Jerome Davis

A Study of Protestant Church Boards of Control

A study of 387 church boards of the leading Protestant denominations shows that there is a class control of the Protestant churches at present. Forty-eight per cent of the boards studied are made up of from seven to twelve members. Ninety-four per cent of the members of all boards are men, and are between the ages of thirty-five and seventy years. About one-third have had only an elementary education, one third have pushed on into high school, and nearly a third have at least entered a university. On the average, they devote about two hours a month to their duties. Fifty-five per cent of them are either proprietors, managers, or in some professional service. Omitting towns under 5,000, the merchants are by far the most numerous class on the boards, with the clerks and bankers ranking on the average next. On all church boards, including those in towns under 5,000, in proportion to their numbers the bankers are most often elected chairmen, while manufacturers follow.