By Lisa Sergent
Illinois Baptist State Association
Churches may face rough financial waters as the baby boom generation hit their
retirement years, pollster George Barna predicted.
The reason is simple.
Churches may face rough financial waters as the baby boom generation hit their
retirement years, pollster George Barna predicted.
The reason is simple.
The more than 76 million adults born between 1946 and 1964
have”tenuous ties to the church,” Barna noted in an article posted
on his Web site – www.barna.org.
Baby boomers are becoming the wealthiest generation and the
most self-absorbed as they age, Barna noted. “In days to come, I see them
dropping out (of church) as their children continue leaving the home.”
Boomers now are between 37 and 55 years old and in their peak
earning potential. As they adjust to more limited incomes in retirement –
or if they start to drop out of churches as Barna foresees – they will
be followed by the baby busters, a smaller segment of the population unlikely
to amass the boomers collective financial strength.
That will lead to financial woes for churches, including foreclosures
– because the baby busters are not as inclined to give and are less
inclined to attend church than their parents, Barna predicted.
It is all happening at a time when church loyalty is one of
the “values abandoned by Christians,” Barna added.
That abandonment has been occurring, not necessarily because
past generations were more faithful but because todays generation has
more activities and dis-
tractions to fill time, said Pat Pajak, a vice president of the Illinois Baptist
State
Association.
“In the past, people would say, My granddad and
great-granddad were Southern Baptists, and so, Im going to be a Southern
Baptist,” he noted.
However, that same loyalty now must be taught, he explained.
Illinois Baptist State Association President Tim Lewis agreed,
noting the church cannot automatically assume each generation will come to it.
“There needs to be clear evangelism directed at each generation.”
Churches develop loyalty when they “expand core leadership
and help them find their giftedness and explore it,” Lewis said. They then
must help them “find how they can use that purpose,” he added.
As generational groups move away from the church, Pajak said
many churches are responding and reacting to this trend. The churches making
an impact in their communities recognize where to find the “front door”
– the first point of contact for a church with its community, he noted.
“In the 1950s, Sunday School was the front door to the
church,” Pajak said. “Then, a shift came in the 1960s, when worship
became more celebrative. In the process, the worship service became the front
door to the church. This was true until the 1980s.”
That is when the front door shifted to programs that matched
with peoples needs, such as grief counseling, divorce care or womens
aerobics, Pajak explained. These drew people into church and worship.
In other words, preaching, worship and Sunday School no longer
are the first draw that brings people who are not Christians to church –
and “more and more churches are waking up to this trend,” Pajak asserted.
Churches also must respond to new technology to keep younger
generations involved, the Illinois Baptist pastor added.
“Worship has to be good and be high quality for busters.
They have grown up with the Internet, CDs and video games. This is a much more
rapid-fire generation.”
That means worship needs to be more visual to connect with
younger generations because they best learn visually, Pajak said.
“If we are not singing choruses and moving along in the
worship service, we need visual stimulation like projecting the words (for songs
and sermon outlines) and using bits of video clips,” he suggested.
And although younger generations are less inclined to open
their pocketbooks, they are willing to give of their time, studies indicate.
Lewis and Pajak both emphasized that as a way for churches to tap into the generations
energy.
“We should use their willingness to volunteer,” Pajak
said. They “have an excitement about missions and will take half of their
vacation to fly somewhere to do missions work.”
With that connection, churches then can teach about the biblical
directive to tithe, the Illinois leaders usggest.
“If you enlist people in service and ministry, and they
are plugged into doing something that makes a difference, the money will follow,”
Lewis maintained. “When a church is focused on purpose and clear vision,
changing lives and impacting people, they are caught by that.”
The need to teach tithing is clear, a study by the Barna Research
Group indicates.
It shows that churches lost financial ground last year.
The study found that 78 percent of adults – more than
three out of every four – donated money to a nonprofit organization or
a church last year.
That represents a drop of 6 percent from 1999 and a 9 percent
decline from 1998 when 87 percent of all adults had donated funds. Among born-again
Christians, there was a 16 percent decline in dollars contributed to all nonprofits
and churches in 2000.
“The problem for the succeeding generations is that they
see things costing more, and they want to have nice things,” Pajak said.
“Because of this, they are more selfish and preaching tithing rubs them
the wrong way. Giving is a sore subject for them.”
Barnas study found that about six out of 10 adults (61
percent) gave money to one or more churches, a 5 percent decline from the previous
two years.
The average church donor contributed a mean of $649 to churches
last year, down from $806 in the prior year.
The study found that few people practiced tithing. One out
of every six adults (17 percent) claimed to tithe.
However, a comparison of the amount that people gave to churches
and their household income revealed that just 6 percent actually gave one-tenth
of their income, pre-tax or post-tax, to churches.
The level of misreporting did not fare better among born-again
Christians. Thirty-two percent reported tithing, but only 12 percent really
did so in 2000, the study says.
Barna said his research showed the baby buster generation –
people who are in their 20s through their mid-30s – barely gives to churches
or religious organizations. Their predecessors – the baby boomers – are
generous donors but simply do not assume they ought to give to churches, he
said.
“As these two generations become more prolific within
churches, their tendency to give less to churches will challenge ministries
to reconceptualize their budgeting, fund-raising and planning practices,”
Barna said in his recent report.
“I dont think churches will go belly up,” Pajak said. “But
churches need to be aware of the situation.” (ABP)