Giving Shifting Away from Traditional Church

"With millions of people shifting their allegiance to different forms of church experience, and a more participatory society altering how people interact and serve others, many Christians are now giving their money to different types of organizations instead of a church. They attend conventional churches less often. They are expanding their circle of Christian relationships beyond local church boundaries. And they are investing greater amounts of their time and money in service organizations that are not connected with a conventional church." - Barna Report

Traditionally organized congregations and building related funding is at risk as American's shift their stagnant giving (hovering around 5% the last decade) to alternative ministry and non-profit organizations not necessarily aligned with a church. On the heels of a building boom, and increased staffing, churches will be faced with attracting new giving sources to maintain current ministry efforts.

Look for multiple churches to utilize existing buildings on a "coop" basis to share overhead. Those not achieving necessary giving levels will re-evaluate their ministry focus to attract giving from younger generations who are prone to give toward more socially oriented causes addressing humanitarian efforts. Consumer behavior analysis firms will provide churches with a more in depth look at congregational giving trends and member's desired connectivity to highly specialized social causes. Mega churches will move toward "franchise" agreements to broadcast and staff hundreds of satellite locations to generate new giving streams creating national church "brands."

In general, the financial pressures will necessitate church leadership becoming more active in understanding the congregation's desire for ministry focus to ensure engagement and giving. The next 10 years will see considerable controversy within the church as we experience generational clashes over the debate of this new church organizational design.

Courtesy of Trend Ping