Category Archives: Church Growth

Church Growth: Who attends the megachurches?

Scott Thumma and Warren Bird have posted a comprehensive study of megachurches called “NOT WHO YOU THINK THEY ARE: A Profile of the People Who Attend America’s Megachurches.” They summarize their findings as follows: Young and single adults are more … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 7 (Intimacy and choice, Minister and reputation)

Churches that offer “intimacy and choice” Scott Thumma argues that “niche” house churches and megachurches both are offering individuals a product they are interested in. “In certain ways, the megachurch is the complete opposite of the house church, but with … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 6 (High growth location, Changing worship)

Being in rapidly growing zip codes Only one [other] external factor was significant in the growth or decline of the church—the change in the population of its zip code. Fast-growing churches—those that increased by more than 20 percent in attendance—were … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 5 (Being large or small, Being rural)

Being a church of 1000+ attendees or under 50 attendees Well, I wasn’t expecting this one. David Olson points out that large (1000+ attendance) and small churches (1-49 attendance) are growing at the fastest rates. “While the larger churches grew … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 4 (Leadership, Prayer)

Leadership Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson report that “we let the data set the agenda, and godly leadership was at the top.”[7] [7] Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too (Nashville: … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 3 (Involvement, Welcoming)

High involvement I went to a seminar a long time ago that measured church growth on involvement percentages. You need 20% to 30% involvement to keep the doors open, teach classes, etc. 40% to 50% will generate growth. 60% is … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 2 (Fertility, Caring for Children)

High fertility rates U.S. Protestants are less likely to belong to “mainline” denominations and more likely to belong to “conservative” ones than used to be the case. Evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that higher fertility and earlier childbearing … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Andy Rowell Summarizes the Studies, Part 1 (Witnessing, Strictness)

Andy Rowell, a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) student at Duke Divinity School, maintains a blog called Church Leadership Conversations. (I just subscribed.) He recently summarized the conclusions of 7 separate studies on what drives church growth — (1) witnessing, (2) … Continue reading

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Church Growth: Singles — the Missing Ministry

How do we account for the dramatic doubling of the number of secular Americans over the last 18 years? And what are we to do about the exodus of young people from the church? Skye Jethani asks these questions in … Continue reading

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10 Stupid Things that Keep a Church from Growing

I read a review of this book — not yet released — and thought the partial list offered in the review worth mentioning — *  “Trying to do it all.” A comical quote at the bottom of the chapter page cleverly … Continue reading

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