In the United States, conservatively using the 3 million member number, we can then extrapolate that the Church has an estimated annual income of $2 billion and annual expenditures of $1.32 billion.
Education, curriculum, and printing costs/supplies: 5%.To break down those expenditures, we can extrapolate from the line-item disclosures in these two countries to rough percentages - which I’ve mapped onto our fourfold mission: And across both countries, it appears that the Church has a general budget practice of spending 2/3rds of its income year-over-year, and saving or investing the other 1/3rd. Across both countries, the Church appears to be receiving an average annual tithing contribution of $650 per member. In its most recent annual report, the Church received $72 million and spent $45 million. In England the Church has 185,000 members and 200 employees. Last year in Canada, the Church received $176 million and spent $110 million. In Canada the Church has 200,000 members and 300 employees. But based on the Church’s required financial disclosures in Canada and the UK, we can make some educated guesses.
Due to religious exemptions for public reporting of its finances – along with the Church’s choosing to not otherwise be financially transparent (one of the decisions I quibble with) – we don’t know how exactly the Church prioritizes its resources. That’s the membership limitation let’s took at the financial limitations. So when I hear friends ask iterations on why doesn’t the Church match the expansive educational, hospital, charitable, and social justice networks that the Catholics have?, my first answer is “We’re not big enough.” Even likewise dividing those numbers in half (based on weekly church attendance), their sheer size far eclipses us. So let’s go with 3 million and/or 1% of Americans.īy comparison, the Census Bureau reports 58 million self-identifying Catholics and 36 million self-identifying Baptists. Independent surveys of American religiosity, however, peg the number of self-identifying, active Mormons as closer to half of that. The Church’s Annual Report says it has almost 16 million baptized members worldwide, with 6.5 million in the United States.
Let’s look at the raw numbers, focusing on the Church in the United States. Sure, I quibble with the Church’s choices around the margins, but I accept that overall the choices are intentional, and intended to establish priorities within the four-fold mission of the Church. But for me, it lends a forgiving perspective. That’s just a fact – a fact born of the realities of membership, resources, and structure.įor some, admitting the Church’s limitations may border on heresy. The Church cannot be all things to all people.
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