When Churches Fall On Hard Times

27 posted on January 27, 2009

POSTED IN: Blog Posts, Church

The economic downturn is affecting more than just the business sector. The news has reported the challenges churches are facing trying to stay afloat as budget-pinched members are giving less. Kem Meyers and Tim Stevens recently wrote on their blogs about Granger’s decision to cut 8 jobs and reduce hours for 15 other employees. Almost every church I talk to these days is feeling the effects of reduced giving.

Churches and non-profit ministries face a unique challenge in our economy because, even though they operate on business principles with budgets and boards, their income comes exclusively from the voluntary giving of their members. As more attenders lose jobs and struggle with debt, bankruptcy and foreclosure, there is a trickle-up effect on the church’s bottom line.

Having served on staff with a church in the middle of a budget crisis, I know how staff and leadership feel. But I have to wonder, is it all bad?

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for the churches who are having to lay off valuable people including ministry colleagues and close friends. Having to sit across a desk from someone and tell them that they’re out of work is never easy.

But what is the bigger picture we’re missing here? If we only count on ever-increasing offerings and the generous gifts of wealthy donors to accomplish the task of ministry then we’re relying on the wrong thing. Sure, it may hurt to close down that program or sell equipment, but necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention.

What if the budget pinch affecting countless churches across the country forces us to be more creative with how we can accomplish our task?

Sure, steady, consistent offerings are great but they have a tendency to make us lazy as we often see spending and buying as the solution.

What are the ways we can reach out to our community that don’t require money or extra offerings? God has promised that all things work together for our good so where is the good in the challenges we’re facing as churches right now?

What do you think?

Are you feeling the pinch at your church? How has it affected your staff? In what ways has it forced you to be more creative? What new ideas has it sparked?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 10:14 am and is filed under Blog Posts, Church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Comments

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January 27, 2009

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1 Aaron Jackson said:

Great questions, Brad. Doing more with less is like a way of life! When the people of the church see the need, it’s neat to see them engage and become part of the solution on a volunteer basis. As a staff member, it’s always most ideal to have a paid staff doing things, it’s just easier. However, using volunteers takes a lot of trust (a good thing), a little more discipleship (that’t a good thing too) and a lot of creativity on everybody’s part. I see it as a win-win. I reminds the church that we are all in this together, and it teaches us that “full time ministry” doesn’t mean that you are getting a paycheck from a church. We’re all called to full-time ministry, it just looks different for each of us. Great post!
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2 themisfit said:

This is an interesting post on a great topic. I know that churches are falling on hard times. Jobs are being lost and wages slashed, and with that comes decreased giving. Thats true. What is also true is that there are a number of churches that have gotten themselves into trouble the same way the general public has, mortgages for new buildings, and cheap loans.

Our church is feeling the pinch with a huge line of credit, and decreasing giving. I am afraid that jobs may be cut, but i think that the first thing that need to change is the way money is spent. Churches should really think about what they spend their money on. And ask some hard questions, do we really need that new piece of technology or is that equipment going to be used on a regular basis? Asking these questions and others will help church to properly prioritize what they spend money on.

As well these big buildings sit empty most of the week being heated, which costs alot of money. If we could find a way to use the facilities more efficiently and generate a little revenue that would help.

That also sparks another question, do we need these huge buildings that only get used one day a week?

These are some of my thoughts.

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3 Brad Ruggles said:

@Aaron – Great input. Well said.

@Themisfit – You bring up some good points. “Traditional” church means owning a big building and lots of equipment that is only utilized 10-15% of the time. I think portable churches will have certain advantages in today’s economy without debt and lines of credit hanging over them.

Either way, I think situations like this force us to be creative and ask tougher questions about the process.
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4 Zak White said:

I smell a blog crossover. I have a TON to say on this regarding what our church is doing, but its way more than I feel like typing out as a comment. Maybe I’ll make it a post…

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5 Brad Ruggles said:

For more great thoughts on this subject check out Michael Trent’s article he wrote in Christianity Today called “God’s Economic Stimulus Plan.”

Here’s a great quote from the article:

“Innovation doesn’t dry up during an economic crisis; in fact, the opposite is true. During this time, more than ever, the church should be leading the way with innovation, creating culture and showing the amazing love, grace, and power of the God we profess.”

Read the entire article here:
http://tinyurl.com/ctcdbb (pg 24)
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6 Matt Singley said:

I think that churches should constantly monitor their expenses and look for ways to trim, not just in the lean times. In fact, when times are good, they should be particularly wary and not get all excited about new building campaigns and buying a bunch of stuff for all the ministries. Also, quite frankly, so many churches have bad staff hires. It’s not that they have too many across the board, it’s that they hire poorly, and often one ministry is fat while another is lean.

Although I’m sure everybody that works at a church would think that they are the exception, I am speaking from somewhat of a position of authority and experience as a former executive director of two large churches. There is as much waste in church budgets as there is in government budgets. Sad but true. And I always took massive offense to that, because we can’t just sell more widgets to increase the revenue, we have to take more from people’s pockets. And that just sucks if it’s not being used responsibly.

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7 Curtis Honeycutt said:

Yeah, we’re in a pinch. Fortunately we’re working hard to not have to lose any staff. It has brought our staff closer together, and hopefully it won’t come to that point.

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8 chad houck said:

Brad-

Thanks for writing this post, as it brings out a very valid point in that we need to rely on GOD as the source, not on the donations of our major donors, to make things happen. That does not simply mean the “blab it and grab it” prosperity message of “and the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills” is going to slaughter a few for my next pizza party… but rather that we seek him for the innovation and creativity we need to express the Good News in a way that is both culturally relevant AND fiscally responsible given our climate of the day! Blessings, my friend. Good job.
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9 joseph said:

At our church we have started spending more time with projects that are “time” driven than are money driven.
We just completed a day in the community where 500 volunteers went around and completed roughly 50 community service projects. Cost=minimal, message and fellowship=priceless

The interesting thing about it was that it brought a lot of new visitors into our building. Added benefit of the time spent.

There is a lot that can be done by churches that just ask for time. Projects like Habitat, Food Banks, Rescue Missions etc…and these tend to have huge impacts on communities without a lot of $$$ being needed.

Nice piece by the way.

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10 alece said:

this is a loaded issue for me. i’ll try to keep my thoughts condensed and coherent.

our entire ministry operates on donations. and our income has tremendously decreased in the past two years. we employ over 40 nationals that HAVE to get a paycheck at the end of the month, whether sufficient support came in or not. the 4,000 kids in our AIDS prevention program NEED to have us show up (their lives literally depend on it) whether we have enough money to run the program or not.

the dilemma of work to be done vs. not enough resources (money and manpower) to do it is the story of my life.

yes, churches and ministries like ourselves need to find ways to cut back, to spend less, to do more with less. the flipside of that is that the Church also needs to rise above economy. the Body of Christ as a whole needs to find ways to continue reaching out despite decreased paychecks.

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11 brent(inWorship) said:

I am glad your asking these questions Brad. And frankly, I don’t have a lot of answers. I am learning as well.

I am happy to say, that just this am, we discussed a lot of this at our staff meeting. We were talking about how we are staying pretty average with giving, but the thing that excited us was we had an average of 250 more givers a month. that excites me! More people involved with giving and participating.

So, I am not concerned about how much is given s much as i am concerned with all participating and getting involved in community. that’s exciting.

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