Thursday, October 23, 2008

CHURCH STATS

It’s exciting being the church in America today. It’s tremendous being part of the church in Kenosha specifically. Nevertheless, there are some disturbing trends at play in the church nationwide that we should be aware of in order to manage our own approach to ministry in 2008 and beyond.

* North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing.

* Five hundred billion dollars has been spent on ministry in the U.S. in the last 15 years with no appreciable growth.

* During the last ten years, the national population has risen 11.4% but membership in all Protestant denominations combined has declined by 9.5%. (NOTE: The Assemblies of God is actually growing in America, albeit only by about 2% per year.)

* Every year in our country, 3,500 to 4,000 churches close.

* Growth rates of Evangelical churches have generally been sorted by size. One interpretation is that smaller churches are helped by their intimacy while larger churches are helped by their ministry excellence. The challenge presented to ‘mid-sized’ churches is that they are too large to be intimate and too small to have the level of excellence larger churches have. They are ‘stuck in the middle.’

* Established churches that were more than 25 years old, on average, declined in attendance.

* Of the 95 million Americans aged 18 to 41, about 60 million say they have already made a commitment to Christ which is very important to them. However, only about 3 million of them have a Biblical worldview. Elements of a Biblical worldview would be:
- I believe Jesus lived a sinless life
- I believe God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present Creator of the universe
- I believe salvation is a free gift from God and cannot be earned
- I believe Satan is real
- I believe a follower of Christ has some responsibility to share faith with another
- I believe the Bible is accurate in all its principles
- I believe unchanging moral truth exists and is defined by the Bible

Beyond that, look at the attitude of followers of Christ:
* 80% of Christians say the primary purpose of the church is for their personal comfort and care
* 21% of active churchgoers have invited someone to church
* 2% have invited an unchurched person
* The average church attendees miss 12 to 15 weekends per year

So what?
My generation used to sit around bonfires singing "Kum Ba Yah" (no - seriously!) or "We are One in the Bond of Love." Today's generation may be better served by meeting at Starbucks or lighting candles or having prayer stations. Every generation of Christian tends to think the methods and styles used to effectively engage THEM and their peers are STILL the most effective methods and styles. It's worse when a group believes their particular approach is the ONLY valid Biblical one. That kind of thinking leads to dysfunctional systems because there is no single approach that works with all people in all cultures at all times and in all places. If there were, there would be no need for cross-cultural training for missionaries going to foreign cultures, something most Christians readily accept. The cultural and ethnic diversities in North America have completely changed the face of our population - and having said that, the effective approaches have also completely changed.

My heart is to have a church that honors substance over style - a church that understands some of the old wineskins will burst when we pour the new wine in - the old skins cannot tolerate the transformation. A church whose DNA is ripe for change because ... change is inevitable. I believe we're getting there. We're too close to stop now. I see it and hear it in the hearts and voices of people I meet in our church lobby every week. The message is seeping in. It's good. Let's keep going.

And be blessed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

* Of the 95 million Americans aged 18 to 41, about 60 million say they have already made a commitment to Christ which is very important to them. However, only about 3 million of them have a Biblical worldview.

This really saddens me. There are so many misconceptions about who Jesus is. I can't help but wonder if the "New Age" movement is responsible for a good deal of this. It was only 2-3 short years ago that I was caught up in their "anything goes" philosophy. I thought that all paths seeking God were good. It has only been in the last year or so that I have learned more about Jesus as my Savior...and not just a wise teacher and good man.

I truly do believe that people are hungry for something, but they are often spoon-fed mistruths designed to make them feel better. Satan is very good at that. I just know that so many are searching, but they need to get accurate, biblical information. When one has no biblical background, you can be swayed in many directions.

Unknown said...

Wow, great post PK. Also quite sobering.
d