A friend recently shared Pew Research data that stopped me in my tracks: Baby Boomers make up only about one-fifth of the population, yet they represent almost half of Southern Baptist church membership.
Another friend shared that while his church had experienced an increase of 100 people in its services, there was barely a difference in the undesignated receipts received.
These two matters are not unrelated. The headline from a 2025 Religion Unplugged article asserts, “When It Comes to Giving, Baby Boomers Remain Most Generous.” The article, which cites a Giving USA survey, goes on to say,
While millennial donors had already surpassed Gen X in terms of giving by 2021, the margin has continued to grow. In 2024, millennial donors gave $1,616 annually on average, while Gen X gave just $1,371. The oldest generation included in the survey, baby boomers, contributed far more than the others — an annual average of $3,256, twice the rate of the second-place millennials. The youngest generation included in the workforce, Gen Z, donated an annual average of $867.
What does this mean for local church pastors, elders and ministry leaders? It means we have work to do when it comes to discipling believers about funding the mission. These startling numbers do not reveal a giving problem — they reveal a spiritual development problem.
What can Christian leaders do to address this issue and help God’s people get back on track with their giving? Here are five suggestions.
1. We can practice tithing: Leaders lead first by example. We cannot lead others where we have not been ourselves. Tithing is an act of faith. It requires that we trust God to cover our expenses with 90 percent of our income instead of 100 percent. Tithing also demonstrates a commitment to fund the work of the church and its gospel-advancing mission. Any pastor, elder, or ministry leader who does not give sacrificially to his own church — and a tithe is a good place to start toward sacrificial giving — will have a hard time leading others to practice gospel generosity.
2. We can talk about tithing: Followers will follow their leaders. We are where we are because — in general — pastors, elders and ministry leaders have not talked about giving. Financial expert Dave Ramsey said recently through a social media post, “Pastors: Talking about money in church doesn’t have to be weird.” Not only doesn’t it have to be weird, but it should also be normal.
Giving is part of being a disciple of Jesus and how we use our money is an indication of what we value (Matthew 6:21). Just as pastors, elders and ministry leaders talk about Bible reading, prayer, evangelism and church attendance, we must also talk about giving.
3. We can connect the tithe to the task: Christians give to the mission and to needs. Like our Lord, we are driven by compassion (Mark 8:2) and our love for people drives us to contribute sacrificially to help people in need and to meet the greatest need of all humanity by advancing the gospel. Those in leadership must help God’s people understand what they are supporting with their giving. My home church gives 10 percent of all undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program (Baptists’ primary way of funding a state, national and global mission effort) and it means a lot to me that when Connie and I tithe through our church that we are advancing the gospel in our community and around the world.
4. We can train people to tithe: Giving is an act of worship, and it is also a spiritual discipline. Just as we train followers of Jesus to read the Bible, to pray, to share the gospel and to bring up faithful children, we need to train them to use their finances to advance the gospel. I pastored a military church for 11 years with a 20 to 25 percent annual transition rate of members. We were also regularly seeing people come to faith in Jesus. It was imperative that we trained these believers to order their finances in such a way that they could care for their family while also supporting the mission of Christ.
5. We can trust God to supply our needs: If you are a church or ministry leader who follows trends and listens to futurists, then you are undoubtedly discouraged at this juncture in religious history. If, however, you are one who lives in the Scriptures and takes their cues from God, you have a helpful counterbalance to the current reality in giving practices. Jesus reminded us that “with God all things are possible.” I wonder if religious leaders in the first century said, “Dead people don’t live, deaf people don’t hear, blind people don’t see, and lame people don’t walk.” Yet when Jesus showed up all those realities were reversed. While giving trends in our day are discouraging, it can all turn around as we look to the One with whom “all things are possible.”
May the Lord be pleased to use today’s pastors, elders and ministry leaders to guide His people in the faithful use of their finances, so Jesus’ mission remains funded and the gospel continues to advance until all people everywhere have heard the good news (Mark 13:10).
Dr. Todd Gray 