The growth of parachurch institutions and other networks outside of denominations and the new influence of women in churches will have significant effects in religious giving.
A recent roundtable panel on the present and future of religious giving, particularly among evangelicals, highlighted these and other trends, according to leadExplorer (March 13), an online newsletter of Leadership Network. Since men formed many parachurches (organizations existing outside denominations and congregations), their concepts of organizational vitality and giving will be challenged by the increase of giving among women.
The different patterns of giving among women will change some organizations and phase out others. Another major trend is an increase of individuals capable of funding their own ministries (Tom Monagham of Domino Pizza fame building his own Catholic law school is one such example).
Other trends include: new funding opportunities in education among evangelicals, such as home school associations, colleges for home schooled children, charter schools, private schools, and voucher programs (an example of this is J.C. Huizenga, who started his own charter school chain in Michigan); an increase in specialized staffing to train congregations in stewardship; new kinds of congregation-based foundations (especially among megachurches) with their focus on ministries outside of the congregation rather than on endowments relating to internal matters; the creation of local and national cooperative Christian Community Foundations that pool funding for local ministries; an increase in family foundations among evangelicals; a decrease in the historic competition between parachurches and congregations as decentralized giving patterns and new cooperative networks take hold.
(Leadership Network, www.leadnet.org)
