The Negro's church,.

CHAPTER XV

Financial Status of the Rural Churches
According to the Federal Census of Religious Bodies, in
1926, 29,603, or slightly more than 91 per cent. of the
32,427 Negro rural churches, reported their expenditures.
The total amount expended was $16,621,723, an average of
$561 per church. On the basis of the expenditures of 91 per
cent., it may be assumed that all Negro rural churches expended in 1926 approximately $18,191,547.
One of the basic problems of the rural church, that of little
money, is here revealed. In 1926, the 10,158 urban Negro
churches spent approximately $27,815,344, an average of
$12.42 for each member. In the same year, the 32,427 rural
churches expended approximately $18,191,547, an average of
$6.14 for each member. The urban church has for its annual
expenditure an approximate average of $2,738; the rural
church has only $561. The average city church has almost
five times as much money at its disposal as the average rural
church. The highest amount raised by an urban church in
this study was approximately $50,000; the highest amount
raised in 1930 by a rural church was $1,500.
Expenditures of 185 Rural Churches
The financial statement of the 185 rural churches is likely
to be more representative of the financial status of all the
Negro rural churches than the financial statement of the 609
urban churches would be of all the Negro city churches. This
is true because the economic crisis in the rural South is of
longer duration than the present period of depression which
began in 1929. The economic disturbance in the rural districts of the South reaches back to the World War and the
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