New Research on Church and Economy

The recession is impacting churches and, as you might have guessed, churches are making hard choices. We did some research at LifeWay Research at the end 2009 surveying over 1,000 pastors. The folks at Christian Post have the story and you can read the full details here.

Here are some of the findings from our phone survey:

• more than a quarter of churches surveyed raised less money than in 2008.

• more than half said the poor economy was hurting their church.

• 70% reported increased requests from people outside their congregation for assistance.

• 3% were considering closing down.

Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today covered the story for today's print edition and asked me a few questions. Here's an excerpt.

"Churches have not yet entered the recovery," says LifeWay director Ed Stetzer. "Historically, they tend to recover financially when unemployment decreases, usually after the economy as a whole" recovers.

The story quotes pstos Brady Boyd of New Life Church (Colorado Spring) and Tony Merida (Temple Baptist).

How is the economy impacting your church and what are you doing about it? My observations is that many are doing just fine, others are keeping holding their own financially, but an increasing number are experiencing the impact to what many are calling The Great Recession.