The Negro's church,.

174

The Negro's Church

reported enrollments beyond 3,000 (see Table 28 in the
Appendix).
The evidence produced here and in chapter v does not mean
that large contributions per capita are necessarily desirable,
nor that small churches of fewer than 500 members are advocated; it does not mean that in large churches large per capita
sums are not given; but it certainly does show that in churches
with enrollments beyond 2,000 the greater are the chances
that a smaller percentage of the memberships will attend and
support the church financially.
It is significantly established, so far as this study goes, that
as the membership increases the greater are the probabilities
that the percentage of contributors and the percentage of those
who attend will decrease; greater also is the likelihood that
the larger churches will raise less money per member.
THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES OWNED
Of the 609 churches included in this study, 541, or 88.8 per
cent., own their buildings or are buying them; 62 churches,
or 10.2 per cent., are renting; and 6, or 1.0 per cent., are
accounted for as follows: two are company-owned, one is
owned by the pastor, one by a city mission, one by a white
church, and the other one is a gift.
THE ESTIMATED VALUE OF NEGRO CHURCH PROPERTY
According to the Federal Census of Religious Bodies, the
value of 94.8 per cent. of all Negro churches in the United
States was $56,636,159 in 1906; in 1916 the value of 93.7
per cent. of all Negro churches was reported to be $86,809,970; in 1926 only 87.7 per cent. of the churches reported,
but the total value had risen to $205,782,628. These figures
show an increase in value of Negro church property of 53.3
per cent. from 1906 to 1916, and an increase of 137 per cent.
from 1916 to 1926. The edifice value per church increased