Who is to blame for the decline in giving? Americans are giving 28% less to the church today than in 1968 a leading study shows. What is amazing is that Americans incomes have risen by 148%. So, we make more and give less. Again, who is to blame for that?
We love to play the blame game. It is easier to blame someone else than to look inwardly. Frankly there is a lot of blame to go around. You can blame the decline on the continuing secularization of our country. You can blame it on the decline in attendance. All of this is true, but my question is, are we in the Church in any way to blame for the decline in giving?
Recently empty tomb inc. released their annual study on the state of giving to the Church in America. They have found a continual decline in giving from 1968 to the present. In 1968 Americans gave just over 3% of their disposable incomes to the Church. Today that percentage is barely over 2%. That represents billions of dollars lost every year for missions and ministry.
Here is a sobering quote from the study…
“Church members were offered the opportunity to maintain those structures of giving at the same level, by donating the same percent of income in 2016 as they did in 1968. They chose not to do so, as evidenced by the actual giving patterns. Whatever denominations were offering, it did not encourage church members in 2016 to maintain the level of income donated to their churches in 1968.”
We must admit that part of the blame lies with we in the Church! Here are what I think are some leading causes for why we in the Church share some of the blame about the decline in giving.
First, few church leaders even think about giving. We are so captured by the Tyranny of the Urgent that this slow growing problem has gone undetected by most. Until it is too late. Now is the time to wake up and take action.
We have mistakenly devalued the importance of giving. Most churches set up their weekly offering by telling people they don’t have to give rather than showing them the value of giving. When you fear any talk of money or giving don’t be surprised if at some point you are not forced to cut your budget and hence your missions and ministries.
We have failed to tell our story. The empty tomb quote, “Whatever denominations were offering, it did not encourage church members…” is telling. Are we any less mission minded or focused on growing our churches than we were in 1968? Some might argue that, but I don’t think so. Yet what we have failed to do is tell our story that WILL encourage people to give.
We have failed to connect with those that attend our services. We spend hours planning out services to attract guests and never once think about how to connect people to our offerings. This I think is one of the major reasons for the decline in giving among those that DO attend.
Non-profits in 2017 for the first-time eclipsed raising $4 billion dollars for their missions. They talk about money all the time. In fact, if you go to their websites that is pretty much all they talk about AS they tell you what they are doing and how your donation can make a difference. Maybe it’s time we take a page out of their book.
Stop blaming everyone and everything else for the decline in giving at your church and start by looking first at what you have or have not been doing. That is the first step towards being fully funded.
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach