Christian researchers tracking decades of decline in charitable giving say the trend will not be reversed until pastors challenge congregants to embrace Jesus’ teachings on the poor.
But that will take a different kind of pastor than the counselors and comforters that seminaries and divinity schools have trained for ministry, according to the annual “Empty Tomb” report on Christian giving.
Empty Tomb, a nonprofit that tracks the percentage of church members’ income that they give to their congregation, reported that seminaries need to school future clergy on the affluence of American congregations and remind church members of “God’s agenda to love a hurting world.”
In 2012, the latest year for which the numbers are available, church giving dropped to 2.2 percent of member’s incomes, the lowest percentage since 1968.
Ian S. Markham, dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary, said seminaries are already doing more to boost charitable giving.
“The vast majority of seminaries offer courses on stewardship,” he said, to help future clergy motivate others to give.
(RNS)
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