Struggling economy hurts church donations

Pastor Ernie Rex of Grace Lutheran Church talks with Jay and Cathy Neitzel of Elburn and their children Ellie, 3, and Zoe, 6 months.

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Grace Lutheran Church of Lily Lake recently reduced its pastor's salary, cut back hours for its administrator and maintenance man and laid off its music director.

While the sour economy had not affected area churches in January, by summer, many, including Grace, were struggling with reduced giving.

"Probably a quarter to a third of our households have reduced incomes," said Pastor Ernie Rex. "We had to let our director of music go, but the family was moving away and so we just did not fill [the position]."

The church's financial advisers warned that a recession would mean reduced income and cuts, he said.

"We're not happy about it, but it's not something that came out of nowhere," Rex said. "We were not expecting it to be this severe. Stewardship-wise, we're doing very well. A number of families have stepped up or maintained their giving."

Unlike when businesses cannot make ends meet and eventually face closing up, churches still have to meet its parishioner's spiritual needs, local pastors say.

"Our income streams are down 10 percent," said Ronni Verboom, pastor of Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in St. Charles. "We are also looking at a shortfall and talking about – do we need to sell property?; do we need to examine staff and salaries?"

Churches generally experience reduced giving in the summer when people are on vacation, Verboom said.

"The slump is much slumpier," Verboom said. "It's come on more rapidly than anyone anticipated. We have a gap coming into September."

Compounded with the downward trend in giving, most churches have fall stewardship  campaigns. Church leaders anticipate their members will pledge a certain amount every week either toward general ministries or a special giving – such as a capital campaign.

But local pastors are struggling with how to anticipate giving when their members don't know from month to month if they will have jobs.

Some parishioners who have funds transferred electronically have called to say they cannot afford to do that anymore, Verboom said. Others with job losses and wage reductions call and withdraw their pledges.

"We have been communicating to our congregation in prayer requests and newsletters where we stand and asking for anyone who can to step up their giving," Verboom said. "But it's like we don't know what to anticipate."

Other than regular giving, the church also gets revenue from hosting weddings in its sanctuary. Non-members pay $1,000 to hold a wedding in the sanctuary, as well as a number of related fees.

"Usually we host 25 to 30 a year; now we've hosted half of that," Verboom said. "Couples are calling to postpone their weddings saying they can't afford to get married. They set a date a year from now. Thirty weddings a year – that's $30,000."

Verboom said friends who serve in other churches from Geneva to Crystal Lake all report the same dismal financial status.

"It's important not to panic," Verboom said.  

At First Baptist church of Geneva, Rev. Brian Coffey said the congregation's giving dropped 8 percent to 9 percent in the past year.

"Interestingly, we saw about 40 percent of our families give less than they did the previous year, and about 40 percent gave more," Coffey said.

The Congregational Church of Batavia is facing a $28,000 deficit – about $20,000 more than it had anticipated, Pastor David Foxgrover said. Though August was better than anticipated, the soft economy has hung a cloud of doubt over church giving.

"I think the reaction of many people was, 'How long is this going to last? What's going to happen to my job?' " Foxgrover said. "People hung on to their money. And even those not losing their jobs felt threatened. People are afraid. This is not normal. People said, 'We are going to hang on to what we've got. Then we'll make up the giving.' "

Still, the church's mission is to serve others. Toward that end, the church gave $60,000 to support various agencies in the area, such as Tri-City Family Services, CASA and Hesed House.

"We knew 2009 would be a tough year," he said. "But we said we do not want to cut salaries, cut back on missions and social services."

The church also has an ongoing $1.67 million capital campaign for an addition and remodeling the sanctuary, and that giving is on target, Foxgrover said.

Bob Burnam of Elburn, who is the vision team leader at Grace Lutheran Church in Lily Lake, said when times are tough, people need their churches more than ever.

"It does not matter how much money we do have or how much money we don't have," Burnam said."We are people of faith. And churches are always challenged for something. We're always trying to do more with less. We're here for people to come once a week to be renewed spiritually and to find God. We will always be there for folks in our community ... The money always – somehow – gets handled."