In Sermon Illustrations: "Future Generations" showing 1,001-1,020 of 7,449

After Being Away On Business, A Man Thought It ...  PRO

Contributed by Merwin Rylaarsdam on Jan 4, 2006

After being away on business, a man thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift. “How about some perfume?” he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle costing $50.00. “That’s a bit much,” he said, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30.00. “That’s still quite a ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Crime: Gallup's Annual Crime Poll Reports Nearly ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Crime: Gallup’s annual crime poll reports nearly 1 in 3 households experienced some type of crime during the past year, including 18% with one incident and another 14% with two or ...read more

Tags: Sin General

The U.s. Has More Than 300,000 Protestant ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

The U.S. has more than 300,000 Protestant congregations and some 20,000 Catholic parishes. (The Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Church General

American Donors Give About The Same Over The Long ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

American Donors give about the same over the long term. The IRS reports that those who itemize deductions on their tax returns have claimed since 1975 that between 1.6% and 2.16% of their income went to charitable concerns. Gallup polls finds that charitable donations run between 1.5% and 2% and ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Active Christians Who Volunteer Are The Best ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Active Christians who volunteer are the best donors. People really do put the treasure where their heart is, 90% of volunteers contribute to charity. The volunteer-donor is likely to be an active Christian. More than income, age, race, or education, faith predicts giving and volunteering. People, ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Robert Wuthnow, Author Of God And Mammon In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Robert Wuthnow, author of God and Mammon in America states, "The more orthodox the (church) member’s belief and faith, the higher the giving--except among Catholics." (In general Catholic giving lags behind Protestant giving.) He also has discovered very predictable giving increases as a result of ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Charismatic Churches Over 45,000 U.s. Churches ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Charismatic Churches Over 45,000 U.S. churches identify themselves as charismatic or Pentecostal or nearly 15% of all American churches. Only Baptists claim a larger ...read more

Tags: Church General

Parachurch Donor Revenue Growth Has Outstripped ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Parachurch Donor Revenue growth has outstripped churches for the past 20 or more years. In 1900, parachurches received about 12.5% of religious donations. By 1970, that had increased to 28.5% and it’s estimated that in 1996 parachurches received 51.5% ($100 billion) , ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Denominational Threat: Half Of All Church Going ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Denominational Threat: Half of all church going Americans are attending only 12% of the nation’s 400,000 churches. This has to be quite troubling to denominations, the many of the largest churches are either not denominationally affiliated, or if they are ...read more

Tags: Church General

Peter Drucker Says; "Americans Today Go To Church ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Peter Drucker says; "Americans today go to church for reasons very different from those of two generations ago. Then attendance was steered by heritage, habit, and social status, now it is an act of commitment, and therefore meaningful. It is no longer an act of conformity, and therefore ...read more

Tags: Church General

Marriage Is Making A Comeback: According To The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Marriage is Making a Comeback: According to the National Review, the health U.S. marriages is improving. Data from the National Center for health Statistics and the Census Bureau gives some hopeful signs: while the marriage rate is declining, so is the divorce rate, from 22.6 divorces per 1,000 ...read more

Tags: Marriage General

Evangelical Council For Financial ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability’s latest annual report reveals their 840 members had a combined total income of $4.81 billion, spent $3.71 billion on program expenses, have total assets of $5.81 billion with liabilities of $2.3 billion. Cash donations and foundation grants ...read more

Tags: Giving General

66% Of Latin American Protestants Attend A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

· 66% of Latin American protestants attend a Pentecostal church. · Charisma magazine reports its average reader spends more than $570 on Christian products annually and household income averages over $51,000. · It also reports that in the past year: 88% of its readers last year purchased at least ...read more

Tags: Church General

Researchers At The University Of Michigan Have ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that 40% of Americans seek help from clergy for their mental-health needs. At the same time many denominations are encouraging their pastors to refer parishioners to professional psychotherapists to insulate them from the growing ...read more

Tags: Church General

Individuals Are Biggest Donors Foundations ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Individuals Are Biggest Donors Foundations account for 7% of all American donations, corporations give 5%, but individuals account for 80% of giving and 57% of those gifts ($66 billion) went to religious non-profits in 1995. ...read more

Tags: Giving General

America's Research Group Has Found That 53% Of A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

America’s Research Group has found that 53% of a store’s selection perception comes from the external appearance of the building. Therefore, the external appearance becomes a factor that can make or break retailers. It influences people’s ...read more

Tags: Church General

Longer Engagements Bride's Magazine Finds The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

Longer Engagements Bride’s magazine finds the average length of engagements rising sharply during this decade, from 11 months in ’90 to 13 months now. The study reports 27% of weddings are paid for by the couple, with the bride’s father picking the whole tab only 19% of the time. The tab is ...read more

Tags: Marriage General

8 In 10 Americans Earning More Than $1 Million A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

8 in 10 Americans earning more than $1 million a year leave nothing to charity in their wills. "Philanthropy is part of the unspoken contract that underpins the American dream. If that contract is broken, a backlash is likely. Every American, rich and poor, would lose." This same issue lists ...read more

Tags: Giving General

In '70, Unmarried People Represented 28% Of The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

In ’70, unmarried people represented 28% of the adult population in the U.S. In ’96 40% of all adults are unmarried. Causes are postponement of first marriage (average age is now 27.1 for men and 24.8 for women), higher levels of divorce (10% of the population has been divorced and not remarried) ...read more

Tags: Marriage General

More Than 4 Million U.s. Households Are Now ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

More than 4 million U.S. households are now comprised of unmarried couples, up 8% since ’70. 36% of these couples have children under age 15 living with ...read more

Tags: Marriage General