The Economy, Churches and Technology

Research guru George Barna’s firm (I also recommend him as an author – see “Revolution” for a great read) has published part two of a three-part series studying the effects of the economy on local churches. The study focused on 1,114 pastors and church executives and was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009. So far, the results are not only interesting, some are flat-out surprising.

According to the research, “nearly half of church leaders (45%) said they had not (emphasis mine) made any changes to their ministry as a result of the economic problems of the last year.” The remaining 55% have reduced spending, cut staff, reduced missions giving, and/or reduced facilities budgets.

• About 20% of the pastors surveyed have cut budgets, while only 2% to 3% said they “were watching spending, conserving more, shopping for better deals, eliminating non-essentials, freezing portions of the budget and re-evaluating vendors”.
• “About one out of every six churches (18%) indicated that they had to eliminate positions, reduce salaries, rely on more volunteer time, and cut hours from full-time to part-time.”
• “…nearly one in every 25 churches said they had reduced their giving to missions or missionaries.”
• A mere 3% of those surveyed reduced facility budgets.

Doing Less vs.  Doing Differently

The “easy fix” is to simply do less; whether that’s less staff, less programs or less budget – the first response is to make cuts. There’s nothing wrong with tightening the financial belt, but cuts alone won’t provide the church with the leverage to ramp up once the economy turns around.

I thought that David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, concluded his thoughts brilliantly as he talked about the challenge of not merely doing less, but doing things differently.

In the past year, most churches have been satisfied to tie down loose financial ends and keep costs under control. That has been no small feat for most organizations, let alone donor-driven congregations. Yet, the surprise is how few churches seem to have clearly and intentionally developed a proactive response to the downturn.

When pastors were asked to identify the changes they had made as a result of the economic downturn only about one out of every eight church leaders (13%) identified what might be described as activities that proactively position the church as a valuable resource to churchgoers and to those in the community.

For instance, many churches understandably have put off purchasing new equipment and technology. Yet less than one-half of one percent of the churches we interviewed said they upgraded their use of technology in order to help cut down on costs or to maximize communication and reach. Some churches were naturally deferring building projects and facility-related expenditures, but virtually none of the leaders we interviewed said they were rethinking whether the future of congregational ministry required or could even sustain their current campus, much less planned facility expansions. And while some churches have offered resources, training and assistance specifically in response to the economic crisis, it is surprising that so few pastors had made strategic shifts to become a significant and vital resource to their congregants and to the broader community. Like so many others, church leaders have been focused on surviving; now is the time, though, to calibrate ministries and strategies to the opportunities brought by the new economy. (David Kinnaman, The Economy’s Impact on Churches (Part 2 of 3): How Churches Have Adapted)

Having worked with churches on the big three areas of consulting (people, process, technology), I’m in complete agreement with David’s assessment. Change is hard. Aligning your people, processes and technologies can make the difference between doing less and doing things differently. It’s harder than only making cuts, but the results are far more effective.

In addition to David’s suggestions, how would you (or has your church already done) help churches think different instead of/in addition to doing less?

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