Kerby Anderson

As this year winds to a close, people are thinking about a year-end gift. Others are posting tweets on Twitter about giving. One that caught many people’s attention was from the Barna Group.

At a recent seminar, a speaker made this statement: “Christian philanthropy accounted for 70% of all American philanthropy in 2022 at $300 billion total. Christians also out-gave the US Government in addressing global poverty.” Scott Sauls added to his tweet, “Whatever folks might say or think, the church remains a seismic value-add to the world.”

As you might imagine, these comments brought out lots of critics. They suggested that tithing to the church should not count as philanthropy or else argued that the figures must be wrong. The first point assumes Christians and churches offer little value to society. Yet numerous studies show how important Christian involvement is.

Georgetown University economist Brian Grim estimated the socioeconomic value of American religious activity at $1.2 trillion. Baylor professor Rodney Stark concluded that the total current savings from church programs to our society at $2.67 trillion.

And the numbers match other studies. Research by the Lilly School at Indiana University found Americans with religious affiliations made annual charitable donations that were more than twice as large as those with no religious affiliation. In his famous book, Who Really Cares, Arthur Brooks documents that households headed by a conservative gave on average 30 percent more money to charity than households headed by a liberal.

Here’s an obvious conclusion: society is a better place because of generous Christian giving.