The Negro's church,.

Is the Negro Overchurched?

217

amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, or an average of
$2,588 for each; and that 67.6 per cent. of the 609 churches
raised $5,000 or less in 1930. What can a church do with
$533? What can it do with $2,588? Certainly 68 per cent.
of the churches of this study are seriouslv handicapped financially.
Suggesting a Norm or Yardstick
The facts discovered, and the experience gained during the
two years of intensive study of the Negro church, give the
authors a basis for suggesting a yardstick that should be
thought-provoking and helpful in a consideration of the
question of overchurching among Negroes. In making this
suggestion, the writers are conscious of the fact that there are
notable exceptions to the rule given here; but they feel that
the public should be given the benefits of the findings disclosed. The norm suggested here is based primarily on tables
16 and 28 in the Appendix.
Of the 609 churches covered by this report, 390 had memberships ranging from 500 down to less than 100. These
390 churches raised $869,604, or an average of $2,229.75 per
church. Of the 609 investigated, 123 had memberships
ranging between 500 and 1,000. These raised in 1930 approximately $792,852, or an average of $6,445.95 per church.
Thirty-eight of the 609 churches had memberships ranging
between 1,000 and 1,500; and these churches raised $421,024, or an average of $11,079.58. Twenty-one churches had
memberships ranging from 1,500 to 2,000; and they raised
$250,779 in 1930, or an average of $11,941.86 per church.
A study of Table 28 in the Appendix shows that the
amounts raised by the churches with memberships between
2,000 and 3,000 and between 3,500 and 4,000 are almost
the same as the amounts raised by churches with memberships from 1,000 to 2,000; but that the churches with memberships between 3,000 and 3,500, and those with member