One In Jesus

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 likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches.

Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less.

Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven’t been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch.

Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in church, in their spiritual growth, and in their needs being met.

Forty-five percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.

New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or co-workers invited them.

What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church’s reputation.

These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.

Attenders can craft unique, customized spiritual experiences through the multitude of ministry choices and diverse avenues for involvement that megachurches offer.

Interesting. Continue reading →

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 hundreds of ministries, programs, and fellowship groups, it offers intimacy and choice in one package.”[19]

[19] Scott Thumma, “The Shape of Things to Come,” in Faith in America: Changes, Challenges, New Directions (ed. Charles H. Lippy; Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006), 194.

THe house church movement is growing rapidly in this country. It’s hard to measure because house churches aren’t listed in the phone book or any denominational directory, but it’s big. Why? In part because we live in a society desperate for real community. Continue reading →

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 more likely to be located in zip codes where the population growth was higher than the national average. If a church declined or was stable, it was more likely located in a low-growth zip code where population growth was lower than the national average.[14]

Olson, American Church in Crisis, 132-133.

Some churches deal with this by packing up and moving to the high growth part of town. Most don’t have that option. Continue reading →

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 according to expectation, the smallest churches actually grew at a faster yearly rate. The churches that declined the most were those with a weekly attendance between 100 and 299.”[9] Continue reading →

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: B&H Publishing Group, 2007), 34.

In the Churches of Christ, it’s all about the elders. Lousy elders produce lousy churches. Great elders produce great churches. Divided elders produce divided churches. Great ministers are vital, but the best ministers in the Churches can’t overcome lousy elders. It’s that simple. Until a church produces a generation of Godly elders, it won’t grow — or if it grows, it’ll growing in a bad way (such as by sheep stealing or becoming cultic). Continue reading →