Riddle Me This

Out of town, so re-posting an old post today…

So, want to hear some stats? (You really don’t.) 

• Question: How many churches have grown into the thousands since 1990?  Answer: Tons of them. (For instance, from 2000 to 2005 the number of churches with attendance over 5,000 doubled).
• Question: How many churches have started in America since 1990? Answer: Tons of them. (Approximately 30,000)

So riddle me this: If, since 1990, hundreds of churches have blasted into the thousands (some into the tens of thousands), and about 30,000 new churches have been started (many of them growing into the thousands) … how is it possible that there are less people going to church now than in 1990 in every single county in the United States? And how is it possible that the number of people going to church is down by about 8 million). Answer that one Batman!

Here’s what I think: Our churches aren’t reaching “unchurched” people. If we were bringing in people who weren’t going to church the numbers couldn’t look like this. Seriously – think about it – there are hundreds of thousands of people now attending churches they weren’t attending twenty years ago (many in churches that didn’t even exist) and yet 8 million less people are in church.

Our churches are almost exclusively reaching people from other churches. And that has to change. And that’s why you need to attend our Vault Conference this October!