Majority of Protestant pastors blame poor economy for negative impact on offerings: study

October 17, 2024

A new study released from Lifeway Research shows that a majority of Protestant pastors blame a poor economy for double digit declines to zero improvement in church offerings over the past year.

The Christian Post reports that the phone survey, conducted between Aug 8 and Sept 3 of 1,003 Protestant pastors, shows many churches struggling with their bottom lines.

Scott McConnell, who is the executive director of Lifeway Research, in a statement on the study, said:

“National trends of a favorable stock market along with unfavorable inflation and interest can influence a local congregation’s finances, but so do more local factors that contribute to economic problems or prosperity in the church’s community. In general, pastors have turned a little more negative in describing economic forces impacting their church this year.”

Some 66% of Protestant pastors say the economy is either very much or somewhat negatively affecting their churches. 43% of the pastors surveyed reported no change in the offerings compared to 2023, while 12% of pastors surveyed said they had seen declines of 10-24%.

According to the Christian Post, the survey results were divided along political lines with 79% of Republican pastors saying the economy is negatively impacting their church.

Meanwhile, 21% of Democratic pastors were more likely to report that the economy is having a positive impact or no impact at all upon their churches.

McConnell explained: “Overall, pastors’ perceptions of the economy’s impact on their churches are statistically related to the pastor’s own politics. Since both politics and economics are external factors to a local church, it is not surprising that the influences become combined for some. More surprising is that pastors report actual offerings which fit these differences in political leanings.”

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