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America and the Need
for Church
Revitalization
By Dr. Tom Cheyney
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
The Lost Population of North America
The estimated population of the United
States and Canada was over 341 million in
November 2009. Of these, an estimated
255 million are considered unsaved. This
means that nearly 75 percent of the North
American population is without a saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ. These are
conservative estimates.
Source: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
and http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
North American Culture Statistics
Describing the cultures of North America is
best understood as an art rather than a
science. Demographics and statistics are
helpful but do not provide 100 percent
accuracy. Quantifying the spiritual condition
of nearly 340 million people is beyond the
scope of Western science. Nevertheless,
research does give us starting points to begin
identifying needs and opportunities among
peoples and places to plant the gospel.
Percentages of Southern Baptist Church Membership
to U.S. Population Segments
Population Population SBC Church Membership
Segment
in U. S.
Membership Percent of
Segment Population
Anglo
American
202.4 million 14.9 million
7.36%
Hispanic
American
44 million
202,105
.005%
African
American
37 million
834,241
2.25%
Asian
American
13 million
147,745
1.14%
American
Indian
2.4 million
41,024
1.71%
Source for SBC Church Membership Numbers: 2008 ACP
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Within my denomination we have
16,160,088 as our total membership* and
yet the need within our own denomination
for Church Revitalization has never been
greater!
• Even the Top 100 Largest and Fastest
Growing Mega Churches report by Virgo
Publishing reports that they have faced
decline as well**.
•
•
*Source: Executive Communications & Relations Division LifeWay Christian
Resources, May 13, 2010.
**Source: http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com Accessed 9/29/2008
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• George Barna says: A church cannot be
turned around until a contingent of people
are so firmly committed to the ministry of
the church that they will sacrifice almost
anything for the good of the church, to the
glory of God! (GeorgeBarna.com)
• America So Desperately Needs the
Revitalization of its Churches and this
Effort Needs to Be Launched Today!
(Tom Cheyney, Speaker Church Revitalization Workshop)
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• An estimated 177,000 Protestant
churches in America have an average
attendance of less than 100 in weekly
services!
Research Source: Hartford Institute for Religious Research
(hirr.hartsem.edu/research)
What do the writers tell us?
• Fifty percent of our churches in the U.S.
have fewer than 100 regular adults
participating weekly. These authors also
single out our Southern Baptist
Convention as they report that 26,000 of
our churches have an average attendance
of fewer than 125 people!
McMullen, Shawn and Mary Elizabeth
Hopkins. “Common Size, Uncommon
Impact” Outreach, July/August, 2006.
What do the writers tell us?
• Churches sometimes lose their sense of
direction. Many churches never realize they
are in trouble until it is almost too late.
Ronald Keener says that eight out of ten of
the approximately 400,000 churches in the
United States are declining or have
plateaued. Hurting churches must come to
terms with their past and genuinely repent or
there will be not future.
Keener, Ronald E. “Pulling Back from the
Brink” Church Executive, November, 2008.
What do the writers tell us?
• Bill Hendricks declares that 53,000
individuals leave the church each and every
year! He further states that most of them
never come back.
Hendricks, William D. Exit Interviews:
Revealing Stories of Why People Are
Leaving the Church. Chicago: Moody Press,
1993.
What do the writers tell us?
• Many people wonder where the original
quote “85% of America’s Protestant
churches have pleateaued or are declining in
membership!”
Anderson, Leith. Dying for Change: An
Arresting Look at the New Realities
Confronting Churches and Para-Church
Ministries. Minneapolis: Bethany House
Publishers, 1998.
What do the writers tell us?
• Alan Hirsch discussing small churches stated
recently that “it is a fact that we have had
church growth and mega churches for well
over 30 years now, and the overwhelming
majority of the 485,000 churches in the
United States remain under 85 per
congregation, while laboring under the guilt
of failure to perform like the bigger churches.”
• Hirsch, Alan. Outreach, July/August 2010, 68.
What do the writers tell us?
• To illustrate the pervasive nature of the
current decline among U.S. churches, Ed
Stetzer cited a 2004 study by the Leavell
Center for Evangelism that found only 11
percent of Southern Baptist Churches could
be considered “healthy, growing churches.”
• Myers, Gary. “Stetzer Highlights Keys to
Church Revitalization”
http:www.baptistcourier.com/2057.article
(assessed October 10, 2010).
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Research data tells us that in the U.S.
more than 80% of the churches have
pleateaued or are declining.
• 50-75 churches close their doors every
week.
Research Source: Stats listed online at:
http://www.newchurchinitiatives.org/morechurches/index.htm (accessed
2/23/2006).
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• 70% Young Adults (18-22 years of
age) are dropping out of church for at
least a year.
• Around 23-30 years of age 35% of
them are returning to worship at least
twice a month.
Source: lifewayresearch.com
•
•
•
•
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
The percentage of the population
attending a Christian church on any given
weekend will decline from 17.5 % in 2005
to 14.7% in 2020.
Roughly 55,000 churches will close their
doors between 2005 and 2020.
Roughly 60,000 churches will open their
doors between 2005 and 2020.
Yet 48,000 additional churches will be
needed to keep up with population growth.
Source: The American Church in Crisis: David T. Olson
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Since 1930 through 2009 the Southern
Baptist Convention net change by year
has ebbed and flowed with a littler
over 48,000 churches currently. The
net change has floated between 25 new
editions for the year and 1,635 new
editions in 2004. (HBM/NAMB research)
• With an average of 500 – 700 churches
being dropped from our roles each
year, the need for revitalization has
never been greater!
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• 25 % of our Churches struggle with no
Baptisms each year within the SBC and
we are not alone.
• 50% of our SBC Churches baptize 3 or
less each year.
• 1.6 Billion have not heard the gospel
proclaimed and received Christ Jesus as
savior and Lord.
• We (U.S.) are presently the third
largest lost nation in the world.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Lyle Schaller, (Church Growth
Consultant) reports that 65 – 85
percent of all churches over ten years
old are shrinking in membership or
pleateaued.
Source: Schaller, Lyle. 44 Steps Up Off the Plateau (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1993) pg. 23.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• 71% of our churches are plateaued or
declining, so there is a great need to
focus on strengthening our churches.
• Out convention vitally needs a spiritual
renewal in our land as evidenced by
24.7% of our churches baptizing no
one in 2008.
Source: Dr. Richard H. Harris Interim President NAMB speaking to the
GCR Task Force
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• 61.5% of churches baptized five or
less, while 78.5% of churches
baptized ten or less. Only 251
churches baptized 100 or more people
in 2008.
Source: Dr. Richard H. Harris Interim President NAMB speaking to the GCR
Task Force
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• We have gone from 18.4% of
churches (6,918) baptizing no one in
1999, to 24.7% (9,169) churches
baptizing no one in 2008. The number
of churches baptizing no 12-17 year
olds has been increasing over the last
ten years and was over 20,000 in
2008.
Source: Richard H. Harris Interim President NAMB speaking to the GCR
Task Force
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
State of Mainline Protestant Churches
When Baby Boomers were born, the Protestant
landscape of America was dominated by the six
major mainline denominations. (Those bodies are
typically considered to be the American Baptist
Churches in the USA; the Episcopal Church; the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the
Presbyterian Church (USA); the United Church of
Christ; and the United Methodist Church.) State of
Mainline Protestant Churches
(Source: The Barna Group, December 7, 2009)
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
State of Mainline Protestant Churches
Since the 1950s, however, mainline churches
have fallen on hard times, declining from
more than 80,000 churches to about 72,000
today. The growth among evangelical and
Pentecostal churches since the 1950s,
combined with the shrinking of the mainline
sector, has diminished mainline churches to
just one-fifth of all Protestant
congregations today.
Source: The Barna Group, December 7, 2009
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
State of Mainline Protestant Churches
In the past fifty years, mainline church
membership dropped by more than onequarter to roughly 20 million people. Adult
church attendance indicates that only 15%
of all American adults associate with a
mainline church these days.
Source: The Barna Group, December 7, 2009
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Over the course of the past decade, the
number of adults who attend a mainline church
on any given weekend has remained relatively
stable, ranging from 89 to 100.
• The current median is 99 adults. One reason
why that average has remained steady has been
the population growth of the United States,
with the mainline churches attracting just
enough newcomers to maintain attendance levels
that are similar to the years when the nation’s
population was considerably smaller.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
The current attendance figure is lower
than the norm during the heyday of the
mainline bodies. Demographics suggest
that the mainline churches may be on the
precipice of a period of decline unless
remedial steps are taken.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
For instance, in the past decade there
has been a 22% drop in the percentage of
adults attending mainline congregations
who have children under the age of 18
living in their home. Also, the proportion
of single adults has risen, now
representing 39% of all adult attenders.
That has been driven higher by a rise in
the number of divorced and widowed
adherents.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
The numerical decline is also related to the
relative difficulty that mainline churches have
experienced in attracting young adults. For
instance, young adults (25 or younger) are 6% of
the national population, they are just one-third
as many (2%) of all adults attending mainline
churches. At the other end of the age
continuum, the statistics show that about onequarter (27%) of American adults are 60 or
older, but more than one-third of mainline
attenders (35%) are 60-plus.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Another hurdle for the mainline bodies has
been attracting minorities –
• These churches struggle in reaching
Hispanics and Asians. While Hispanics
make up 16% of the US population, they
are only 6% of the mainline population.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• The failure to add substantial numbers
of Hispanics is especially significant,
given both the rapid increase of the
Hispanic population as well as the
outflow of Hispanics from Catholicism
to Protestant churches in the past
decade. Most of the Hispanics leaving
Catholicism for another faith
community are settling into evangelical
or Pentecostal Protestant churches.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Another hurdle for the mainline bodies has
been attracting minorities –
• Asians represent 4% of the American
public, but only half that proportion
among mainline congregants.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Behavioral Reasons • There is a behavioral reason for the
decline of mainline churches, too: just
one-third (31%) of mainline adults
believe they have a personal
responsibility to discuss their faith
with people who have different
beliefs.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Volunteerism in these churches is
down by an alarming 21% since 1998.
Adult Sunday school involvement has
also declined, by 17% since 1998.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
The tenuous ties that millions of mainline
adults have with their church are
exemplified by their willingness to
consider other spiritual options. Just
half (49%) describe themselves as
“absolutely committed to Christianity.”
Slightly more (51%) are willing to try a
new church. Two-thirds (67%) are open
to pursuing faith in environments or
structures that are different from those
of a typical church.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Almost three-quarters (72%) say they
are more likely to develop own
religious beliefs than to adopt those
taught by their church. And nine out
of ten (86%) sense that God is
motivating people to stay connected to
Him through different means and
experiences than in the past.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Evidence of waffling commitment is found
Less than half contend that the Bible is
accurate in the life principles it teaches.
Only half of all mainline adults say that
they are on a personal quest for spiritual
truth. And when asked to identify their
highest priority in life, less than one out
of every ten mainline adults (9%) says
some aspect of faith constitutes their
top priority.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Aging Pastoral Pool The nature of those who lead mainline
congregations has been rapidly changing,
too.
One of the most telling findings from the
Barna Group was the aging of mainline
pastors. A decade ago the median age
of mainline Senior Pastors was 48; today
it is 55!
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Education of Mainline Pastors Drops While the education level of mainline
pastors has dropped a bit – 82% have a
seminary degree, down from 90% in 1998
– compensation levels have jumped
substantially, rising by 40% in the last
decade. Currently, senior pastor
compensation packages represent onethird (33%) of the typical mainline
congregation’s budget.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Brief Tenure One of the enduring idiosyncrasies of
mainline churches is the brief tenure
of pastors in a church. On average,
these pastors last four years before
moving to another congregation. That
is about half the average among
Protestant pastors in non-mainline
churches.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Spiritual Leadership Quandary Equally significant is the fact that 93%
of mainline senior pastors consider
themselves to be a leader, yet only
12% claim to have the spiritual gift of
leadership.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about Church Planting
• North America is made up of more than
341 million people with conservative
estimates showing 255 million are lost –
without Christ.
• The population of North America is made
up of nearly 600 ethno-linguistic groups.
• The U. S. Hispanic population in 2000
was 35.3 million and was made up of
groups from more than 18 countries.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about Church Planting
• The population of the United States in
2000 was made up of: 66 percent
White, 12.7percent Black, 15 percent
Hispanic, 3.8 percent Asian, and 2.5
percent other.
• The population of the United States in
2050 will be made up of: 47 percent
White, 13.4percent Black, 29 percent
Hispanic, 9 percent Asian, and 1.6
percent all others.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about Church Planting
• The population of the United States
will dip below 50 percent white in
2024.
• Of the 5,221 new congregations which
were added to the ACP since 1998,
66 percent were ethnic.
• New churches are more focused on
evangelism.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about Church Planting
• New congregations reported gifts of
almost one million dollars to the
Cooperative Program in 2008.
• In the period from 1999 to 2008, 35
percent of all new churches and new
affiliations were in new work states,
and sixty-five percent were in old line
states.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about Church Planting
• Without the addition of new SBC
congregations from 1999 to 2008,
there would have been a net loss of
SBC churches each of those years.
• 229 million people in the U.S. and 26
million people in Canada are without a
personal relationship with Christ. This
great lost population of North America
is a cultural mosaic of diversity.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Fast Facts about (SBC) Church Planting
• Around 68 percent of church plants still exist
four years after having been started.
• The annual number of churches started between
1999 and 2008 fluctuated between 1,400 and
1,800 each year.
• Over 90 percent of both associational and state
convention leaders feel that NAMB provided
resources that helped them assist partnering
churches to start new churches.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• George Barna, commented that
mainline Protestant churches seem to
have weathered the past decade
better than many people have
assumed, but that the future is
raising serious challenges to continued
stability.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
• Barna identified the quality of
leadership provided – especially
regarding vision, creativity, strategic
thinking, and the courage to take
risks – as being the most critical
element in determining the future
health and growth of mainline
congregations.
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization
Attracting Younger Generations One last discovery was where George
Barna indicated that the approach that
many mainline churches take toward some
current social issues – e.g., environmental
challenges, poverty, cross-denominational
cooperation, developing respectful
dialogue, embracing new models for faith
expression, and global understanding –
position those churches well for attracting
younger Americans.
Company
LOGO
America and the Need
for Church
Revitalization
By Dr. Tom Cheyney
America and the Need for
Church Revitalization