The Statistical Report for 1915

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1916

The Statistical Report for 1915

On the accompanying pages is presented the statistical report of the North American Division Conference for the year ending December 31, 1915. As a matter of convenience, this report is published prior to the report for the entire world. When all returns are received from every field, the complete report will be issued.

During the past ten years the gain in membership in the territory of the North American Division Conference has been 19,354 or 33.15 per cent, an average annual gain of 1,935 members. But the gain during 1915 was greater than for any preceding year, the net gain in members being 5,720, or an annual gain of 7.94 per cent. The number added by baptism was 9,624, the largest number being reported in Lake Union Conference. The largest number ever received by baptism in any preceding year was during the year 1914, but the number baptized in 1915 was greater than the number thus received in 1914 by 2,287. The number of baptisms averaged 185 per week, or 26 every day throughout the year.

Tithe

The total amount of tithe paid by members in the North American Division during 1915 was $1,337,810.20. This is the largest amount ever paid by the members in this division in any year, and is a gain over the amount received for the preceding year of $67,848.11, being a gain of 5.34 per cent. The amount per capita was $17.21.

Summary No. 1

This summary shows by union conferences the amount of total contributions for all purposes during 1915. The contributions are grouped under three heads, namely: tithe, offerings to foreign missions, and all other offerings. From this it will be seen that the amount of offerings for foreign missions paid by members in the North American Division Conference during 1915 was $706,293.50. This is a gain of $90,727.55 over the amount for the preceding year, or a gain of 14.74 per cent. All other offerings received constitute a total of $498,579.29, this being an increase of $55,355.45 over the amount received for the former year, or a gain of 12.46 per cent. The grand total contributions received during 1915 were $2,542,682.99, a gain of $213,931.11 over the preceding year, or a gain of 9.18 per cent. This amount constitutes a per capita of $32.71 for each member in the division, and is an increase of $.38 per member over the receipts for 1914.

The relation which these three funds sustain to the grand total contributions is as follows: Tithe 52.62 per cent; offerings to foreign missions, 27.77 per cent; all other offerings, 19.61 per cent. That is, of every dollar contributed for any branch of this cause, a little over 52 cents is tithe, nearly 28 cents for foreign missions, and a little over 19 cents for other lines of work. These percentages show an increase particularly in offerings to foreign missions over the average for years, and such gain for 1915 is in harmony with the net gain noted above, as well as the gain in amount per capita to foreign missions, to which attention is called later in this report.

Summary No. 2

Summary No. 2 gives the total contributions by unions, with per capita and percentages both of contributions and membership. From this it will be seen that the Northern Union Conference gave the highest amount per capita, namely, $37.57, with the Atlantic Union second, contributing $37.42. Column 4 of this summary indicates the per cent of contributions which each union raised in relation to the grand total contributions. Column 6 indicates the per cent of the membership of each union conference as related to the grand total membership. Comparison of these two columns will indicate the conferences which contributed in proportion to the membership they have reported.

Foreign Missions

It will be observed that the amount contributed for foreign missions during 1915 was $706,293.50. This constitutes a per capita of $9.08 for every church member in the division. The largest single source of income for foreign missions is that furnished by the Sabbath School Department. The contributions for the year were $332,106.20. This is $57,164.08 greater than the amount reported for the preceding year, or a gain of 20.79 per cent in the amount of contributions. The amount per capita is the highest ever reported, namely, $4.27.

It will be interesting to note the amounts contributed for foreign missions during the past ten years, in order to obtain a correct idea of the gain not only in the amounts contributed each year, but of the increase in the per capita amounts. In this summary as in those presented later, the figures include the returns from the United States only, up to 1912, after which the figures include returns from Canadian territory. This is done to avoid confusion, since the figures pertaining to amount of offerings have already been published thus in former reports.

YEAR	AMOUNT	PER CAPITA
1906	$ 159,064.40	$2.72
1907	211,458.61	3.61
1908	246,314.52	4.16
1909	303,289.99	5.07
1910	352,025.27	5.96
1911	357,587.73	5.89
1912	444,428.23	7.20
1913	490,713.65	7.43
1914	615,565.95	8.55
1915	706,293.50	9.08
	$3,895,741.85

The reader cannot fail to observe the large increase in the amounts contributed to the cause of foreign missions. The amount contributed during 1915 was over four times the amount given during 1906. This is not because of a like increase in membership, but is the result of increased giving. Note particularly that the per capita amounts have been increased from $2.72 for 1906 to $9.08 for 1915. These figures certainly do not indicate a diminution of interest in the cause of foreign missions on the part of the membership composing the churches in the North American Division. These figures do show, however, that the cause of missions holds a large place in the thoughts and hearts of this people. During the past ten years the total contributions for foreign missions run well up toward the four million mark.