MinistryWatch Survey of Christian Ministry Executives: Optimism about Revenue Continues

More leaders are optimistic about the Trump administration’s impact than in May.

In January 2025, at the start of the Trump administration, about 54% of Christian ministry leaders told MinistryWatch they were optimistic about the new administration’s policies having a positive impact. In our August survey, that number fell to 45%, but was up from May when just 39% said they were optimistic.

More respondents believe the administration’s policies may have a negative impact than they did earlier this year, up to 25% from 19% in January.  About 10% of respondents believe the policies will have no impact, and about 20% said they don’t know what kind of impact the policies will have.

Some of the change in outlook may be attributable to a related question about the economic horizon for the United States, which is more optimistic than it was during the last survey in May. Nearly 61% of Christian ministry executives answered that they don’t see the U.S. economy entering a recession in the next year. In May, only 50% of respondents chose that response. Less than 5% see a recession happening in the next six months, and only 11% think we are in a recession now.

MinistryWatch has been conducting its quarterly survey of leaders of the nation’s 1,000 largest Christian ministries since October 2022. We have consistently reported the insights they have provided.

This quarter, we received responses from 118 ministry executives, 92% of whom are in the top role at the organization—CEO, president, or executive director.

While we recognize the response size is somewhat limiting, we believe the trends we have seen are still noteworthy and have included graphics showing trends over time.

Ministry Revenue Over Past Year

 

According to the survey respondents, revenue has not increased over the last 12 months as much as it had by this time last year. About 21% saw an increase of at least 10% or more in revenue—down from about 31% of respondents in July 2024.

While 33% of Christian ministries saw an increase in their revenue of between 1% and 10% over the last 12 months, that is down significantly from the 46% of survey respondents who gave the same response in May. There was also a slight increase of about 4% of survey respondents who said their revenue remained flat in that same period compared with those who saw flat revenue a year ago.

About 21% of ministry executives told MinistryWatch their revenue had fallen during the last 12 months, up from about 17% of respondents in July 2024.

Ministry Revenue Expectations

Even though ministry leaders report slower growth in revenue than previously, they remain optimistic about their revenue growth over the next 12 months, though slightly less optimistic than they were in May’s survey. A majority—55%—believe their revenue will grow between 1% and 10% over the next year, and a healthy 16% believe it will grow by more than 10%. About 21% believe their revenue will remain flat.

A year ago, about 65% of the leaders who responded expected to see revenue grow over the next 12 months, with 48% expecting that growth to be between 1% and 10%, and 17% saying they expected to see revenue growth of over 10%.

As the graph indicates, most ministries over the nearly three years of surveys have expected to see growth of between 1% and 10%. Going back to our first survey in October 2022, about 58% of survey respondents expected to see some revenue growth in the next year of operations.

According to data contained within Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024, total giving outpaced inflation for the first time in three years, growing 6.3% in current dollars and 3.3% when adjusted for inflation. Individuals gave $392.45 billion or 66% of all charitable donations.

Significant Challenges in Ministry

Even though the majority of ministry executives expect to see their ministry’s revenue grow over the next 12 months, they cite fundraising as the primary challenge in leading their ministries. About 47% of ministry executives cited fundraising as their biggest challenge, up slightly from  43% this time last year.

For the first few months of the survey, finding and keeping qualified staff was a persistently challenging situation ministry leaders faced. While it remains a challenge cited by about 23% of respondents in this quarter’s survey, it is down from 42% when the survey began.

Succession planning was the third ranking response, with about 9% of participants citing it as a primary challenge, compared with about 7% a year ago.

Personal challenges, such as burnout, rose to 7% of responses, up from just 1% this time last year.

Other stressors include operational and logistical issues, human resource policies, and religious liberty challenges. One respondent said he or she faces challenges in “finding churches interested in participating in a church to church partnership,” which would help solve revenue and staffing issues facing the ministry.”

Another respondent mentioned “the tension between a legacy team and property and the actual work being done on the ground internationally and how to reconcile those [two] and right-size our 45-year old operations. I see this as a major challenge and need for [organizations] all around the U.S.”

Over 81%  percent of ministry leaders said they engage in formal goal-setting either annually or  every two years. Additionally, only about 22% of ministries said they were subject to a cyberattack or financial fraud over the last year, even though “phishing” scams seem to be increasingly targeting churches.

Years in Position

As is evident in the graph, the number of leaders who have been in their position for 10 years or more has been steadily decreasing, even though it is still the largest portion of the survey respondents at 42%.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 45% of survey respondents said they’ve been in their ministry leadership position for five years or less, up from 28% when the survey began. That may indicate turnover at the top leadership positions where older leaders are retiring.

Age of Leaders

A related category is the aging of ministry leaders, which is a likely explanation for why the number of leaders on the job for five years or less is growing. The number of leaders between ages 41 and 40 has increased to 16% of respondents, up from 5% when the survey began.

Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs)

MinistryWatch once again asked ministry leaders about their use of nondisclosure agreements as part of their operations. A debate has arisen in recent years over how and why Christian ministries use NDAs. While NDAs may be used to protect confidential information about how a ministry operates, at other times they are used to prevent persons from discussing the terms of a settlement agreement. NDAs are binding, and violations can result in a lawsuit.

The movement to make NDAs unenforceable, especially when it comes to sexual abuse survivors, has been growing. Both Texas and Missouri passed laws this year to void nondisclosure agreements in certain sexual abuse cases.

The number of ministries saying they utilize NDAs has grown from 39% a year ago to 46% in the most recent survey.

When asked to elaborate about the purposes for using NDAs, 64% of leaders said they are used for protection of proprietary information, and 29% said they were required by third party vendors, and 29% use them as part of severance or settlement agreements.

Some respondents chose to elaborate on their answers, telling us they will use an NDA to protect donor information.

Are you male or female?

The vast majority of leaders who respond to our survey—82%—are male. Just about 18% of respondents are women. Those numbers have not changed significantly over the course of the survey.

As we’ve reported in the past, more women are at the helm of Christian ministries than those leading secular businesses. According to Axios, in 2025 only 55 women led Fortune 500 companies. Although that is a record number, it is only 11% of the nation’s largest corporations.

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