According to a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research, almost half of U.S. Protestant pastors say the current economy is negatively impacting their church, including 5 percent who say the impact is very negative.
The 2020 negative numbers are the highest since January 2016, when 51 percent of pastors said the economy was hurting their church.
Most Protestant pastors say giving has been at or below 2019 levels. Around a third report giving levels lower than last year and lower than their current budget.
45 percent of churches say giving in 2020 has been about what was budgeted. A third say it is lower than budgeted, while 21 percent say giving has been higher.
Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research noted — “2018 looks like as good as it gets for positive economic impacts for churches. People quickly got used to improved take-home pay from tax changes and were seeing flat wages meaning 2019 was more difficult for churchgoers to maintain 2018 giving. Now in 2020, a recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has set a third of churches behind their 2019 giving.”
The survey also found that Pastors of churches with worship service attendance of 250 were more optimistic in their outlook than pastors of churches with fewer than 50 people.