Protestant church giving reflects improving economic trends

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The nation’s slow economic recovery from a deep recession is showing up in the offering plates of Protestant churches in the United States, a recent survey by LifeWay Research reveals.

Although 56 percent of churches still report negative impact from the economy, 13 percent report a positive impact—a 4 percent jump from May 2012. Compared to the previous three years, churches are reporting less negative and more positive economic impact.

“The most recent recession revealed poor habits among Americans in terms of spending and lending,” said Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research director. “Surely churches have had to learn some of these same lessons.”

Two-thirds of the churches surveyed report meeting or exceeding their 2014 budget. Nearly half—46 percent—are matching their budget, while 22 percent say receipts exceed their budget. Meanwhile, 29 percent of churches report receipts below budget.

When compared to 2013 giving, 74 percent of Protestant churches report offerings at or above 2013, while 21 percent say receipts are lower than 2013.

The LifeWay survey also asked pastors about church size, region, pastor’s age, educational level, ethnicity and evangelical/mainline affiliation.

Larger churches still feel impact

Pastors of churches with up to 99 regularly attending worshippers are more likely to report the economy continues to have a very negative impact on their churches (9 percent). For churches with at least 100 in attendance, that response drops to about 3 percent.

Pastors in the Northeast report very negatively about the economy (10 percent), as do pastors nationwide who are 55 years or older (16 percent), and African-American pastors (12 percent).

The pastors’ education levels also gave some indication of financial health. Pastors with a master’s degree (5 percent) are less likely to select “very negatively,” compared to pastors with no college degree (10 percent).

“The current slow-growth economy does not allow individuals, businesses or churches to slip into poor financial habits that may have been present seven or eight years ago,” McConnell said. “Everyone must be innovative in how efficient and productive each of their activities is.”

Hiring decisions affected

The slow-growth economy continues to influence church hiring decisions.

“For a couple of decades, new and increased church activity could rely on additional staff and resource purchases financed by strong growth in giving,” McConnell said. “Those decades are over.”

McConnell sites the following factors that ease economic pressure:

• Unemployment has improved five years in a row.

• Social Security recipients have received cost-of-living adjustments three consecutive years.

• Real disposable personal income has grown in 2014.

“However, the employment cost index indicates that total compensation has been growing at about 2 percent a year for six years, but when adjusted for inflation, total compensation is very similar to national levels five years ago,” McConnell said.

Survey methods

LifeWay Research has conducted this survey seven times since 2009. The survey in 2012 indicated stabilized giving in many churches.

Researchers conducted the telephone survey of Protestant pastors Sept. 11-18. They drew the calling list randomly from a list of all Protestant churches in three categories based on size.

Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called. Researchers weighted responses to reflect the size and geographic distribution of Protestant churches. The completed sample is 1,000 phone interviews. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.1 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.