The recession is causing churches to respond by cutting budgets, programs and staff while the need for parishioners and neighbors increases. How is your church responding to changing economic times?
Churches face decreasing donations, more middle-class members in need
To make ends meet, congregations cut budgets, programs, staff
From The Tennesseean
The recession has finally caught up with churches.
After two years of treading water, more Protestant congregations have seen their Sunday collections drop this year.
Pastors blame high unemployment and a drop in per-capita giving by members. To make ends meet, churches have laid off staff and frozen salaries, put off major capital projects and cut back on programs. At the same time, more of their congregation members and neighbors are asking for help with basic needs such as paying the rent and buying groceries.
That’s according to a recent survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research on the economic health of Protestant churches. About half of Americans claim to be Protestant, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.