Upside of Down Economy

During the past few months, much attention has been paid to the worrisome economic issues of our day. Jobless rates are on the rise as are taxes. Worse, government is taking over huge portions of the private sector, having squandered billions in public trust funds—even to the exhaustion of the Social Security system.

There is also widespread concern in the Church. Ministry leaders worry that reduced “monies” (giving) will greatly hamper the impact and effectiveness of local congregations. However, an article this week in ChristianPost.com challenges that assumption:


“A recent ‘Lean Staffing’ survey — conducted by Leadership Network, partnered with Christianity Today International's Your Church magazine and Leadership Journal — discovered that it is possible to do ministry on less. The survey was conducted in January, 2010, and polled 735 leaders from Protestant and evangelical churches across the United States with attendance ranging from 52 to 28,000. Of that, the study separated 539 respondents to generate the ‘lean staffing’ comparison. Fifteen percent of that group spends less than 35 percent of its budget on staff, while the rest spend between 35 percent and 65 percent.”

“Warren Bird, director of research with Leadership Network, notes that, based on the survey's results, he was encouraged to see ‘lean-staffing churches spend a higher percentage of the budget money outside of their wall. ... It can be done.’… However, what the survey doesn't reveal is a recipe showing precisely how those slim-staffed churches do it.”

“Bird did say some general patterns from the ‘Lean Staffing’ survey can help churches begin evaluating their thinking now. In particular:

• Lean-staffed churches averaged one paid staff member per 86 attendees compared to a 1-to-70 ratio for those that spend more on staffing.

• Lean-staffed churches generally spent 18 percent of the budgets on outreach, such as missions and community aid, compared to 15 percent by the other group.

• Based on those numbers, church leaders can determine their staff-to-attendee ratios and the percentage of the budget spent on outreach, and then evaluate how much, if at all, they want those numbers to shift.”

“Overall, churches with lean-staff budgets do more with volunteers and lay leadership development, outsource certain staff jobs, tend to have poorer congregations and have extra income sources beyond donations from members. And, to a lesser extent, they are larger in size (attendance), growing, younger in average attendee age, younger in age as a church, located in an older residential area and using at least three part-time staff for each full-time staff.”


Simply put, our faltering economy could force more lay leaders and volunteers to shoulder the “Ark of the Gospel” as is the case in other global regions where the Good News is spreading rapidly.

And the downside?