THE WORLD’S RICHEST CHURCHES - #2

#2. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS (MORMON CHURCH)

Edited by Leke Beecroft.

Due to doctrinal differences, the LDS Church is generally considered to be distinct and separate from mainstream Christianity by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches, which express differences with one another but consider each other's churches to be Christian.
Many have accused the LDS Church of not being a Christian church at all as a result of disagreements with Apostolic succession and the "Great Apostasy", the Nicene Creed, separation of the Godhead and, more so, Mormon cosmology and its Plan of Salvation including the doctrines of pre-mortal life, baptism for the dead, three degrees of heaven, and exaltation, the LDS view of theosis.
Sources claim that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or better known as the Mormon Church is the richest. Hands down it has the most liquidity and cash on hand to spend at any time. The Catholic Church has a lot of assets but they don't have the residual income of the Mormon's tithing.
The Catholic church is about 40 times larger, by membership, but has far fewer members who pay a full tithe (10%). The Catholic church has higher upkeep, as they pay the salaries of thousands of priests, whereas the Mormons have a lay ministry, who in fact also pay tithing to the church. The Catholic church has massive land holdings. The Catholic church donates much to charity, but the Mormon church donates about the same amount, despite being much smaller. The Catholic church has had a foothold in Europe for many centuries, as well as central and south America. The LDS church may yet surpass the Catholic church in material wealth, but it will not be soon.
*Mormon Church statistics cite nearly 12.9 million church members worldwide in 2006, organized into 27,475 wards and branches.
*The Mormon church's membership has more than doubled since the early 1980s, and the church says it is growing at a rate of roughly 1 million members every three years.
*Of its total membership, 14 percent live in Utah, and more than 50 percent live outside the United States. More than 50,000 Mormon missionaries are said to be active across 162 countries, distributing church materials translated into over 93 languages.
Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to grow in numbers, the rate of growth has slowed. Nowadays, much of the growth is due to natural increase (children born into Mormon families). Conversions to the faith have declined somewhat in recent decades and, as is the case in most churches and denominations, a large percentage of the newly-converted Saints -- perhaps as many as 50 percent in some areas -- will fall away from their faith. A 2005 Salt Lake Tribune article cited research indicating that the church's active, churchgoing membership may be limited to approximately 4 million.
In the developing world, Mormons are increasingly challenged by the Pentecostals and other churches whose number of conversions is rising faster in some countries.
Although the church has not released church-wide financial statements since 1959, in 1997, Time magazine called it one of the world's wealthiest churches per capita. In a June 2011 cover story, Newsweek magazine stated that the LDS church "resembles a sanctified multinational corporation—the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion."Its for-profit, non-profit, and educational subsidiary entities are audited by an independent accounting firm: as of 2007, Deloitte & Touche. In addition, the church employs an independent audit department that provides its certification at each annual general conference that church contributions are collected and spent in accordance with church policy.
The church receives significant funds from tithes (ten percent of a member's income) and fast offerings (money given to the church to assist individuals in need). According to the church, tithing and fast offering moneys collected are devoted to ecclesiastical purposes and not used in for-profit ventures.
The church has also invested in for-profit business and real estate ventures such as Bonneville International, Deseret Book Company, and cattle ranches in Utah, Florida, Nebraska, Canada and other locations. However, these ranches are split between Church Welfare Work (Bishops' Storehouse and Welfare Square) for which funds are used from tithing and are not for profit.

FINANCE

The Mormon church has become the wealthiest church per capita in America. It does not disclose its finances, but attempts have been made to estimate church revenue and assets.
In 1997, Time magazine estimated church assets totaled "a minimum of $30 billion." Richard and Joan K. Ostling in their 1999 book Mormon America put a "conservative" estimate of total assets at $25 to $30 billion, noting that it was likely "well beyond that." Though the church criticized Time's calculations as excessive, according to the Ostlings, it "did not provide even the vaguest hints as to what was wrong and what the truth might be."
The Mormon church's financial growth has been fueled by tithing. To be of good standing, all Mormons must tithe, or give 10 percent of their gross income to the church. The Ostlings' research concluded that annual tithing revenue, as of the mid-1990s, was likely between $4.25 and $5.3 billion.
Not all Mormons tithe, but tithing is a requirement of keeping a temple recommend allowing Mormons to enter the temple, and the percentage of members otherwise known as ‘stakeholders’ who pay tithing is very high, probably well over 60 percent.
The church also manages a large amount of commercial investments, mostly through its Deseret Management Corporation. The Ostlings estimate revenue from those enterprises at $600 million annually and describe the holdings:
"Their enterprises range from a $16 billion insurance company to perhaps $6 billion in stock and bonds, if not more. There's a $172 million chain of radio stations (seventh-largest in the country). The church's more than 150 farms and ranches, including America's largest cattle ranch, make it one of the largest landowners in the nation. The farms and ranches encompass somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 million acres, roughly equal to the size of the state of Delaware."
The church's religious buildings and property, while included in the asset estimates, are considered expenses and not sources of revenue. The church also channels significant funds into humanitarian work; it claims annual donations in the tens of millions of dollars and activities in 147 countries.

 

Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS is truly an "American" phenomenon. It's the story of a young, ambitious and clever man who used innovation and creativity to build what is now one of the wealthiest churches in the world. Although from an objective standpoint, we may not accept his claims as true, nor give credence to Mormon belief as anything other than one man's fantasies, still one needs to give credit where due. He did build a legacy which is still growing today. For those who are concerned about what is "true" however, his name is one more associated with infamy than anything else.