Tuesday, December 04, 2007

State of the Church

The Condition of the Church in America
Complied by Andy McAdams

1. 1,400 pastors in America leave the ministry monthly.

2. Less then 20% of churches recognize or appreciated their pastor in some way annually.

3. Only 15% of churches in the United States are growing and just 2.2% of those are growing by conversion growth.

4. 10,000 churches in America disappeared in a five-year period.

5. Only 45% of the U.S. population, attend church regularly.

6. The number of people in America that Do Not attend church has doubled in the past 15 years.

7. No more then 38% of the population attends church at all and that’s in the Bible belt. The next highest is the Midwest at 25%, West 21% and the Northeast 17%.

8. Though the Bible Belt still boasts the highest percentage of church attendees, yet many of those churches are filled with legalism or extreme liberalism.

9. The vast majority of churches have an attendance of less then 75.

10. In 70 % of the churches in America, the pastor is the only full-time staff person

11. There are almost 100 million unchurched Americans, 11-20% of them claim to be born-again. They have either left the church or never connected for some reason.

12. The median adult attendance per church service in 1999 was 90 people, which is slightly below the 1998 average of 95 adult attendees and in 1997 it was 102. There seems to be a slight gradual decline.

13. Only 1/5 of the adult population attends Sunday school or some sort of Christian training.

14. 23% of church attendees say they attend a small group for growth and accountability.

15. Only 65% of Americans donate to a place of worship. Evangelicals however 85% donate to their church yet only 9% tithe.

16. 20-25% read their Bible consistently, 59% attend church weekly, 16% listen to Christian radio, 7% watch Christian TV, and 11% are held accountable to someone.

17. Only 60% of Christians say they are deeply committed to their faith, yet 85% of evangelicals make this claim.

18. Among the 71% of those who have heard of spiritual gifts, 31% can name a spiritual gift they believe they possess.

19. One in four have a place in the church where they serve.

20. Less then 50% say that the Bible is totally accurate, yet 60% of those that clam to be born-again.

21. Just 1/3 of church attendees believes that they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others.

22. 56% of the population believe that salvation can be earned and shockingly, 26% are among evangelical churches.

23. Giving to charities increased in the past decade yet giving to local churches is declining.

24. Out of 100,000 churches in America less then 2% are considered mega-churches, (1,000 or more).

25. In his book, "Who Shall Lead Them", Larry Withham said,
"20% Of US Churches Have No Future"

26. 1 out of 4 church attendees are considered church hoppers.

27. On average, just 7% of new church attendees are formally unchurched.

FOR DISCUSSION: What do you think? What stood out to you?

Andy McAdams is the director of Pastor to Pastors Ministry, a division of Church Dynamics International. www.churchdynamics.org

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