Churches contribute substantially to the economy and provide entrepreneurs with social capital. 

• Research shows that communities with a large concentration of religious congregations have a correspondingly higher level of small business activity. 

• Churches and congregations provide social capital—formal and informal networking opportunities—and can be a source of customers, investors, employees, and encouragement and ideas for would-be entrepreneurs and existing small business owners. 

• Entrepreneurs are more religious than non-entrepreneurs. They pray more—several times a week, on average.

• Entrepreneurs are more apt to worship with a congregation that encourages business activity.

• Religion-related businesses and institutions, as well as houses of worship, substantially contribute to the U.S. economy—around $1.2 trillion annually.

• Some 14 percent of community development corporations are faith-based.

• Faith-based organizations nationally do significant social investing, and there are more than 200 primarily religious- and faith-based credit unions in the United States.

• Several workforce development organizations have their origins in faith-based network organizations, providing a variety of employment-related services to help people prepare for work, improve basic skills, and find jobs.

(List compiled by Elevate Dayton; Photo "church" by barnyz is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)