to partner with
God in reaching every “people, tongue, tribe and nation” with the
gospel to speed the return of Jesus as the blueprint of Matthew 24:14
describes?

Want to reach unreached people groups in Southeast

Asia? Donate to Within Reach Global here.
[http://withinreachglobal.org/donate/]

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