Home ownership in the United States is dropping. According to a Gallup study released in July, home ownership has dropped from a 71 percent average between 2001 and 2009 to a 63 percent average between 2010 and 2017. Home ownership has dropped 10 percent among U.S. adults age 49 and below and 7 percent among those between the ages of 50 to 64. It has dropped in every income group and every region.
The only exception is adults 65 and over where there has been a slight increase in home ownership — up from 81 percent to 82 percent.
What does home ownership have to do with stewardship?
In its analysis, Gallup concluded, “The recent declines in home ownership appear to be a function of many Americans not having the financial means to own a home rather than a result of changes in attitudes about home ownership. The vast majority of nonhomeowners, particularly younger adults, say they intend to buy a home in the next decade.”
Fewer resources
Did you read the words “many Americans not having the financial means to own a home?” One of the major trends in Christian stewardship today is that younger families have fewer resources than their parents. That impacts giving.
A Pew study based on the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements showed that in 1967, 33 percent of senior households lived in poverty. That percentage dropped to 11 percent in 2010. In the last seven years it has climbed back up. Today the National Council on Aging found that half of older adults living alone and 1 out of 4 older adults living in two-elder households lack the financial resources required to pay for basic needs (2016 Elder Index).
Poverty rate
Households age 35 and below had a poverty rate of 12 percent in 1967, the study found. By 2010 that had increased to 22 percent and the percentage of children living in poverty continues to grow (now about 1 in 4 in Alabama).
The bottom line is Americans have fewer financial resources than in past years and that is impacting all charitable giving including gifts to churches. Churches can no longer expect members will increase their giving from year to year. Many members struggle with expenses for housing, health care, food, clothing and other survival items.
Teaching basic money management skills and helping members understand how their faith impacts spending decisions is a pressing need as financial resources continue shrinking.
Another trend impacting Christian stewardship is that people are giving less consistently to churches. According to The Giving Institute, 53 percent of all charitable giving went to churches in 1987. In 2014 that percentage was 32 percent. That is a dramatic downward slide that shows no signs of stopping.
Estate giving
Also disappointing was the finding by the latest study by State of the Plate that fewer than 1 in 4 Christians planned to make an estate gift to their church. As Barry Bledsoe of The Baptist Foundation of Alabama is fond of saying, estate giving is the best opportunity most believers have to demonstrate their Christian stewardship values.
The report indicated 59 percent of churches are either flat or declining in giving. And while most Americans attend small to medium churches, larger churches get most of the money. One study found that 10 percent of the nation’s churches receive 50 percent of church giving.
It is encouraging that 96 percent of church members report giving to their church but the average gift of an American family still falls in the 3 to 5 percent range of total income.
Church members seem to have more of a giving nature than nonchurch members, the State of the Plate study found. About 90 percent of church members reported giving to their church and at least one nonchurch charity. Only about 60 percent of nonchurch members reported giving to a charity.
Online giving
That finding highlights another trend in stewardship. Technology allows givers to bypass traditional giving channels such as denominations and give directly to a church or ministry. Online giving is an example. Now a giver may respond to a sense of obligation, passion or persuasion and make a gift directly to a cause.
While possible 25 years ago, it was much more cumbersome. Today it can be done on a smartphone with little effort. As a result, giving is becoming more diverse and fewer dollars are being channeled through churches or denominations.
Despite these trends perhaps the real task for the Church regarding Christian stewardship is the same as it has always been. Giving is supposed to be an act of worship.
Theologian Mark Allan Powell said, “The offering is an act of worship, an instance in which we are invited to give up something that we value — our money — as a sacrifice to God. In many ways it is the high point of the liturgy. We come to church to worship God and at no other point in the service are we provided with so pure an opportunity for worship as this.”
The offering is not about raising money to pay the bills although a church has bills to pay. The offering is not about satisfying a God who is asking for what we have. God does not need anything from us. The offering is because of a Christian believer’s need to express commitment to God. It is a time to joyfully express one’s love for God.
Act of worship
In a simple and sincere way Christian believers come before God offering a sacrifice representing love and devotion. As Jesus’ story about the widow’s mite (Luke 21:1–4) teaches, it is not the size of the gift that matters, not even the benefit it may bring to the recipient that counts. It is the attitude and motivation of the giver that is primary. Giving is always supposed to be an act of worship and that is more than a trend.
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