Is there a Groupon solution for houses of worship?
The online coupon marketer, along with similar sites such as LivingSocial, is experiencing remarkable growth by offering deep discounts that stores, restaurants and other businesses hope will attract new customers.
After an initial run of enthusiasm, however, some businesses have backed away from the sites, finding people were eager to take the free meals or special offers, but not so willing to keep coming back at prices businesses must charge to turn a profit.
Churches, mosques and temples can empathize.
As religious groups struggle through hard economic times, many also are paying increasing attention to "free riders," individuals who are content to enjoy their services without making a significant commitment to their upkeep and mission.
Observers need only to look to the struggles of the newspaper and music industries to see the difficulty of finding ways to make people pay for services they become accustomed to getting for free.
And research indicates that religious institutions that screen out members who lack commitment make the organizations stronger and more attractive because they place a high value on members giving time, talent and treasure.
But while attracting new members with free or reduced-price services may be risky investments, allowing free riding also is necessary for the future of the church, some scholars concluded at the recent meeting of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture in Washington.
"Committed people aren't just born," Michael McBride of the University of California, Irvine, said in a presentation on "Why Churches Need Free Riders."
Financial challenges
Churches can use the money.
Some 57 percent of the more than 11,000 congregations in the 2010 Faith Communities Today survey reported their income declined during the recession. Nine percent of congregations reported staff layoffs or furloughs because of the recession, and more than a quarter reported salary freezes or reductions. The report estimates more than 500,000 people lost their jobs or had their salaries reduced.
In addition, 41 percent of congregations said that the recession had a major or moderate impact on unemployment among members. And almost half the congregations for which the recession had a major impact on the unemployment of their members saw a major decline in congregational income.
Yet asking for more money from those contributing smaller amounts involves a delicate balance.
Economics professor Laurence Iannaccone of Chapman University helped frame the debate in a 1994 article in the American Journal of Sociology.
Make too many demands, and religious groups will scare away current and potential members. Make too few demands, and people feel free to seek the pastor's counsel without putting money in the collection place or to come emptyhanded to a pot luck supper, and the whole church suffers, he said.
Finding an optimal level of strictness, "Reduces free riding. It screens out members who lack commitment and stimulates participation among those who remain," wrote Iannaccone.
The debate takes place over where, and when, to draw the line.
Spending money to make money
Winnowing out, or even identifying, religious cheapskates is not easy. The woman or man who puts a dollar in the basket may have just lost their job, or face burdensome expenses caring for an elderly parent or a child in need.
And such strategies as assigning designated seating for large contributors or berating low givers from the pulpit can backfire.
"Individuals who feel coerced, manipulated and slighted might reveal this hurt in a myriad of ways, which can, and often does, hurt the church financially," the Rev. Yvette Gates said in the Winter 2010 issue of Review & Expositor, a Baptist theological journal. "People stop attending the church out of embarrassment because they do not have money to give to the church."
The issue is most problematic with new members, scholars say, particularly in an age when more people are choosing churches based on the services they offer as opposed to denominational loyalties.
Part of the success of megachurches is that they generally offer more services from sports teams to Bible study groups to multiple worship times than smaller churches, some scholars say.
While these services require an initial outlay, they are often a succesful investment, according to economics researchers Mark von der Ruhr of St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., and Joseph P. Daniels of Marquette University in Milwaukee. Giving churchgoers more options raises the level of commitment to the congregation, increasing the religious capital that leads to higher levels of satisfaction and participation in the church.
For newcomers who find a good fit, the initial low cost gives way to a higher price in terms of expected giving and volunteering once the quality of the experience is known, they state.
It can be a risky and costly investment in newcomers, but congregations "must allow non-contributors today to help them become committed affiliates tomorrow," McBride said at the religion and economics meeting.
Somewhere down the line, enough free riders have to be persuaded to become contributing members of congregations, to pay their share of the private costs of offering public goods.
But getting people in the door is still a necessary first step. Offering an electronic invitation that assures newcomers they will be welcomed without any financial obigation may not be a bad place to start.
Call it LivingChurchSocial.
David Briggs writes the Ahead of the Trend column for the Association of Religion Data Archives.
Follow David Briggs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ReligionData
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To the author, if you're a christian, are you really comfortable in trying to establish a business plan for churches to make money. Essentially what you're saying is "Churches need to be more accepting of poor people in hopes that they make a little money and give it to the church". Maybe the church should be giving to its followers instead of the other way around.
Also, anyone who has looked at the financial holdings of the catholic church should know that if there's one thing they don't "need", its money.
I don't understand how any Christian can read this and agree in good conscience.
"(God) loves you! He loves you and HE NEEDS MONEY! He always needs money! He's all knowing, all powerful, all-wise but somehow, he just can't handle money!"-George Carlin.
In order to be taken care of by the early church in your elder years or widowed, you sold your land and gave the proceeds to the church. Ananias and Sapphira kept part of the proceeds and lied about it.
God doesn't need the cash, Father just wants your obedience.