Do churches rely heavily on in-person collections at regular worship services?

Many churches rely on regular in-person donations for much if not most of their income, adding financial pressure to the frustrations of being unable to meet normally during the pandemic.

A national survey of church finances finds churches depend on individual donations for 81% of their income, with only 4% from endowments. Smaller churches tend to rely on traditional in-person "pass-the-plate" donations, and even for larger churches the offering ritual remains very important. The study says 39% of churches lack enough reserves to cover three months of expenses.

Lifeway Research reports that by late July 74% of Protestant pastors were holding services again, compared with a low of 4% in April. About a third of pastors reported that collections were down from last year. Thousands of places of worship had received loans from the government's coronavirus relief program as of July.