 |
The following story is typical of what a national study found; see "next page" to download the entire illustrated report.
Derek Horn hears virtually no talk about "numbers" at Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas, where he has been on staff since the mid-1990s.
It's not that leaders at the Little Rock congregation don't track statistics such as members at the church, the weekly attendance of the youth service, or the size of the budget. It's just that the numbers aren't the focus of the church's mission or ministry.
Instead, Derek hears a steady drumbeat for the church to operate on two ideals: "Scripturally sound, but culturally relevant," says Derek, who spent 10 years as a youth pastor before becoming a young adult singles pastor in 2004. "I hear that a lot. And I think you can be both."
Remaining true to both, he says, is one reason the |
Prominent Findings of Megachurch Study
 |
|
Young, single adults are more likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches. |
|
|
Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less. |
|
|
Nearly a quarter of attenders hadn't been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch. |
|
|
Newcomers almost always attend a megachurch because family, friends or co-workers invited them. |
|
|
New attenders were first attracted by the worship style, the senior pastor and the church's reputation. |
|
|
These same factors influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs. |
|
|
church grew from 5 families 25 years ago, to a congregation of around 1,000 when he joined the staff, to one that now holds at least seven adult services each weekend, with attendance of several thousand. . .
|
|
 |
|
American Home Schooling at All-Time High |
The number of home-schooled kids in the U.S. hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999.
The percentage of U.S. students who are home-schooled increased from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007, USA Today reported.
Mike Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said the declining quality of public education and safety concerns likely contributed to the increase. But he said the strongest growth is among parents who cite moral and religious reasons for home schooling.
Largest Christian Groups Report Membership Decline |
After years of continuous growth, membership in the Roman Catholic Church has dropped by 0.59% and the Southern Baptist Convention decreased by 0.24%, according to the 2009 edition of the Yearbook of the American & Canadian Churches.
Although the percentage losses are small compared to the total membership of the churches, the yearbook pointed out that the two communions had "grown dependably" over the years and "now they join virtually every mainline church in reporting a membership decline."
Hunger Abounds in the U.S. |
In 2007, 37.3 million people (12.5%) were in poverty, 36.2 million Americans (23.8 million adults and 12.4 million children) lived in food-insecure households, and 3.9 million of all U.S. households (3.4%) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times.
|
|
 |
 |
| Advance Approaching Issue #100 |
Leadership Network Advance launched on April 26, 2005 with the intent of bringing the best in church innovations and practices to our email list of just under 9,500 subscribers.
"True Faced" Webinar
Monday, June 29, 2009
2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (CDT) |
So many of us hide behind masks, hoping that people will love and accept us more if we act a certain way or live up to certain expectations.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
You can peruse nearly 100 past issues of Leadership Network Advance and get valuable information on a variety of ministry topics in our Archives. Select VIEW FULL ARCHIVES LIST to see what's there.
Here are a few topics of interest we covered recently: |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
