Most Pastors Say the Economy Is Hurting Their Churches. A Squeezed Church Is Still a Giving Church.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Most Protestant pastors in the United States say the economy is hurting their churches, and offerings are not keeping up with rising prices, according to a new survey from Lifeway Research. In its annual tracking survey, 54% of pastors said the economy is having a negative impact on their congregation. Another 36% said it is having no impact, and 8% reported a positive effect, Lifeway reported.

The negative number had eased from 66% in 2024 to 49% last year, but it has climbed back to 54% in 2026, including 7% who say the economy is affecting their congregation very negatively. The survey reached 1,004 Protestant pastors by phone from Sept. 8 to 30, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, according to Lifeway.

"Pastors hear the needs and problems of people in their congregations every week, so it is not surprising that they feel their pain from economic factors," Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in the release, which Religion Unplugged republished.

Who is feeling it most

The strain is not spread evenly. African American pastors were the most likely to say the economy is hurting their church, at 82%. Mainline Protestant pastors were more likely than evangelical pastors to report negative effects, 66% to 47%. By denomination, Methodist pastors (68%) and Presbyterian or Reformed pastors (66%) were more likely than Pentecostal (51%), Baptist (46%) and nondenominational pastors (38%) to report a negative impact, Lifeway said.

McConnell said the same economy lands differently on different churches. "High gas prices will have no impact on an urban pastor who uses public transportation to visit his congregation, whereas a rural pastor driving two hours each way to visit someone in the hospital will feel significant pain," he said in the Lifeway report.

Giving trails inflation

The average church reported a 1.24% rise in giving over 2025, while the median change was zero. The Consumer Price Index was up 3.7% as of September 2026, Lifeway noted. About 36% of pastors said giving is higher than last year, 37% said it is about the same, and 22% said it is lower.

African American pastors were the most likely to say giving had dropped, at 47%, and 17% of them said it fell by 25% or more. Pastors of churches with fewer than 50 people were also among the most likely to report a decline, at 31%. Larger churches did better. Among congregations of 250 or more, 51% saw giving rise and 38% said giving was above budget, according to the survey.

Half of all pastors said offerings are about where they budgeted. McConnell said some churches may still close the gap. "Churchgoers often give an extra gift at Christmastime," he said, according to Lifeway.

Opinion: A squeezed church is still a giving church

These numbers should not surprise anyone who pays a grocery bill. When a family's budget tightens, the offering envelope often feels it. When giving rises about 1% and prices rise nearly 4%, a church is effectively doing less with more effort. The pastors carrying that load, especially in small and rural congregations, deserve our prayers and our practical help.

But hard times have never been the end of the church's generosity. The apostle Paul praised churches that were poor yet generous, writing that "in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." The early Christians did not wait for good times to give. They gave because Christ gave Himself for them.

Christians around the world still give out of far deeper hardship than most Americans will ever know, and this weekend many churches will remember them. Dock Line has covered that call: International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church: Nov. 1, 8.

There is also a word here for the rest of us. Churches are not businesses, but they do pay real bills, and many of the pastors hit hardest serve the poor, the rural and the small. If your church is large and growing, look for a struggling congregation nearby and help it. If your own giving has slipped, do not let guilt keep you home on Sunday. Come back, give what you can, and give it cheerfully.

The economy will rise and fall, as it always has. The church that is faithful in small things will still be standing when it does.