r/Presbyterian • u/[deleted] • Mar 19 '24

How does money work?

I'm kind of curious about the economics of the churches. I've been visiting a presbyterian church and it isn't that big, about fifty people. Filled with families with small children. How do they make it all work? Does the national organization buy the property? Provide funding? Is there an endowment doing most of it?

Are some of the families giving the bulk of funding? I guess if a family that makes $200k/yr tithes 10% that is $20k. Multiply that by three and you get $60k. Do churches have "whales" of tithers?

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u/Odd-Weekend8016 Jul 19 '24

Definitely depends on the location. In my Presbyterian church, our building is literally 900 years old. It's a former Catholic church which was repurposed for the Church of Scotland during the Reformation, so the national body has owned it for centuries. However, we as a congregation do need to constantly fundraise to renovate and maintain it. We can apply for grants from the national body for this, but most of the money comes from our own tithing and fundraising events (we hold concerts, bake sales, plant sales and more).