Saddleback Comparison: Was Your Giving Down the last week of 2009?

Posted on January 04, 2010
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(22) comments

In 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...

Comments

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Lori on Mon, January 04, 2010

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.
Paul Porter on Mon, January 04, 2010

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!
timm on Mon, January 04, 2010

Our attendance was down, but thanks to online giving and the faithful mailing in their checks, our offerings held steady.
JAN on Mon, January 04, 2010

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.
Eric Frisch on Mon, January 04, 2010

We had above average attendance… which normally translates into above average giving for us, but I don’t know for sure.
Neil on Mon, January 04, 2010

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. :o)
Richard H on Tue, January 05, 2010

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.