Proof of Sucking
Did you read my blog yesterday? If not, what’s your deal? Do you have a life or something?
Well, we said that our goal was honesty and, if we’re being honest, we need to admit that we suck at reaching people who are far from God. Our churches may do some things well, but leading people to Jesus is not one of them. There are exceptions, but they are extremely few and far between, and your church is probably not one of them.
Want some “proof”? Check this out:
- Though church attendance in America from the mid-1960’s through the 1990’s was reportedly about 46 to 49%, it’s now been revealed that the actual percentage of people going to church was about 26%.
- So up through the 1990’s church attendance in America was about 26%. It is now … approximately 17.4%.
And the more you study the numbers, the worse it gets. Like, did you know?
- Not only did the percentage of people attending church decrease significantly from 1990 to 2007, some studies say that there is not a single county in the United States where there are more people now attending church. (The only possible exception is in Hawaii. So, unless you’re in Hawaii, there are less people in your county going to church now than a decade ago.)
- The Barna Group tells us that the number of adults who did not attend church nearly doubled from 1991 to 2004.
- The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey said that more than 29.4 million Americans have “no religion” which is double the number just eleven years earlier.
- If the present trends continue, the percentage of the population that attends church in 2050 will be almost half of what it is today.
And, for you church planters:
- The increase in the number of churches (between 1990 and 2000) was about one eighth of what is needed to keep up with population growth.
- The church-planting rate has been declining throughout the history of our country. (Churches started per 1 million residents)
And want to know the most bizarre, twisted, messed-up, disturbing factor in all this? … Well, then, you’ll have to read my next blog …
Until then be sure to tip your waitresses.
Sources:
- Stanley Presser, in “Data Collection Mode and Social Desirability Bias in Self-Reported Religious Attendance,” American Sociological Review, v. 63 (1998): 137-145 (with L. Stinson).
- http://www.theamericanchurch.org/
- www.barna.org, May 2004
- Dave Olson’s slide show, “Twelve Surprising Facts about the US Church”
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