Is Church a Benefit or a Burden? 

A touchy question, the answer to which will depend upon the religious beliefs of the person giving the the answer.

Throughout History the Burden caused by Churches probably is a lot greater than the Benefit done by Churches.

Many religions throughout history have opposed knowledge of anything that did not agree with the Church.  It is impossible to determine how much damage the Churches have caused by this hatred of learning. The Destruction of Knowledge by Churches has been and probably still should be considered criminal.

Churches still work hard at preventing people from gaining knowledge about any topic that the Churches seem to think will undermine there beliefs, and thus cause a reduction in the amount of cash placed in the collection basket.

Churches have probably caused the death of more people than any other organization.  Collectively the Churches have killed enough people so that the number of deaths caused by Adolph Hitler could be considered rather insignificant.  Hitler was a piker at murdering people compared to Religion. The deaths caused by Hitler can even be considered Religious Deaths since Hitler felt that he was helping his Religion (Roman Catholic), and God, by eliminating the Jews.  Of course the various religions said that they killed these people to assist God, which of course is ridiculous since God is considered all-powerful and has no need for help of any kind from His little creation called man.  Since God is considered to have created the entire Universe in addition to mankind He does not need, and probably does not want, any help from mankind.  Probably a lot like the fact that mom does not need or want any help from her 2 year old while cooking dinner.  Or like donating a dollar to a billionaire like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, which would probably cause him a lot more work and expense to report than the donation was worth.

God does not need or want our help since we are not capable of knowing what God needs or desires, if anything.  I assume that if God wants something he will simply create it, or cause it to happen.