Why are most churches nonprofit organizations?

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Accepted answer

Christian churches aren't supposed to be in the business of making money. While providing for the basic needs of the priest/pastor and other staff¹ is certainly a good thing, and paying for the land/building, utilities and whatnot is obviously also important, the accumulation of unnecessary wealth (i.e. "profit") is not a Christian goal. Churches that bring in "more than they need" — and to be fair, this is a goal of all churches — should be using that additional income for outreach and other community-benefiting projects. In other words, a church should be the quintessential definition of a "charity".

Naturally, there have been exceptions, and those exceptions may well abuse non-profit status. In fact, that sort of thing was one of Luther's complaints around the time of the Reformation. At the same time, however, there can be benefits to having a big, flashy, attention-getting ministry (if that ministry is genuinely effective at teaching the Gospel).

(¹ A Christian school, for example, will have quite a lot more staff than a church that doesn't also have an associated school.)

Upvote:2

Why most churches are nonprofit organization?

Christian Churches are by far more interested in the salvation of souls, than in making money as in a pro-profit organization. This is the basic and most fundamental reason why churches are non-profit organizations. Thus they keep their tax exemption status.

It could be noted that a few Christian Churches do run pro-profit organizations in order to help them stay afloat in other diverse enterprises.

Of interest may be the following article:

Upvote:2

The "nonprofit" principle was established by Jesus when he said,

"Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

Also, if a church is not registered as a charitable organisation it would be subject to paying taxes.

There is no prohibition of Christians having profitable business. They can then contribute financially to the running of the church, thereby supporting the mission of the church which is to spread the good news throughout the world.

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