{"id":32862,"date":"2022-09-10T16:26:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/lifeway-research-1-in-10-churches-has-had-funds-stolen\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:26:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:26:05","slug":"lifeway-research-1-in-10-churches-has-had-funds-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/lifeway-research-1-in-10-churches-has-had-funds-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifeway Research: 1 in 10 Churches Has Had Funds Stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Bob Smietana<\/em><\/p>\n

Churches and other faith groups collect tens of billions of donations each year. Chances are some of the money goes missing.<\/p>\n

About 1 in 10 Protestant churches has had someone embezzle funds, according to a new survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors from Nashville-based Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n

That figure isn\u2019t surprising, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. Most churches rely on volunteers to handle their finances, he said.<\/p>\n

Those volunteers are usually honest. But churches often lack systems to catch those who aren\u2019t. As a result, he said, money that could have been used for ministry goes missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurches run on trust\u2014but they also know people are imperfect and can be tempted,\u201d said McConnell. \u201cThat\u2019s why safeguarding a church\u2019s finances is an important part of ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Overall, 9 percent of pastors say that their church has had funds embezzled. Ninety-one percent say they are not aware of any embezzlement.<\/p>\n

Churches of Christ ministers are more likely to say their church had funds embezzled (16 percent) when compared to Baptist (7 percent) or Presbyterian\/Reformed pastors (6 percent).<\/p>\n

Pastors of mid-sized churches\u2014those with between 100 and 249 members\u2014are less likely to say funds had been embezzled (6 percent) than those with 250 or more members (12 percent).<\/p>\n

Lifeway Research\u2019s survey echoes a smaller 2012 study of churches in Kansas and Missouri, which found 13.4 percent of churches there had experienced embezzlement or other fraud.<\/p>\n

A study of more than 2,400 fraud cases at businesses and nonprofits by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners found 2.4 percent of cases involved churches or other charitable groups. The average loss was $82,000.<\/p>\n

Church audits fairly common<\/strong><\/p>\n

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As part of the Lifeway Research study, researchers also asked pastors when their church\u2019s financial books were last audited and how much cash they had in reserves.<\/p>\n

Half (47 percent) of pastors say their church has had a complete audit in the last year. Two-thirds (66 percent) say their church\u2019s books have been audited within the last four years.<\/p>\n

About a third of pastors (34 percent) say the most recent audit was more than five years ago (10 percent), their books haven\u2019t been audited ever (10 percent) or they don\u2019t know when their church last had an audit (14 percent).<\/p>\n

Among other findings:<\/p>\n