The church is facing a pivotal crossroads. No one could have predicted the change of the past few years. There are plenty of opportunities ahead, and God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yet, at the moment, the church in America is in a moment of crisis.
From evolving demographics to shifting expectations to technological disruption, the church is facing an endless barrage of changes — and many are failing to adapt fast enough.
Let’s take a look at the state of the church through an administrative lens. Specifically, let’s look at how churches are facing mounting pressure when it comes to finances, budgets, and buildings. We’ll examine current trends, the need for leaders to shift strategies, and how Ministry Solutions Group’s building activation service can help ministries not just survive but thrive in 2025.
Churches are non-profits. They don’t operate to make money. But they need money to operate. From utilities to food, ministries to salaries, the modern church functions on monetary donations — donations that are struggling in many areas of the American church right now.
Health Research Funding recently reported that the average U.S. Protestant church attendee gives around $17 per week. That adds up to $884 per year. As of this writing, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. That comes out to $15,080 per year. That puts the average rate of giving well below the traditional tithing 10% mark — and that’s just for minimum wage.
Gallup also found that the average number of Protestant Christian attendance has declined in the past 20 years from 48% to 44%. Catholic and Orthodox congregations have also dropped from 45% to 33% and 35% to 26%, respectively.
Covid Religion Research also shared in 2023 that churches with more virtual than in-person attendance had less than half the average giving per person compared to mostly in-person congregations ($1,053 to $2,479).
The point here? No matter how you slice it, church budgets are being squeezed. At Ministry Solutions, we constantly hear stories of churches coming in 40% or even 50% over budget. Thousands of congregations across the U.S. face financial pressure, even as they adapt to rapidly shifting expectations from modern attendees.
Many churches are closing. Others are facing consistent budget shortfalls. Even if they have sufficient budgets in place, churches are missing out on additional income that could help their ministries better meet the current needs of their congregations.
This is where church real estate and building activation come into the picture.
A liability. A cost. An expense. Call it what you want. Most churches view their buildings as something that drains their bank accounts — and in most cases, they’d be right. Traditionally, church buildings are a necessary expense that allows a congregation to gather together. Most church buildings still serve that function to a degree, but the inconsistency of in-person attendance is making the value of many buildings for Sunday services less than the cost of maintaining them.
This tends to turn church buildings into expensive assets their ministries must fund. At Ministry Solutions Group, we’re committed to reversing that equation.
You can have a healthy, positive, and proactive approach to your buildings and budgets, even in a world where tithes, offerings, and in-person attendance are shaky. This is what we call building activation.
Building activation is the process of assessing your church building and discovering how you can use it to serve your community for the majority of the week. Efficiency and optimization aren’t terms you can apply to everything in ministry, but when it comes to the dollars and cents required to run a brick-and-mortar building, it’s essential.
Too many ministries are pouring resources into buildings that are half-filled for half of Sunday and then stand empty for the other 6.5 days of the week. Building activation finds genuine community needs — daycares, coffee shops, community centers — that these unused church spaces can fill. From there, we help build practical and attainable strategies, partnerships, and roadmaps to turn that potential into reality. This has a few different benefits:
Building activation generates income that transforms a church building from a liability into an asset.
Building activation meets your local community on their ground and helps them where they need help.
Building activation doubles as outreach, improving awareness and familiarity with your church.
Building activation is more than a useful way to maximize a church building. It is quickly becoming a necessary part of many ministries’ financial and outreach strategies as they adapt to the post-pandemic church-going landscape.
Heading into 2025, it’s up to church leaders to proactively make the connection between their church buildings’ potential and their struggling budgets.
Church Salary reports that as ministries plan for next year’s budget, the majority are expecting further wage and payroll increases. The organization adds that “market forces are threatening to further shrink staff sizes or to force hard cuts to budgets for many churches.”
As your church faces increasing pressure, be proactive about addressing that financial stress. The good news is that building activation offers a solution that doesn’t require cutting staff size, reducing ministry activity, or asking for more donations from your congregation.
If your church sits idle for 90% of the week, it’s time to do something about that untapped potential. Reach out to the Ministry Solutions Group team for a 30-minute consultation. Together, we can go over your situation and see if building activation is a worthwhile step to help you bolster your 2025 budget.