VIEW THE SURVEY RESULTS

BCI CHURCH GIVING SNAPSHOTS

These statistics give us a big picture assessment of the impact on COVID-19 up until May. What can’t be ascertained from surveys is how any individual church is uniquely responding. We asked a few BCI pastors for a snapshot of what changes their churches are making in response to this crisis.

1) More than half of churches reported a decrease in giving.

The percentage of churches that reported a decline as a result of COVID-19 shutdowns was 65% in the State of the Plate survey and 56% in the Capincrouse survey.

Giving Snapshot – Crossroads Community Church, Red Oak

Ricky Rohrig, pastor of Crossroads Community Church, Red Oak, reported a slight decrease in giving over the first four months of 2020. The shortfall represents a 5.6% decrease from the same period in 2019. Pastor Ricky is a bi-vocational pastor with the salary he receives going toward housing allowance and health insurance. Pastor Ricky feels Crossroads is still in a good financial position as they have been working aggressively to pay down facility debt for the last few years. Currently, their payments are down to $200 per month although they are paying $700 per month in an effort to eliminate their debt within the next 3 years, a practice they intend to maintain in spite of COVID-19.

Changes made due to COVID-19

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, Pastor Ricky has tried to be more intentional about clearly communicating the different ways that people can give to the church. They have seen an increase in both online and text giving with some older givers being proactive in learning how to give online. While they have seen a slight decrease in giving, overall Pastor Ricky feels their finances have not taken a serious hit. They are hopeful that they will see strong giving through the remainder of the year, especially as in-person services resume.

2) One quarter of churches reported no change in giving.

The two surveys were very close with Capincrouse indicating 25% and State of the Plate indicating 27% of churches who have not seen a significant change.

Giving Snapshot – CITYPOINT CHURCH, URBANDALE

Nick Reed, Pastor of CityPoint Church in Urbandale, said he initially sensed a lot of fear in his members. But as they continued to encourage the church in giving generously to meet physical needs and benevolence needs in their church and community, their church giving remained steady. They even had one of their biggest giving months so far in March. They were encouraged that some members maintained their level of giving even after having their income go down.

Changes made due to COVID-19

As a response to COVID-19, CityPoint asked their members to increase their giving toward their benevolence fund. The fund is slowly growing right now, even as they respond to more and more needs in the Urbandale community. They hope to continue to build the fund as they feel that benevolence needs will likely increase over the next few months as more church and community members who have lost income run out of saved funds.

3) A SMALLER NUMBER OF churches reported an increase in giving.

According to Capincrouse, 19% saw an increase in church giving although State of the Plate only indicated 8%. More than 50% of churches who reported an increase in their giving in the Capincrouse survey saw an increase of more than 20% of their giving.

Giving Snapshot – Paragon Church, Grinnell

Cody Hinton, Co-Pastor at Paragon Church, Grinnell, said that, since COVID hit in the middle of March, they have seen an increase of 20% over their expected giving. Paragon was launched in 2016 out of New Heights Church in Indianola. Both Cody Hinton and Co-Pastor Daniel Clements work full-time jobs in the community and neither receive staff pay from the church budget. One development positively affecting their budget is that they are not currently paying rent to the elementary school where they usually meet for service.

Changes made due to COVID-19

In communicating about giving, their focus has been urging their people to be actively involved in tangible ways of loving their neighbors. They are expecting less attendance upon re-opening but anticipate many will continue to participate through online services. They are hopeful that their giving will continue to remain strong through the duration of the crisis to fuel more gospel ministry in Grinnell.

4) The majority of churches reported an increase in online giving.

Capincrouse indicated that 90% of churches have seen a significant increase in online giving.

Giving Snapshot – Community Baptist Church, Marion

Darin Ulmer, Pastor of Community Baptist Church, Marion, said he has not seen a significant change in their church giving. He attributes this to a large number of faithful, long-term givers who have not been financially affected by the crisis. They have not had any church members that have lost jobs although they do know that many have been furloughed.

Changes made due to COVID-19

One significant change that Community Baptist made early in the COVID-19 crisis was adding online giving as an option. They recognized they would need to create more ways to give to the church although many longtime givers continue to mail checks to the church building.

Churches will likely not feel the total economic impact of COVID-19 for months (or even years) to come. Hopefully, getting perspective on your church’s situation will help you feel hopeful and turn to God in trust, even in the face of discouraging news. As in every area of life, God uses our trials to develop faith, which is more valuable than gold (1 Peter 1:6-7).