The questionnaire which we employed included numerous questions about how respondents perceived the leaders of their congregation as well as their denomination, particularly with respect to the handling of money. These church perception factors were not significant in accounting for differences among CRC members in total congregational giving. We had also added to the questionnaire items intended to measure differences in religious attitudes toward giving, but none of these had much effect. Even measures of theological conservatism, such as belief that one's whole approach to life is based on religion, that evangelism is the primary duty of Christians, and that only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved, did not pan out to be good predictors of congregational giving. We suspect the reason to be a great deal of homogeneity among the denominational membership on such measures.
Household income has the strongest relationship with giving, and it is positive.
In other words, the greater household income, the more is given to one's local congregation. Multiple regression shows the strength of each factor, holding constant the effects of all other factors in the analysis. Household income continues to account for the largest proportion of variation in CRC members' giving to their local church. The average amount of time one commits to the local congregation is the second most effective factor among contributors to congregational giving. As we said above, time and money are key strengths.