Church Plant Blog: State of the church

Here is the weekly installment from the church plant blog that I write for faithHighway found at: http://mediaoutreach.com/?p=1118

In working very closely in consulting churches across America for the last seven and a half years, you start to notice trends that include all denominations and demographics. It is always a good thing to find valid research that says the same thing that your gut has been telling you all along. In the Church Planting World, the research is very encouraging; there seems to be great momentum, but we are still in the very early stages of where this is all going. The direction of the Body of Christ as a whole is moving to a very good spot, and it would appear that much of the strong, thick constructed walls that have divided us for so many years (with relatively small issues) are cracking and getting weaker incrementally. The Conversations that I used to have with churches, even seven years ago, would actually include, websites being of the devil, marketing being a nasty word, strong business principles being a deterrent from the Holy Ghost, denominational name and usage still had very strong loyalty (the presentation has changed, not the loyalty to their roots), the word “multi-cultural” was used rarely, et cetera. The whole landscape of church culture is obviously a completely different world now.

There are 2 blog articles that I would like to reference from www.edstetzer.com. The first is a study, which I will briefly summarize, on some seemly obvious changes in the last 10 years. The Second is the “State of Church Planting.”

This is the summary of the article titled “New Research on American Congregation” (http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/12/new-study-reveals-changes-in-a.html) the information is mostly drawn from National Congregation Study Wave II via the Christian Post is definitely worth noting. This study, directed by Mark Chaves, Professor of Sociology, Religion, and Divinity at Duke University, compared over 1,505 congregations in 2006-2007 with 1,234 in 1998 revealing some noteworthy changes American churches have experienced in the last 10 years. Here are few points worth thinking about (please note that the sections on style and tech are taken directly from the article mentioned above, while the last point is a summary of the results):

The study shows that our American churches have become less formal in worship style over the past 10 years, but they have not robbed or replaced the biblical components of worship

In 1998, the number of congregations with Web sites was only 17 percent. The number has since risen to 44 percent in 2006-07. In other words, since 1998 another 10,000 congregations created Web sites and now 74 percent of service attendees are in congregations with Web sites. While it’s hard to imagine church life in 2009 without websites and electronic communication, 10 years ago it simply wasn’t an issue.

Ethnic Diversity has increased mostly among “white” churches.

Age of Leadership has increased by 4 years over the last 10 years (This came as a surprise to me). Size of Congregation has remained roughly the same over the last 10 years.

This next article is a very encouraging article that speaks to the Future of Christianity in America, the possible beginnings of a church planting movement. To read the “State of Church Planting” post check out this link (http://blogs.lifeway.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=planting&IncludeBlogs=8).