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May 23, 2013 8:00 AM
Churches have historically dreaded summer due to one thing: giving. That's because activities and costs peak with summer missions trips, camps, and Vacation Bible School just as regular weekly contributions wane. The challenge for every church leader is to...
May 21, 2013 8:00 AM
This year's annual State of the Plate research combined results from this and the past four years to create a composite view of tithers--people who give 10 percent or more of their income. As the infographic below shows, most people...
May 14, 2013 6:00 AM
Each year for the past five years, Christianity Today has surveyed church leaders to see which direction the trend line is moving for church giving: up, down, or staying flat. In this year's State of the Plate survey, which we...
May 9, 2013 8:00 AM
If there is one thing that can make a pastor fidget in his chair, it is the thought of asking for money. Few pastors ever consider the key role that money and finances will play in their professional life when...
April 25, 2013 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: This is the final post in a guest series from Dave Travis' book, What's Next?:2012 Edition. The first posts addressed church finances, financial accountability, the use of interns and residents, and outsourcing work. Travis is CEO of Leadership...
April 18, 2013 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of guest posts from Dave Travis' book, What's Next?:2012 Edition. The first three posts addressed church finances, financial accountability, and the use of interns and residents. Travis is CEO of Leadership...
April 4, 2013 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of guest posts from Dave Travis' book, What's Next?:2012 Edition. The first post addressed church finances and the second post addressed financial accountability. Travis is CEO of Leadership Network. Where will...
April 2, 2013 8:00 AM
I recently sat through a workshop involving financial officers and business administrators from churches in metro Denver. A panel of three finance officers, convened to discuss cash flow and cash reserves, focused mostly on appropriate cash levels, metrics, and forecasts...
March 28, 2013 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of guest posts from Dave Travis' book, What's Next?:2012 Edition. The first post addressed how much--or little--the economy is to blame for church failures. Travis is CEO of Leadership Network. Here...
March 25, 2013 8:00 AM
According to a new study by LifeWay Research, the majority of Southern Baptist churches believe that Christians should provide for their church in their will, but 86 percent of churches provide no help or assistance for estate planning. In fact,...
March 21, 2013 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of guest posts from Dave Travis' book, What's Next?:2012 Edition. Travis is CEO of Leadership Network. The recession has left its mark everywhere--on our friends, our families, our cities, our churches....
March 7, 2013 12:48 PM
Our colleagues at Christianity Today just posted a quick analysis of new research on giving at churches conducted by the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Indiana University School of Philanthropy, the Alban Institute, the Indianapolis Center...
February 21, 2013 8:00 AM
Randy Marsh, ministry development officer for the Evangelical Christian Credit Union, shared four money lessons for churches while speaking Wednesday in Dallas at the 2013 XP-Seminar, a conference involving nearly 200 executive pastors from across the country. Marsh said ECCU...
February 19, 2013 5:00 AM
Leadership Network released its 2013 economic outlook this morning, relaying a mostly upbeat forecast for the nation's big Protestant churches in the year ahead. The organization created the report, written by Warren Bird and Stephanie Jackson, by combining responses...
February 14, 2013 8:00 AM
It's a common scenario at local churches across the country: A member faces a significant medical condition, racking up major debt in the process. Others at the church learn of this challenge and wish to help. Can they donate to...
January 24, 2013 2:21 PM
A company specializing in computer-based reports and forecasts for charitable giving in the United States says giving to religion rose steadily in 2012 compared to 2011. The religious sector, though, has seen its share of the overall charitable giving...
January 8, 2013 10:53 AM
The so-called “fiscal cliff” law just passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, formally known as the “American Taxpayer Relief Act” (the Act), includes a little-publicized provision providing a very short window of opportunity for eligible taxpayers to make...
November 13, 2012 8:00 AM
Many churches look forward to a year-end giving bump to help make up for a budget shortfall. In the annual State of the Plate survey we co-sponsor, we know churches consistently count on December to boost total giving figures for...
November 1, 2012 8:00 AM
As the calendar flips to November, it's a good reminder of the many tax details that churches must track, especially on behalf of those who faithfully give to the church throughout the year. Churches must properly document donor contributions, which...
September 20, 2012 8:00 AM
The only time a church mortgage gives any cause to celebrate is when it’s burned. Otherwise, it’s a drain on resources. Interest payments can easily triple or quadruple the cost of a church building. Beracah Bible Church decided to...
June 26, 2012 8:00 AM
The graphic above, which appears in the July edition of Church Finance Today, shows the ways that people give to their churches, based on results from the 2012 State of the Plate giving survey sponsored by Christianity Today, Maximum...
May 1, 2012 8:00 AM
A report issued in February by a major provider of fundraising technology and consulting services offers some helpful insights for church leaders as it relates to online giving. In short: Use of online giving continued to grow in 2011,...
April 23, 2012 8:00 AM
Around lunchtime on a Friday, a man entered a Boston-area church and soon left with the church secretary’s purse, according to a local news station. The man claimed he needed money to support his five children. After the secretary...
March 27, 2012 9:35 AM
A majority of churches reported giving increases in 2011, the first such occurrence in three years, according to results released today from the 2012 State of the Plate report. The constituency survey of more than 1,360 pastors and leaders...
February 14, 2012 8:00 AM
My church's annual meeting took place a couple of Sundays ago. We're a modest bunch—about 125 in weekly attendance and a general budget of about $375,000. God has done some remarkable things in our midst during the past year,...
January 17, 2012 8:00 AM
Two separate reports released within the past week on electronic banking and giving patterns underscore the shifting preferences among adults when it comes to their finances. Last Thursday, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released its Real Time...
November 10, 2011 8:00 AM
A church in Centralia, Washington, lost nearly $7,000 from its weekly collections recently when a staff member accidentally left the bag containing the collected funds on top of her car and headed to the bank. Fortunately, a man driving...
November 1, 2011 8:00 AM
To avoid jeopardizing the tax deductibility of charitable contributions, churches should advise donors at the end of 2011 not to file their 2011 income tax returns until they have received a written acknowledgement of their contributions from the church....
October 27, 2011 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: Dan Kimball originally wrote this piece for his blog Vintage Faith. He allowed us to publish an edited version here as a guest post: I have become very aware of the power of words—and the power of...
October 18, 2011 8:00 AM
Vonna Laue, a partner with Capin Crouse and an Editorial Advisor for Christianity Today International's Church Management Team, discusses key points for why churches encounter giving declines, how to track giving, and how to encourage additional giving. Watch the four-minute...
September 6, 2011 8:00 AM
Earlier this year, we asked whether churches should accept credit cards for tithing. Christianity Today recently asked what's wrong with credit card debt? Three Christian leaders with backgrounds in theology and personal finance weighed in. Read excerpts of their...
August 18, 2011 8:00 AM
Churches often receive calls for financial help. The most difficult part of these conversations is determining the honesty of the person on the other side of the phone line. When churches in Florida received a call from a man...
July 21, 2011 8:00 AM
The president has proposed a 2012 budget that will decrease the value of itemized tax deductions, including deductions for charitable contributions, for individuals making $200,000 or more and families making $250,000 or more per year. Also in the proposed budget...
July 19, 2011 8:00 AM
Just as a major error in discipleship is focusing discipling conversations on the needs and interests of the student, an especially common—and major—error in discipleship related to financial giving involves focusing conversations on the giving interest and passions of...
July 12, 2011 8:00 AM
The St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa, became victim to an apparent cyber crime last month when unidentified hackers stole $680,000 by luring away critical electronic information. CBS News, reporting on the incident, quotes law enforcement and cyber...
May 19, 2011 8:00 AM
Contrary to what you might think, Millennials are generous and technology isn’t the only way to motivate them to donate to nonprofits (including churches), according to the 2011 Millennial Donor Report. Among the nearly 3,000 Millennials between the ages...
May 17, 2011 8:00 AM
In the March edition of Christianity Today, three men with backgrounds in church and personal finances were asked whether the jobless should tithe on their unemployment benefits. Read their answers, then share how your church has (or hasn't) addressed...
May 12, 2011 8:00 AM
A new report issued last week by the Oil Price Information Service shows the average American household spent $368 in April on gas, according to this CNN article. If church leaders haven't already done so, it's time to think...
May 5, 2011 8:00 AM
A woman in Missouri pleaded guilty last week to stealing nearly $140,000 while serving as the treasurer of a local church and its denomination’s local governing organization. According to a Kansas City-based news website, the woman wrote checks to...
May 3, 2011 8:00 AM
Editor's Note: In November, TheYourChurchBlog.com published "Should Pastors Know What People Give?" It generated numerous responses, some in favor of the idea, some opposed. We recently came across another viewpoint on the question by Larry Osborne, pastor of North...
April 26, 2011 1:00 PM
More data about church giving last year in the United States has emerged since the release of the 2011 State of the Plate survey results. The "Holy Toll," based on the 2010 Faith Communities Today research conducted with 11,000...
April 14, 2011 8:00 AM
Results of a survey given by the National Association of Evangelicals to its 100-member board of directors show a minority--42 percent--believe the Bible requires tithing, while the rest do not. Leith Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church and president of...
April 5, 2011 8:00 AM
One angle covered by secular media during the recent release of the 2011 State of the Plate survey results: The possible affects of a current "federal proposal to reduce tax deductions for charitable donations among wealthy Americans," as CNN.com reported...
March 30, 2011 9:30 AM
Since the recession in 2008, many U.S. churches have seen a decline in giving. But the tide may be changing. The third annual State of the Plate constituency survey of 1,507 churches revealed that 43% of these churches experienced...
February 14, 2011 8:00 AM
Last week, we pointed to research data highlighted by our sister magazine Christianity Today regarding average tithing levels among Christians. This week, we point to a series of short quotes obtained by Christianity Today from a variety of evangelical...
February 8, 2011 8:00 AM
Our sister publication Christianity Today magazine published some interesting new data from church giving research in its February issue. Specifically, the average percentage of income given to churches appears on the decline, measuring 2.43 percent in 2008 (compared to...
January 6, 2011 8:00 AM
As more churches embrace electronic giving for their congregations, a number find themselves asking an intriguing question: Should they use e-giving options that allow people to tithe with credit cards? We asked a number of church leaders whether credit...
December 30, 2010 8:30 AM
Last week, we took a moment to highlight the Top 10 most-read articles from Your Church magazine's website, YourChurch.net. As we continue to count down the days to 2011, we now offer the Top 5 most-read posts from TheYourChurchBlog.com...
December 20, 2010 8:00 AM
As 2010 comes to a close, it’s time to get all nostalgic and look back at the year that was. That includes reviewing the articles that interested readers throughout the year. Based on Internet traffic patterns, these 10 articles from...
December 17, 2010 8:00 AM
For many years, churches pondered (and even debated) whether to collect offerings by placing a box in the back of the sanctuary or by passing the plate. Today there is a much more important issue that is transforming how...
December 7, 2010 8:00 AM
Our friends at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability recently released a report showing charitable giving to its members has remained steady, especially among its largest members, despite the recession. But there were signs of challenge for ECFA members...
December 2, 2010 8:00 AM
Michael Batts and Dan Busby, two members of our Editorial Advisory Board, will co-present a 60-minute webinar on Tuesday, December 7, about the ins and outs of year-end giving and receipts. Batts is managing partner with the CPA firm Batts...
November 23, 2010 8:00 AM
Bryce Collman started a business to help churches save money on electronic payment processing. Rather than use the bundled rates many larger processors charge to process payments by credit and debit cards, he offered interchange rates, which can save...
November 9, 2010 5:16 PM
A question on XPastor.org's Google Group asked whether pastors should know who gives what to the church. Is it primarily an issue of privacy, potential partiality, or accountability and pastoral care? According to attorney Frank Sommerville, churches "should examine job...
September 30, 2010 10:45 AM
"Pastor, we don't have a budget. We just do what the Lord leads us to do." These words were spoken to me soon after I agreed to be the preacher at a small rural congregation, which used seminary students...
September 14, 2010 8:00 AM
Why do committees so often act in a way that seems indifferent to and sometimes impedes ministry? The following practices may explain much of the problem: —People making financial decisions are removed from firsthand involvement in ministry. —People who are...
July 22, 2010 8:00 AM
I recently posed four questions about organizational theory, leadership—and how those influence church giving—to Mike Bonem, executive pastor at West University Baptist Church in Houston and co-author of Leading from the Second Chair. Here is what he shared with...
July 20, 2010 8:30 AM
Christianity Today, our sister publication, recently asked several financial advisers, researchers, and other observers to weigh in on whether churches should increase their operating budgets next year. Here are their responses: "What we see is cautious optimism on the part...
May 4, 2010 8:00 AM
The buzz surrounding electronic giving options continues to grow as online donation capabilities improve and text-messaging campaigns take hold. The American Red Cross, for instance, says it raised $35 million within 48 hours of the January earthquake in Haiti,...
April 29, 2010 1:40 PM
The Scenario Mike Newson* and the rest of the leadership of Trinity Church were at a crossroads. It was January—midway through the fiscal year—and Trinity’s income projections weren’t looking any better. It seemed like cuts were inevitable. But the...
April 7, 2010 12:32 PM
With many congregations facing tighter budgets as they weather the worst economic recession in decades, a recent survey of U.S. church leaders shows that a small percentage of churches are able to continue doing ministry while keeping staffing costs—the single-biggest...
March 23, 2010 9:00 AM
In the latest “State of the Plate,” survey, in which we worked with Maximum Generosity’s Brian Kluth to poll 1,000 church leaders on the health of their churches’ finances in 2009, an interesting pattern emerged—December didn’t save the day...
February 25, 2010 8:30 AM
What really matters in an economy is not what the media says, but what people’s personal wallets say. As part of the second annual “State of the Plate,” 750 Christian households provided an inside look into their income, employment,...
February 24, 2010 8:00 AM
In an effort to encourage further charitable giving to help those affected by the earthquake in Haiti, Congress passed a bill on January 21 that permits donors to deduct (on their 2009 income tax returns) charitable contributions of cash...
February 18, 2010 8:00 AM
A “new normal” is emerging in the church world when it comes to giving, budgets, and generosity initiatives, according to an ongoing survey conducted by Maximum Generosity and Christianity Today International’s Church Finance Today and Leadership journal. Nearly 800 churches...
January 14, 2010 9:11 AM
Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research in Nashville, wrote a post today highlighting new research regarding continued economic pressures on U.S. churches. LifeWay gathered the research in November through phone surveys with 1,002 church pastors. The overarching message: Churches...
January 12, 2010 9:00 AM
I stopped tithing a few months ago. Okay, no scandal here. I got married in September, and my husband and I moved to a new area and wanted to find a church. As we slowly combined our finances, it...
November 23, 2009 8:00 AM
In early 2008, we made the decision at Fairhaven Church to move forward with an $8 million construction project, even as the signs of recession popped up everywhere. Reports of other churches delaying or canceling plans for expansion were...
October 29, 2009 9:00 AM
New research released this week by Indiana University's Lake Institute on Faith & Giving and The Alban Institute suggests giving remained steady--or grew--during the first half of 2009 for two-thirds of the 1,540 churches they surveyed. More than three-fourths...
October 29, 2009 8:02 AM
Join us on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, for a live webinar event with nonprofit CPA, Elaine Sommerville titled, "You Want to Donate What? How to Handle All Types of Charitable Contributions" (Click on "You Want to Donate What? on...
October 14, 2009 8:50 AM
Some estimate giving to churches is on a 40-year decline. In contemplating the reasons why, here's a thought that should give church leaders pause: A church budget usually is set to the level of its people's unfaithfulness. That's one...
