That’s true–3.2 percent of churchgoer income was given in 1933, versus 2.5 percent in 2007.

So the sum total of modern church fundraising tools, techniques, and strategies has been a precipitous drop of 0.7 percentage points in giving as a percentage of income among congregation members.

There is not a “creeping crisis” of relevancy in American Christianity, she [Sylvia Ronsvalle of empty tomb, inc.] said.

“It is a galloping crisis, and it’s immune to the economy,” Ronsvalle said. “The church needs to dig in and figure it out.”

Indeed.

The quote and the stat are part of a sobering Money and Religion quiz on the long-term challenges facing church finances, available at Faith & Leadership. Well worth checking out and seeing if you can beat my 8 out of 11 performance.

Fitting that today I would finish the final version of a new church-based Transformational Giving Ten list, in preparation for beginning to write my second book on church-based Transformational Giving–a book intended to be equally applicable to churches, Christian nonprofits, and individual Christians. Draft due in November, publication set for the turn of the year.

I’m thinking to post the new church-based TG Ten on the blog here in a week or two. I just want to make sure the “final” final version is really, um, final.