See the Future? We Need to Make Some Changes.

The Alarming Trends from Giving USA Research

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

I read, reread, and read again the report on Giving trends to the church. It is sobering. Thank God we have watchmen at the gate, like Joe Park at Horizons and Tony Morgan at Unstuck, who collect and disseminate this information. They have given us fair warning. The well is drying up. The oceans are receding. And if we do not do anything, we will limit ourselves. The mission of God will go forward — it always will — it just may be that we in the US and Canadian church will not be a part of it.

And smart leaders had better take preemptive action to address these concerns.

You can read Joe and Tony’s take on the report here. But let me lay out the sobering reality they describe.

• According to the 2024 Giving USA report, total charitable giving in the United States reached an impressive $557 billion in 2024. Sounds great, right? Well, not so fast. Here’s the kicker: the share of this generosity flowing to religious organizations has plummeted to historic lows.
• Over the past four decades, from 1983 to 2023, giving to religious organizations has experienced a dramatic decline, falling from 63% of total charitable giving to a mere 24%. Let that sink in for a moment. We’ve gone from receiving nearly two-thirds of all charitable donations to less than a quarter. And this decline is accelerating.

What’s behind this erosion of financial support? It’s a fundamental shift in churchgoers’ mindsets. Most members no longer view giving to the church as their top priority. Instead, the church has become just one option among many in their charitable portfolios. This change in perspective is compounded by a broader trend of declining individual giving.

In 1983, individuals accounted for 82% of total charitable giving; by 2023, that figure had dropped to 67%.

But here’s what keeps me up at night: we’re losing our most capable donors at an alarming rate. These individuals, often possessing significant financial resources and a history of generous support, are increasingly directing their philanthropy toward other nonprofits. This exodus of major donors poses a serious threat to the financial stability and ministry capacity of churches across the nation.

A Perfect Storm

As if these trends weren’t challenging enough, we’re facing a perfect storm of factors that are making our job even tougher:

• Inflation is eating our lunch: Since 2021, giving to religion has fallen 4.1% when adjusted for inflation. In plain English, this means that even as nominal giving increases, our actual purchasing power for ministry has decreased by over 4% in just three years.
• Giving is concentrated among a few: Horizons Next Level Generosity Discovery Assessments reveal that in most churches, just 5–10% of households provide two-thirds of all ministry funding. This concentration creates a precarious financial situation, leaving us vulnerable to the loss of a few key donors.
• Our donor base is aging: Many churches, especially smaller ones, rely heavily on givers over 80 years old for a significant share of their ministry funding. We urgently need to develop new generations of stewards to ensure our long-term financial health.
• Competition is fierce: Over the past decade, the number of nonprofits in the United States has surged by approximately 400,000, a 27% increase. We’re now competing for a pool of giving that has remained stagnant at about 2% of disposable income for the last 40 years.

In this increasingly competitive landscape, we must find the answer to this question, “Why Give to Your Church?” This requires a compelling case for our ministries’ worthiness and a clear articulation of why giving is spiritually beneficial for the giver. It also requires that churches take seriously — as if their life depended on it — the processes they need to help people understand the Christian faith and their role in its advancement and expansion.

A Tale of Two Churches

I have been coaching pastors for three years. I love these guys, and I get them. I hope they would say that of me, too. But I’ll tell you something about many of these leaders. Their congregations do not have a clear, well-designed pathway to turn adult visitors and members into Christian disciples. They do not have a system, pipeline, or process — call it whatever you want — to bring people from being unengaged and disconnected to fully engaged in the life of the church. This is the reason why I wrote “The Seven Tools.” To help church leaders understand they may have blind spots concerning the growth of their church and the development of their members as Christian men and women.

For example, I spoke to a church leader a few weeks ago. He has about 100 people on Sundays. He struggles to increase that consistently. He is not a “numbers only” guy. He cares about people. He is not just trying to pad his church pews, increase the budget, and increase his take-home pay. He loves the Lord, and he loves his people, but he is struggling to keep new members engaged or increase the flow of visitors.

He told me that a church down the road — a non-denomination congregation — had grown over the last four years and saw over 400 people every weekend. He wasn’t boasting, but he said he had listened to the pastor’s sermons online. He had seen their worship service online. And he knew some of their programming. He said, “David, we are an awesome church. Our sermons are stronger, our music is wonderful, but we can’t seem to break through our attendance level.

Here is what the problem is. It is not the preaching. It is not the music. It is not the location. It is not even our liturgy vs. free-form evangelical worship.

The reason why one church grows and the other struggles is because they (the growing church) know what to do with visitors. They know how to welcome people, collect their information, and help them enter the life of the congregation. They have people in the pews/seats who care about their neighbors and friends and are accustomed to inviting their friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers to worship and experience the community of faith.

The church's staff and members down the street — the big one — are all committed to growing the church through growing the members as disciples. They have an established pathway or journey that takes the visitor through a staff-guided process to join the church, learn about the Lord, grow in their faith, volunteer somewhere in the church, and learn the language of that congregation.

Staff Guided or Self-Guided

The large, multi-staff church down the street for your Anglican congregation has a staff-guided pathway for new people to fully enter and deeply engage in the life of the church.

I am free on Sundays sometimes; I’ve visited some of these larger congregations showing remarkable growth. Here is what happened on a Sunday a few years ago.

I pulled into the parking lot of the church and read the sign in front of me: If you are new today, please turn on your flasher signals. Great idea! I did and drove to the part of the parking lot reserved for Visitors. As I pulled in, I friendly woman came to welcome me. He introduced herself and walked with me into the lobby of the worship center. She gave me a paper bag with some brochures, a branded coffee cup, a granola bar, and a welcome letter from the pastor. I saw a card inside with a QR code as well. She was delightful. She didn’t ask my name or contact information. That was mine to share.

I sat in the church and placed my goodie bag on the floor. I was surrounded by people who took the time to shake my hand and welcome me to their congregation. They were not intrusive or obsequious.

I used the QR code to register my attendance. I loved the service and the sermon. The music was loud, and the beat was heavy, but I expected a concert-level performance. I was not disappointed. I used the on-screen QR code to make a $200 donation. I liked the church.

Later that afternoon, I received a text from one of the welcome team members thanking me for my attendance. I was invited to the next stage of visitor status by registering for an online class. I thanked her for the invite (via text) and unsubscribed. The next day, I received another text from the pastor thanking me for my contribution and giving me a link to understand their church, structure, governance, mission, and future. I was also thankful for that but declined and subsequently, unsubscribed.

They Noticed Me

I had no intention of joining the congregation — point. However, I noticed that they noticed me. They planned for me, sent me home pitality gift and other materials, and reached out to me several times after the service. In other words, I knew where the front door was and could go in anytime. It was a system. It was staffed. And it was staff-guided all the way.

I think most congregations in our Anglican family would have to admit that our “process” for visitors to become members is, shall we say, self-guided. We leave it to the new visitor to learn how and why to join our church. If we happen to notice a new face, we might approach them. Maybe. We don’t have reserved parking for them. Most of the time on Sundays, we cannot tell the visitors from the members. We might make an appeal for visitors to submit their contact information. Maybe they do? What happens then?

We might announce on Sunday morning, “We are having a new member class next week, so come join us!” The large church down the street would never make that announcement. They already know who has been visiting. Their staff have been in touch with the visitors to make their reservations. The church down the street knows its processes.

To put it bluntly, they know they are in the business of bringing people to faith. And they are good about it.

Fishing Nets or Fishing Poles

The typical Anglican congregation — for whatever reason — is not as intentional as it could be. Jesus told his disciples that he would make them fishers of men. When Peter, James, and John heard that, they automatically thought ‘nets.’ They imagined somehow, Jesus would use our capacity to throw a net into the lake and scoop up large shoals of fish.

But in our Anglican tribe, do we think of nets? Of networks of people to find and catch? Or are we thinking of a rod-and-reel, of a single-line, lone fisherman casting out into the deep blue sea over and over again, hoping that he has the right bait — or the most attractive lure? Think about it. Is your church set up to cast a net or throw a line?

This laissez-faire approach to discipleship directly affects stewardship, giving, and generosity. If our entrance pathways into the church are self-guided, any teaching or training about Christian life, virtues, expectations, and giving will also be self-taught. We leave it to our newest members to figure it out.

Churches that want to grow need to focus on this issue. Will our process for becoming a church member and a follower of Jesus be ‘staff-guided’ or ‘self-guided’? I wrote “The Seven Tools” because I believe inviting, welcoming, accepting, training, teaching, and developing visitors and new members into the congregation year by year is the Achilles heel for our Anglican churches.

The Membership Class

After years of leading a congregation of people and trying to keep this process and pathway on track, I can admit it wasn’t easy. It was exhausting. As the Rector, I taught EVERY newcomer class at Christ Church for thirty-one years. Every session. That is hundreds of sessions. I had a great staff to support the classes and wasn’t the only presenter. But in every class — some monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly — I presented three things to every future member.

• Who was Christ Church, where were we going, where did we come from, and what was every member’s part in the mission?
• What did it mean to be an Anglican, and why do we worship the way we do? What is the Holy Eucharist, and why do we preach from the Bible?
• What was the norm for every member in participation and financial giving?

Then, the staff took over and tried to find a way to help the newbies find a place to serve, enroll their children, collect demographic data, and find a home, a small group, or a place to find their place.

The following Sunday, at the end of either of our main services, I would announce that everyone ready to join our church could come down in front during the last verse of our closing hymn. And dozens came. They lined up in front and faced the congregational family.

And then I would say these words.

You have decided to become an active member in good standing with Christ Church. Do you promise your allegiance to Jesus Christ as your Lord? And do you promise to support the ongoing life and ministry of this congregation by your presence in worship and by your gifts of time and money? If so, please say I do!

The people would respond in one voice! I do. Then I turned to the congregation and invited them to say this adapted statement from the Book of Common Prayer:

We receive you into the fellowship of Christ Church. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood. Amen.

Applause would follow. I did that hundreds of times. And by the time visitors had become members, they knew the standards and expected norms for every member.

Involvement Leads To Increase

Let me share some eye-opening data with you: research from one of the largest multi-site churches in the US reveals that regular worship attendees who are also engaged in small groups and actively serve in hands-on church ministry give about 3.5 times more than those who only attend worship once or twice a month.

This is not rocket science. I devoted two chapters to it in The Seven Tools, but every church leader can easily guess it’s true. Here it is as a bumper sticker slogan: Involvment leads to Increase.

Involvement in the church will lead to an increase of faith, commitment, desire to learn, and a desire to talk to their friends about faith. The data in the report underscores a fundamental truth: generosity is primarily a byproduct of how effectively we grow disciples. In the simplest terms, if we want more human and financial resources, the quickest route is growing disciples motivated to change the world.

Signs of Hope

Despite the challenging landscape, there are encouraging signs that we can successfully navigate these turbulent waters. Horizons’ semi-annual Worship and Giving Survey reveals that 56% of churches saw increased giving in 2023, with 31% experiencing increases greater than 5%, outpacing the 3.4% inflation rate.

These positive trends suggest that churches that prioritize discipleship, effectively engage their members, and implement strategic giving initiatives can buck the broader trend of declining religious giving.

By embracing a well-defined effort to bring people into an involved connect with your congregation and viewing stewardship development as a critical component of discipleship, churches can weather the current challenges and emerge stronger, with a more engaged and generous congregation ready to fulfill God’s calling.

Developing stewards is not ultimately about securing financial resources, but about nurturing hearts fully surrendered to God and His purposes. It is respecting them and helping them to find a meaningful place of service and ministry in your church. Involvement leads to Increase. In doing so, we ensure the sustainability of our churches and cultivate a community of believers who experience the joy and spiritual growth that come from generous living.

The challenge of developing stewards in today’s church is indeed formidable, but with prayerful dedication, strategic action, and a renewed focus on discipleship, it is a challenge we can meet. The church’s future and impact on the world depend on our willingness to embrace this critical task.

The Rev. David Roseberry, an ordained Anglican priest with over 40 years of pastoral experience, offers leadership services to pastors, churches, and Christian writers. He is an accomplished author whose books are available on Amazon. Rev. Roseberry is the Executive Director of LeaderWorks, where his work and resources can be found. His newest book, “The Seven Tools” is here.