Higher Attendance, Lower Giving: Survey Shows How Churches Are Responding to COVID-19

(RNS) — Giving is down, attendance is up and a good number of pastors still aren’t sure what they’re going to do about Easter.

Those are some of the big takeaways in a new Barna survey of Protestant pastors from across the United States about their churches’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The crisis is starting to take its toll” on church leaders as it becomes clear the measures needed to slow the spread of the virus will stretch on much longer than first thought, according to David Kinnaman, president of the California-based Christian research firm.

Barna surveyed 434 senior and executive pastors online using its Barna Church Pulse tool, starting one week after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency related to the pandemic; 222 pastors responded between March 20 and 23, and another 212 between March 27 and 30.

Over that week, pastors were less likely to say the pandemic had affected the overall well-being of the people in their churches only “a little” (dropping from 28% to 18%) or “not at all” (dropping from 7% to 3%) and more likely to say it had “some” effect (jumping from 46% to 60%) on them, according to Barna data.

Churches are following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cancel large gatherings like Sunday services, with most pastors (63%) saying the buildings were open only to staff in the…