Church Giving Trends and Financial Health in 2025
This annual church financial audit reviews giving trends, electronic giving, debt levels, annual income, and cash reserves from the 2025 annual church survey. The data shows that electronic giving remains steady overall, fewer churches are carrying debt, and cash reserves continue to provide an important buffer.
- Electronic giving has remained steady overall since the digital shift that occurred during COVID.
- A higher percentage of churches have reported annual giving meeting or exceeding budget since 2021.
- Lower debt loads and adequate cash reserves may be helping churches offset decreased giving and inflation pressure.
By Kent Fillinger
Have you had your annual physical yet? Doctors recommend a yearly physical exam to ensure overall health. Completing an annual church financial audit is the equivalent. It’s time for our annual church financial audit to see what we can assess from giving trends in 2025 from our annual church survey.
Electronic Giving Remains Steady After COVID-Era Growth
The digital shift that occurred during COVID from in-person worship to online church sparked a noticeable 10 percent increase in the percentage of church giving received electronically through online, apps, texting, etcetera from 2019 to 2020. But from 2021-2025, the overall average percentage of annual giving that’s received electronically has remained steady hovering between 38 to 41 percent.
The percentage of giving that’s received electronically increases exponentially by church size with the average megachurch receiving five times more through electronic giving than the average very small church.
In a world of accelerating technology, the rise of AI, and an increased acceptance of both from every generation, it will be interesting to see if the prevalence of electronic giving stays the same or starts to grow.
Percentage of Electronic Giving According to Congregational Size
| Church Size | 2019 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megachurches | 50% | 63% | 69% |
| Emerging Megas | 43% | 61% | 61% |
| Large | 39% | 52% | 55% |
| Medium | 25% | 43% | 40% |
| Small | 21% | 28% | 28% |
| Very Small | 4% | 12% | 14% |
| Overall Average | 29% | 39% | 38% |
Annual Giving, Budgets, and Inflation Pressure
Regardless of how the offering is received, it’s encouraging to note that since COVID, an increased percentage of churches have reported that their annual giving has met or exceeded their budget. For example, in 2019, 70 percent of the churches overall said their giving met or exceeded their annual budget. That percentage dropped slightly to 69 percent in 2020. But since 2021, the overall average has consistently held strong at 78 percent of churches that reported their annual giving met or exceeded their budget.
Since budgets are a somewhat arbitrary estimate of anticipated income and expenses, my conclusion is that churches were more aggressive with their budget estimates pre-COVID than they have been since because average annual giving has decreased during the same time as the chart below illustrates.
Additionally, since inflation has been a persistent issue since COVID, I used the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator to show how the “buying power” of the offerings received in each year below compared to 2025. For example, the overall average annual income of churches in 2019 was a little over $2 million and those dollars would have the same buying power as over $2.6M in 2025 dollars.
| Year | Overall Average Annual Income per Church | Inflation Adjusted Income (comparing the buying power in 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $2,067,921 | $2,609,802 |
| 2020 | $1,757,541 | $2,164,274 |
| 2021 | $1,911,466 | $2,321,327 |
| 2023 | $1,807,028 | $1,918,277 |
| 2024 | $1,803,605 | $1,857,722 |
| 2025 | $1,646,259 |
As the chart shows, the overall average annual church income adjusted for inflation has decreased by one million dollars from 2019 to 2025. Our 2022 annual church survey did not include annual giving information which is why it’s not included in the chart.
Church Debt Loads Continue to Shift
One factor that could be helping to offset the drop in annual giving is the decreasing percentage of churches that are in debt. From 2019 to 2021, an overall average of 60 percent of the churches surveyed reported having some debt. That percentage dropped to an overall average of 45 percent in 2023 to 2025.
Eighty-five percent of the emerging megachurches surveyed last year were in debt, which was the highest percentage of any church size category and double the overall average of 42 percent. By comparison, only 10 percent of very small churches were in debt in 2025.
Examining average overall debt loads from 2019 to 2025 shows that the least amount of debt reported was in 2020 with an overall average of $2.89M in debt per church. Construction projects are the most likely cause for increased debt and most of these projects were paused or slowed during COVID, so it makes sense that there was a dip in debt that year because churches couldn’t borrow. The overall average amount of debt per church crested in 2023 at $3.86M. And last year, the average overall debt per church dropped to $3.06M.
In 2023, the overall current debt load for the churches reporting was on average 1.9 times their average annual giving. This dropped to an overall average of 1.4 in 2025 which is a positive trend and is reflective of the decreased debt loads.
Cash Reserves and Giving Units
Another helpful buffer to offset a potential decrease in giving is having adequate cash reserves. Thirteen weeks’ worth of operational reserves is a good target to maintain. Last year, the overall average was 25 weeks of cash reserves. Very small churches had the strongest cash position with an average of 37 weeks of cash reserves. Megachurches ran the leanest with 18 weeks of cash reserves on average.
Almost six out of 10 churches last year had 13 or more weeks of cash reserves with an average of 37 weeks. The remaining 41 percent of churches that don’t meet the target had an average of only eight weeks of cash reserves.
It’s estimated that about 40-50 percent of regular worship attendees give little to nothing to their church. This is illustrated by the chart below that shows the average number of giving units for each church size category and the percentage of the total average worship attendance.
| Church Size | 2023 Avg No. Giving Units | % of Total Average Attendance | 2024 Avg. No. Giving Units | % of Total Average Attendance | 2025 Avg. No. Giving Units | % of Total Average Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Megachurches | 2651 | 41% | 1858 | 30% | 1611 | 36% |
| Emerging Mega | 654 | 46% | 974 | 66% | 669 | 46% |
| Large | 323 | 45% | 316 | 46% | 301 | 42% |
| Medium | 187 | 50% | 190 | 50% | 178 | 51% |
| Small | 89 | 55% | 85 | 49% | 80 | 49% |
| Very Small | 34 | 61% | 37 | 70% | 31 | 55% |
| Overall | 550 | 50% | 496 | 52% | 371 | 40% |
Average Weekly Giving Per Giving Unit
It’s also worth noting that the giving trends in our churches shown in the chart below reflect the national macro trends that reveal fewer people are giving charitable donations to any church or cause, but those who do give are giving larger amounts. The average weekly giving amounts per giving unit shown below are based on the average total annual income for each church size category.
| Church Size | 2023 Avg. Weekly Giving per Giving Unit | 2024 Avg. Weekly Giving per Giving Unit | 2025 Avg. Weekly Giving per Giving Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megachurches | $60.87 | $73.72 | $85.19 |
| Emerging Mega | $79.85 | $59.19 | $87.33 |
| Large | $82.63 | $95.28 | $85.22 |
| Medium | $85.20 | $85.70 | $78.94 |
| Small | $75.88 | $86.69 | $88.92 |
| Very Small | $67.47 | $61.45 | $79.93 |
| Overall | $75.32 | $69.87 | $85.23 |
Author: Kent E. Fillinger
Kent E. Fillinger serves as president of 3:STRANDS Consulting, Indianapolis, Indiana, and regional vice president (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan) with Christian Financial Resources.
