A survey recently published by the Christian charity Stewardship, shows that “the average monthly giving for United Kingdom Christians is over twice the national average”.

They surveyed 6,011 Christian adults online in September 2024, and divided them in four categories: ‘committed Christians’ (attend church and read the Bible at least once a week); ‘practising Christians’ (attend church and read the Bible at least once a month); ‘church-going Christians’ (attend church at least once a month but read the Bible less than once a month); and ‘cultural Christians’ (identify as Christians but attend church less than once a month).

Deeper Christian practice leads to greater generosity

Given this classification, the study finds that “the average monthly giving for Christians across all levels of practice is £124 a month, or 5% of their income, which is over twice the national average”.

Meanwhile, ‘committed Christians’ “give an average of £314 a month, equating to 11% of their Income. This is almost five times more than the £65 per month that is given by UK citizens to all charities, according to the Charities Aid Foundation”.

When it comes to motivation for giving, the majority of ‘committed Christians’ (34%) said that “gratitude for the blessings (home, finance, family etc) God has given me” was the greatest motivation for them, while for the rest of participants the main reason is “I felt part of something that can make a difference”.

Committed Christians experience the most joy from their generosity

The survey not only demostrate a link between regular Christian practice and increased generosity, but also that those who are most engaged in their faith experienced most joy in giving.

When asked ‘Reflecting on the last 12 months, which of these words best describe how you have felt about your charitable giving?’, 42% of ‘committed Christians’ responded “joy”, compared to 10% of ‘cultural Christians.

Furthermore, “those belonging to independent churches were at least five percentage points more likely than any other denomination to say they felt a sense of ‘responsibility’ about their charitable giving”, points out the survey.

What do Christians give to?

According to the survey, over 90% of Christians who attend church at least once a month give regularly to their church. Other causes they give to include Christian chairities (82%), secular charities (71%) and Christian workers (51%).

Trust is a “key driver for giving”, as 73% of regular church-goers reported they trust their church “a lot”. The trust factor drops for the other causes this group supports, with 50% saying they trust Christian charities secular charities, followed by Christian workers (30%) and secular charities (27%).

Charity’s faith affiliation is not a deciding factor

The survey also shows that on average 25% of Christians give regularly to Christian charities compared to 22% who give regularly to secular charities, which means that “a commitment to a Christian faith doesn’t preclude supporting causes that are not explicitly driven by faith”.

Regarding Christian practice, 61% of ‘committed Christians’ give regularly to Christian charities and 44% to secular charities, compared to 5% of ‘cultural Christians’ giving regularly to Christian charities and 9% to secular charities.

The youngest give most

When considering the impact that demographics has on giving, age stood out from all other categories.

The youngest age category (18-24) are nearly twice as likely as other age groups to be in the ‘committed Christian’ group and on average they give £98.26 per month, a higher proportion of their income than any other age group.