I disagree.

Without a trained clergy leading it, a church can't form or serve the congregation needed to effectively aid the needy in its community.

If you lack the funds needed to pay a trained clergy, you will have no clergy. No sane person pursues a degree that will not garner them a living wage.

If you lack the land needed to construct a church upon, you can still function as a church, as long as you can afford for your congregation to meet somewhere--but it is much more difficult for a landless congregation to help the needy than it is for a landed one.

The budget proportions and spending you describe are all accurate. I know because I am on the vestry committee of my church.

We have clergy who are not paid, who work at other full-time jobs or are retired.

We do a lot of charitable work. Do we spend as much money on it as on building maintenance and clergy pay? No. But our building serves an important function. It provides a central meeting space, a home for the members of the church, and a base of operations from which we can reach out to the community at large.

If you asked Jesus, he would likely say that religions are unnecessary, that our primary duty is to love and care for our fellow human beings, an act that does not require an organized religion to perform; we can all do it. I would completely agree with him.

But to do it well, it helps to have churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples, with organized religions supporting them--even if those faith communities ultimately spend more money on supporting themselves than on their charitable activities.