Passing the Plate

Christian Smith and Michael Emerson -

Why do Christians in the world's wealthiest nation give away so little of their income?

That's the question Passing the Plate explores, drawing on extensive survey data as well findings from prior studies of giving patterns among Christians. In search of answers, Smith and Emerson carefully unpack the problem, then offer explanations and perspective on how lay people and church leaders approach money, with practical suggestions for the way forward.

Strengths:

Tone. Although one might expect the tone of a book that examines why Christians give so little to be critical and accusatory, the authors instead approach Passing the Plate with a genuine heart for helping Christians live out their faith and experience the joy of supporting causes they believe in.

Statistics. Written by two research professors, Passing the Plate offers no shortage of interesting statistics. For example, a whopping 22.1% of Christians give absolutely nothing to charity in a given year. And a mere 9.4% of Christians give 10% or more of their income to churches and charities per year. Smith and Emerson go beyond the numbers with thought-provoking analysis to help the reader understand the underlying reasons for these trends.

Interesting. The authors organized their own survey of American Christians and asked, "Suppose your church made a new requirement for church membership: members must give 10% of their after-tax income to the church or other good causes. Those giving less than 10% could still attend church, but would not be considered members in good standing. How would you personally most likely respond to this requirement?" Here's the interesting part: they found that just over half of American Christians would either drop out of church or move to a different church if asked to tithe.

Visionary. Smith and Emerson imagine what would happen if American Christians became more generous and tithed. They concluded that an additional $46 billion would be available to advance the kingdom of God. They then devote several pages to describing specific projects (with dollar amounts) that could be accomplished with those funds (i.e. $330 million for indigenous missionaries in nations most closed to foreign religious workers, $500 million to close the gap on funding needed to eradicate polio, $75 million for new prison ministries in the U.S., etc.)

Solutions. While the authors go into great detail explaining the problem - the opening 56 pages to be exact - they also provide several concrete suggestions for addressing the problems. One of the suggestions, for example, is for congregations to shift from a dutiful "pay the bills" mentality to a future-oriented "live the vision" approach which is "driven by a view of generous financial giving as a fundamental part of the Christian worship experience and life of faith."

Things to Be Aware Of:

Passing the Plate is a well-researched book with good information for a variety of audiences (as was noted above). Some readers may find it to be a challenging read, however, as there are numerous charts, tables, and statistics for a book that is under 200 pages (not including the appendices and other resource information).

Available at: www.amazon.com