March 31, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Churches are feeling the recession’s pain, and declines in contributions have worsened in recent months, a new study of more than 1,000 congregations has found.
In the “2010 State of the Plate” survey conducted in February and March, 38 percent of church leaders said that giving fell over the past year, up from 29 percent in a similar survey done at the same time in 2009. And fewer churches reported gains: 36 percent, down from 47 percent in the earlier survey.
Megachurches—those with 2,000 to 5,000 members in weekly attendance—were more likely to report declines in donations. Forty-seven percent of such churches said giving go declined compared with just 23 percent the previous year.
In response to a new question this year, about a third of church leaders said giving in December 2009 failed to meet their expectations. The same percentage also said that they had cut their budgets by up to 20 percent for 2010; only 14 percent reported making budget reductions in the previous survey.
Increasing numbers of church leaders are being forced to make difficult cuts-and that trend is likely to continue because “they’re not seeing things getting any better,” said Brian Kluth, founder of Maximum Generosity, a Christian publishing company. Mr. Kluth released the survey in collaboration with Christianity Today International, a nonprofit communications ministry.
