Saddleback Comparison: Was Your Giving Down the last week of 2009?
Posted by Todd Rhoades in Money on Jan 4th, 2010 | 22 commentsIn his statement last week giving the reason for his $900k plea, Rick Warren wrote: “The cause of our financial shortfall was… simply by the way Christmas occurred in this year’s calendar. After 10 packed Christmas services, and with Christmas Day on Friday, many people were out of town or too tired to come back for weekend services, so the unusually low attendance created an unusually low offering.” Just wondering… was your attendance and offering unusually low on December 27?
I’d love to hear how your church did. Please leave a comment below…
22 Responses to “ “Saddleback Comparison: Was Your Giving Down the last week of 2009?”
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We had poor weather, so we’re not a great indicator, but our giving has been flat the whole year. Praise God, we’ve laid nobody off and we haven’t had to decrease what we do in the community, but it’s been hard.
December 27 was one of the smallest Sundays of the year (but the Christmas Eve service was packed as usual).
Gving was up! Many more than would have been expected a while ago were giving inspite of reduced personal wealth & income, were giving amounts not reduced commensurately with the reduction in ioncome and wealth. In other words, many more gave the widow’s mite.
I am not certain, because I don’t have direct knowledge of the church’s finances, but I’m going to guess it was down because our attendance was down.
I don’t have direct access to giving on a specific week (it is available if I ask). But last Wednesday I asked our treasurer how our giving was compared to expenses. While we did not meet budget in giving, we also did not spend the whole budget. Income was within 1/2 of 1% of our year-to-date spending. God provided exactly what we needed!! And , like Saddleback, our benevolence spending was up as we spent less on internal ministries. God rewards generosity.
We had low attendance. I wasn’t surprised. I think people lose track of what day it is over the holiday and I think maybe people have family events that packed the weekend. We are considering not having services on Dec. 26 next year and adding more Christmas Eve gatherings.
Our December giving was better than last year but way off our previous trend. December usually makes up about 12% of annual giving. This year it was 6%.
Christmas eve we had 5 services. Rain changed to snow during the first one. As snow fell down so did the attendance. We expected 1200 and got only 900. That all hurt us.
I made a last ditch appeal to the people I thought I could generate income from. Our 2010 budget really depends on our 2009 numbers and rigth now we’re facing a tough year based upon our year end.
Very disappointing attendance on Dec 27, and we struggled with money all year. We ended up collecting more this year than last but it was harder work than before. On the other hand, great attendance and high energy on 1/3!
Attendance was low, offering was lowest of the year.
We actually had a great Sunday! We were prepared for a low Sunday, seeing as how it normally would be. We were very surprised though at both of our morning services with high attendance.
Maybe Andy Stanley has it right after all, close the church on the Sunday after Christmas. When I first stated attending North Point, 13 years ago, I thought it was a crazy idea. Not any more.
Large turnout on 12.27.09 and higher than previous “last Sunday of the year” giving. Our giving is off 5% for the year, but our spending is also a bit less than planned, so we’re proceeding with discernment and courage. We’ve had no staff layoffs or cut backs, and giving in a special offering a month ago at Thanksgiving were double the amount given last year. Last year we supported a seminary in Kenya. This year we supported a water filtration project there and had $2,900 come in from our 350 person flock. I agree with others that when generosity is sown, generosity is also reaped. And in the midst of all the economic downturns in our community and state, our people are seeing this, are understanding this, and are learning to participate in it.
As with so many aspects of our life with God, it’s about trust. Godspeed.
read.think.pray.live.
Gregg
We too were low, so low I heard a new term for that Sunday after Christmas: “Cannon Sunday” You can shoot a cannon through the church and not hit anyone. Attendance popped back up yesterday!
We closed the Sunday after Christmas, we had great comments from our people thanking us for considering this time with family. I am sure I will take a hit from some, but we believe church is more than meeting in a building. As far as offerings we were up over 10% for the year and we offered a way of giving even though we were off and it seems we didn’t miss a beat. Most certainly we will not have service the Sunday after Christmas this year. We determined that If the only reason we had service after Christmas is to make budget then we shouldn’t do it.
We had baptisms scheduled which turned out to be genius. Great crowds both for the Christmas eve and Dec. 27th. Of course, I can’t take credit, it was because of a snow sunday the week before that we moved Baptisms to the 27th.
Craig,
I really like the attitude of you and your church. I once served with a pastor who did the same thing. His thoughts on no service on the Sunday after Christmas were these: first, those who serve every Sunday (band, teachers, leadership etc.) deserve a break, especially one without guilt; and second, it is typically the lowest attended Sunday and people will feel free to be with family, go out of town…
I also agree, if you don’t close for a particular Sunday (Sunday after Christmas, inclement weather..) because of concern over lack of giving, then a church leadership’s faith is misplaced. I have heard several pastors say that they won’t ever close because the church needs the offering.
To the subject, I’m not privy to weekly giving numbers but attendance was low on 12/27.
Our attendance was down a little. Moneywise: We are in Genesee County (Flint) Michigan with unemployment highest in Michigan and depending on who you read the highest in the USA. We’ve been behind budget all year. Our year end weekend offering was one of the the highest in the congreation’s history. Praise God!
Our attendance was down, but thanks to online giving and the faithful mailing in their checks, our offerings held steady.
Giving was up. But our lowest giving months are typically January and February. We anticipate that it will be a trough couple of months coming up.
We had above average attendance… which normally translates into above average giving for us, but I don’t know for sure.
I can’t figure it out. Our attendance was up an our offering was the highest ever. It’s just a reminder that Jesus is building his church and He doesn’t take union vacations.
)
By the grace of God we received what we needed. At the same time our people have stepped up and become more generous with those around them. This year will continue to be difficult, with our major employer in the county laying off a large number and moving other jobs out of state.