Even as First Baptist Church of Dallas launches a $115 million capital campaign, the most ambitious ever for a large Protestant church, congregations across the country struggle to pay everyday bills.
Nearly 40 percent of U.S. churches experienced declines in church giving and offerings in 2009, the second consecutive year of significant funding drops, according to the 2010 State of the Plate surveys conducted by the Maximum Generosity ministry and Christianity Today International.
After the October 2008 stock market plunge, 29 percent of churches reported declines in giving. In 2009, 38 percent of churches responding to the survey had experienced declines.
"What normally happens is a downturn hits churches about six months after it hits everyone else, and it takes about six months after the recovery starts for churches to see that," said Simeon May, chief executive officer for the Richardson-based National Association of Church Business Administration.
"We aren't seeing much improvement yet."
It's little wonder, then, that some churches have delayed or postponed capital campaigns and focused instead on "operational giving," said Joel Mikell, president of RSI Church Stewardship Group of Dallas, which guides 200 to 250 churches through capital campaigns each year.
"Make no mistake, the economy has influenced a number of churches in a way that makes them say, 'Let's wait a year ... let's wait 18 months,' " he said.
First Baptist Church of McKinney, for example, ultimately decided to postpone a major capital campaign because of members' concerns about the economy, employment issues and debt.
Church leaders are increasingly cautious about income, what's being spent and how – a reflection of the economy in their towns.
But some churches, following well-defined visions that can change lives, have decided to go ahead with major projects, "because vision always trumps the economy," Mikell said.
"That's why in this economy with giving being cut back in many ways, here's this church announcing a $100 million-plus campaign," he said.
"First Baptist's decision to reach downtown Dallas and the community makes this a transformational situation."
Others, though, after experiencing years of double-digit growth, are now learning to deal with a much different fiscal environment.
On Dec. 30, 2009, members of Southern California's Saddleback Church, one of the largest in the country, received a shocking e-mail from Pastor Rick Warren.
With roughly 10 percent of the 22,000-member congregation out of work, costs of caring for the church's Orange County community had risen dramatically. But income was stagnant.
Saddleback was able to stay on budget through prudent financial planning, Warren wrote, until "the bottom dropped out" at post-Christmas services.
"On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive," wrote Warren, "leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow."
Members responded with $2.4 million in last-minute donations. But Saddleback's case points to the precarious circumstances for many churches, which, like some in their congregations, live paycheck to paycheck.
A report released earlier this year by the Barna Group, a research group focusing on faith and culture, found that budgets for Protestant churches were down about 7 percent on average from the year before. One in 11 churches lost 20 percent or more in annual income, with 2 percent reporting drops of 35 percent.
The declines come as Americans pull back in large numbers from gifts to nonprofit groups, Barna found. In interviews taken in January and February, nearly half of adults said they'd reduced contributions. The numbers weren't quite so dire for churches, but 29 percent said they had cut donations.
"While many church donors have been able to maintain their typical level of donations, those who have cut back have dropped their giving substantially," the Barna report noted. "Nearly one-quarter of church donors had cut contributions by 20 percent or more."
And the number reducing donations more than doubled in 14 months.
But this isn't a new problem, according to Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, who said donations to megachurches were "basically flat between 2005 and 2008."
"So it wasn't a rosy picture even then," he said. "When we look at those same things in 2010, I think we'll see that it's been a decade of trouble for the church, a whole lot of trouble."
It is in that climate that First Baptist of Dallas plans to raise a total of $115 million to transform its downtown campus for 21st century ministry. But church officials are confident First Baptist can meet its goals.
"We have about $35 million right now," senior pastor Robert Jeffress said, "so we have $80 million to go. Most of our members are not wealthy, but the people have really given sacrificially."
Consultants like RSI – which isn't part of First Baptist's program – say an average capital campaign is two to three times the church's annual income. First Baptist, with an annual income of about $15 million, is taking a large leap.
But Mikell of RSI said he has been involved with campaigns far more ambitious than the average, including one for $6 million at a church with an annual budget of about $1 million, and what began as a $105 million campaign at Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale, which has about $25 million in annual income..
"First Baptist's is an extraordinary commitment any way you measure it," Mikell said, "and there will be skeptics and cynics. But having been there at Calvary, I look at these and say God just showed up and did something extraordinary."
The Calvary Chapel campaign was ultimately reduced to $85 million, mostly because a number of large commitments were tied to investments in Florida real estate, where values plunged in the recession.
But that doesn't mean the same will happen to First Baptist, he said.
"What makes people give these kinds of dollars in a down economy? It's important to remember that church campaigns are spiritual before they're financial," Mikell said. "They're built on stewardship. 'Everything I have is from God.'
"Secondly, they're highly relational, because our resources follow our relationships. We have a relationship with our church.
"That's why capital campaigns in the church typically have such extraordinary results."
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