State of the American Church

Being a Southern Baptist (I'm a follower of Jesus first, and am pastor of a Southern Baptist church), we talk a lot about sharing the good news of Jesus with people. We spend a lot of time talking about the effectiveness of our churches, how to do ministry, and about the politics of our denomination.  The Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is next week in Greensboro, NC and I am going. Starting Monday, I hope to be blogging live from the convention throughout the day until Wednesday about what I experience there. I want to do human interest stories, so check in regularly to learn about what really happens at one of these meetings behind the scenes! It promises to be very interesting as there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding many issues.

How Many People Actually Go To Church in America?  You've Got to Check This Out!!!

I ran across an article in Outreach Magazine about the state of the church in America that really puts things into perspective called The American Church in Crisis. While many researchers peg regular church attendance at around 40%, new studies have come out that show that only around 18% of Americans are in church on a given Sunday, and only around 25% attend 3 out of 8 Sundays.  Check out your state on these maps and graphs concerning actual church attendance per state and throughout the nation:  American Church in Crisis Slides.  This is actually what I have been thinking for years and never could understand the research that had church attendance so high.  By the way, Montgomery, AL is around 32%, better than the national average, but that still means that 200,000 people in our metro area are not connected to a body of believers. Does that awaken us at all?

Check Out 7 STARTLING FACTS: AN UP CLOSE LOOK AT CHURCH ATTENDANCE IN AMERICA:

1. Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church—half of what the pollsters report.

2. American church attendance is steadily declining. From 20.4% of the population is 1990 to 17.7% of the population in 2004.

3. Only one state is outpacing its population growth. Would you believe that it is Hawaii, where 13.8% of people regularly attend church? God is up to something in Hawaii!

4. Mid-sized churches (100-299) are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.

5. Established churches—40 to 190 years old—are, on average, declining.

6. The increase in churches is only 1/4 of what's needed to keep up with population growth. 10,000 more churches are needed!

7. Unless things change, In 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990 (around 11%).

So, while we sit around and argue and fuss about trying to make church more to our liking, or while we live our comfortable American Dream lives, people all around us are lost without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  As I go to the SBC Convention next week, may I have these thoughts on my mind and may God pour out His Spirit upon us.  We do not need more laws or more political power - we desperately need Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to awaken us and give us a desperate love for people who do not know Christ. May God stir our hearts.

Comments

[Kevin Bussey]

Looks like we have a lot of work to do!

[Chris McCorkle]

Yeahh... The 40% number has always been a very skewed number - I imagine it counts anyone who attends church at all, even if it is just Christmas and Easter. Even the survey's that count people who "regularly attend church" often count people if they attend once a month....

[Guy Muse]

Have you had a chance to read George Barna's "Revolution?" It really puts the State of the American Church in the decline you describe. What he states though is that a massive "revolution" is taking place back to simpler forms of church (eg. house church.) Institutional churches are in a sharp decline, but the revolutionary non-institutional expressions of church are rapidly on the rise. It is a fascinating and eye-opening book even though it is being highly criticized by the American religious establishment because it goes against the status quo.

[Alan Cross]

Guy, I agree with Barna's assessment, but I am not sure we are there yet, overall. There is still a great desire to be anonymous while we try something out (individuality) and house churches do not afford that. Still, when people think of "church" they think institutionally and most who are attracted to house churches are Christian reacting against the norm and looking for something more genuine. I love the concept, however, and am very open to it, because I see it's benefits in discipleship. It's also how the early church did it, so . . .

By the way, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I enjoy interacting with you. You are in my prayers in Ecuador.

[Beth DeVore]

Being from Oregon, I believe the low numbers. Being in Hawaii, I believe those stats, too. I see more open Bibles in Starbucks in HI than I did in AL. I don't know the specifics of Barna's research but there's also a large, active LDS contingent here. Their local BYU branch brings in students from all over the South Pacific and runs/owns the Polynesian Cultural Center, a Polynesian theme park. Still, the Catholic and Protestant missionaries' influence is still felt, and the kindness and family-orientation of Christianity is more in-line with the historical, local culture (aloha) than what you'd see on the mainland ("Southern hospitality" perhaps being the exception). Plus, everything's too expensive to get too caught up in materialism!