good news and bad news and good news
- 2008: 9,716 people attended worship services (187 weekly)
- 2009: 10,297 people attended worship services (198 weekly)
- 2010: 10,787 people attended worship services (207 weekly)
- 2011: 11,372 people attended worship services (219 weekly)
Bad news next: Giving has decreased each of these years (fiscal year beginning) as well. The following is yearly income.
- 2008: $448,037 ($8,616/week)
- 2009: $432,570 ($8,319/week)
- 2010: $428,764 ($8,245/week)
- 2011: $405,000 (estimated) ($7,788/week)
- 2008: $46 per person per week
- 2009: $42 per person per week
- 2010: $40 per person per week
- 2011: $36 per person per week (est)
This means that the average attender gives about $1,872 annually. If that were a tithe (10%), the average attender would be making $18,720 a year.
It is difficult to draw out many conclusions from this statistic without more information. Our family has one tithe check coming in, but 6 people coming to worship. If you add all the ages of the Hoff family together and divide it by 6, our average age attending church is 18 years old. There are many at Trinity with fixed incomes or living month-to-month on retirement resources, as well as some who are jobless, dealing with great debt, or on some form of government assistance. The information above is simply put forward as information.
Good news finally: This includes more speculation than hard facts.
- Trinity is getting older and younger.
- Trinity is reaching some new people who are meeting Jesus and experiencing His amazing grace, and are on the discipleship path which includes hearing His call to join Him in generous living and giving.
- Martin Luther says that the last thing to be converted is the pocketbook. Probably true.
What do you make of these figures?
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