Why Worship in America Is Only for the Rich

Most people who attend church never stop to think of what the average Sunday morning costs. Many put a dollar or two in the offering plate — satisfied they’ve done their part. If they thought about it at all, they would probably compare their offering to the cost of a movie ticket. It’s about the same amount of time invested, and there are no expensive movie stars, stunt men or cars to blow up!

Here’s what a typical Sunday morning church experience costs (actual costs will vary):

  • First there is the cost of having a sanctuary. Let’s assume that an annual property budget includes at least $20,000 for keeping up the church building. That’s roughly $55 for the day.
  • Air-conditioning in summer and heat in the winter probably cost about $50 for the day. It all depends on the size of the sanctuary and type of heat.
  • Hospitality facilities must be included. Let’s add $50 per Sunday. That will cover the kitchen, coffee and paper supplies.
  • Then there’s the organ. Those organ maintenance contracts can knock the organist’s socks off— about $40 a week, whether or not you turn the power on.
  • We’ll assume the hymnals and choir music were purchased a long time ago and we never have to invest in new music.
  • The bulletins, probably cost $2 each with paper and toner and copier maintenance. If we have 100 at worship, that’s $200.
  • Now we come to the really expensive part—the minister. We won’t count the day spent planning the service and writing a sermon. A supply pastor costs roughly $150 for a one-hour service. A called pastor costs more. At a modest annual salary of $40,000, the Sunday part of the salary costs $109. But we have to pay for the whole week.
  • Office help to put the bulletin together might cost $30, but we are betting the office help wants to be paid for a few other days a week as well.
  • The organist, let’s say $150.
  • The choir director, another $150.
  • The janitor who keeps the place clean and the side-walk shoveled in winter — let’s say $25.
  • We’ll assume somebody donated the flowers for the altar, and the wine and bread for Communion.
  • Thank God for the volunteer choir, readers, ushers, nursery help. etc. We’d be out of business without them.
  • We won’t add the cost of using multimedia. We’ll just stay behind the times.

So let’s add that up.

Our barebones church service, handled the way most churches handle a service costs $900.

The worship service costs about the same whether we have 50 at worship or 500. Only the bulletins and hospitality costs slide with size.

If we have 100 people in church, every one of them — man, woman and that cute baby — must put $9 in the offering plate.

And they are paying only for Sunday morning.

We have to collect that every day to pay for the other six days of the week. How many of your church members are putting $63 in the offering plate every week? That’s $252 for a family of four every week! Let’s hope no one skips a week!

This is just the cost of Sunday morning worship. Our sample church hasn’t begun to reach out, educate, provide social services or support a hierarchy yet.

This is just something to think about as we plan ministry.

Praising God should not be prohibitively expensive for any size church. The cost is making worship the province of large churches. Large church worship is of a different nature than small church worship and doesn’t appeal to many. Most people belong to small churches. When it becomes too expensive they are not likely to start going to large churches. They are likely to become unchurched. Perhaps this is part of mainline church decline.

How can we make praising God something everyone can afford?

Any ideas?