Some Pastors Are Now Looking For Jobs in the Real World
BY TERRY FIRMA
"From the Cincinnati Enquirer, we learn that God isn’t taking care of His earthly representatives very well, at least not financially.
As the new coronavirus has put a halt to most in-person church services across the country, [Pastor Billy] Bruns is looking for a new job outside of the church. Bruns, 37, has been a full-time pastor for eight years, and he takes pride in that. But he is worried about the lasting impact the pandemic could have on his church — and his family… In a very pastoral way, Bruns never sounds too panicked, but he is realistic. If his congregation stops donating, he won’t get paid.
Bruns has been reduced to looking for a job that’s got nothing to do with religion. He’s not alone. I haven’t been able to find numbers, but scores of pastors are surely in the same situation. During the COVID crisis, more than half of all churches have seen donations plummet, as I wrote two weeks ago. The “State of the Plate” survey released by the National Association of Evangelicals showed that 22 percent of 1,000 polled churches reported that giving had declined by 30 to 50 percent; almost one tenth said they’d seen a drop of around 75 percent.
This could go one of two ways. Either church donations will bounce back over time as the world, including America’s $1.2 trillion faith economy, finds its way back to a semblance of normalcy; or some level of financial hardship for churches is permanent. If believers warily eye the growing pile of corpses as well as the incalculable financial damage all around them, they may well be tempted to ask God a fair question: “What have you done for me lately?”
America was already de-churching. COVID-19 could well accelerate the trend." READ MORE FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: