Transcript Slide 1

Quick Facts
about the
American Church
29 Interesting Facts about the
American Church
© 2006 by David T. Olson
1
Fact #1
The Lowest States in the
percentage of the population
attending a Christian church in
2000 were:
1. Utah
2. Nevada
3. Maine
4. Idaho
5. New Hampshire
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #2
The Highest States in the
percentage of the population
attending a Christian church in
2000 were:
1. Louisiana
2. North Dakota
3. South Dakota
4. Alabama
5. Mississippi
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #3
The only state
to grow in church attendance
faster than population growth
from 1990 - 2000 was
Hawaii
The other 49 declined.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
4
Fact #4
On any given weekend in
1990, 20.4% of the
American population
attended an orthodox
Christian church.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
5
Fact #5
On any given weekend in
2000, 18.7% of the
American population
attended an orthodox
Christian church.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
6
Fact #6
In 2003 the Christian
church attendance
percentage was
17.8%
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #7
If the present rate of
decline continues, in 2050
11.7% of the population
will be in a Christian church
on any given weekend.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
8
Fact #8
The number of 'regular
attenders‘ (attending at least
3 Sunday out of every 8
Sundays) in the United States
is about 24% of the
population.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #9
3,200 churches
close their doors
each year.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
10
Fact #10
3,660 new churches
are started each year
that survive
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #11
There was a net gain of
4,600 churches in the
United States from
1990 - 2000.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #12
While there was a net gain
of 4,600 churches from
1990 - 2000, to have kept
up with population growth
there needed to be a net
gain of 38,802.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
13
Fact #13
Assuming that the existing
church rate stays the same,
the American church would
need 3,300 additional new
churches every year to keep
up with population growth.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
14
Fact #14
The United States
church planting rate
is one half of what
it was in the 1950's.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
15
Fact #15
Out of every 10 new
Protestant churches
(church plants),
9 are evangelical;
1 is Mainline.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #16
The 1990 - 2000 growth
contribution for new
Protestant churches (church
plants) was 6 times more than
the growth contribution of
existing Protestant churches.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
17
Fact #17
Evangelical churches
went from 9.2% of the
population in attendance
in 1990 to 9.0% in 2000,
a decline of 3 percent.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #18
Mainline churches went
from 3.9% of the
population in attendance in
1990 to 3.4% in 2000, a
decline of 15 percent.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
19
Fact #19
Catholic churches went from
7.2% of the population
in attendance in 1990 to
6.2% in 2000,
a decline of 16 percent.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #20
In 1990, 32% of Catholics
went to mass every week;
by 2000 that had declined
to 28% and by 2003 it
was 25%.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #21
The three largest Mainline
denominations are the United
Methodist Church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church and the
Presbyterian Church (USA); their
attendance percentage declined
by 6% from 2000 - 2003.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #22
From 2000 - 2003, six
representative Evangelical
denominations grew 1%
faster than population growth.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #23
The average size of a
Protestant church in 2000
was 127, 6 more than in
1990.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #24
The average size of a
mainline church grew from
112 to 115
from 1990 to 2000.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #25
The average size of an
evangelical church grew from
124 to 131
from 1990 to 2000.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #26
The average size of a
Catholic church was
794 in both
1990 and in 2000.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #27
Evangelical churches
are growing fastest
in high median income
counties.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #28
Denominations that close the
highest percentage of
churches grow the most;
those that close the least
almost always are in
numerical decline!
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Fact #29
There were 843 Americans
for every Christian church in
1990;
that increased to 939
Americans for every Christian
church by 2000.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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Information on the
Information
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The spiritual health of churches is multifaceted, and is obviously much more complex than an attendance trend
can portray. However, following the example of St. Luke in the Book of Acts, who used the number of people who
showed up at various events as a sign documenting the health and growth of the early church, I would suggest
that attendance is the single most helpful indicator of health, growth and decline.
Information has been compiled only for orthodox Christian groups – Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. The
Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarian-Universalists and the International Churches of Christ have not been
included. In addition, information about non-Christian groups has not been compiled.
African American denominations publish very little that is statistical – often not even a list of current churches.
This study used data from the 1990 Glenmary study on Black Baptist estimates and AME Zion churches, the
average African American worship attendance (from the Barna Research Group), and a statistical model based on
the population of African Americans in each county in 1990 and 2000. These were combined to come up with as
accurate an estimate as possible.
Independent church data is almost impossible to obtain. (There are actually fewer totally independent churches
than is assumed. Most are part of some voluntary association, which typically keeps some records.) Data from the
1990 & 2000 Glenmary study on larger Independent churches (limited to over 300 in attendance) was used along
with a statistical model to estimate the attendance at smaller independent churches.
In Catholic churches, the definition of what constitutes membership varies with diocese and church, making
numbers sometimes inconsistent from state to state and county to county. In addition to actual mass counts from
1/3rd of Catholic parishes, membership information has been merged with attendance patterns from similar
dioceses based on the size of the diocese and the region in which it is located.
Orthodox Churches are included in Totals, but not included as a separate group because of smallness of size
nationwide. Division into Evangelical and Mainline categories is based on the division by the Glenmary Study.
This study only looks at how many people attend a Christian church on any given Sunday. The term ‘regular
attender’ can be designated to mean someone who attends a Christian church on a consistent basis. Using a
simple definition for ‘regular attender’ (attends at least 3 out of every 8 Sundays), between 23% and 25% of
Americans would fit this category. Adding ‘regular attenders’ of non-orthodox christian churches and other
religions to the totals would increase the percentage to 26% – 28%.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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This Presentation
is based on a nationwide study of American Christian church attendance, as
reported by churches and denominations. The database currently has
average worship attendances for each of the last 10 years for over 200,000
individual churches throughout the country.
It also uses supplementary information (such as actual membership numbers
extrapolated with membership to attendance ratios) to accurately project
the attendances of other denominational and independent churches. All
told, accurate information is provided for all 300,000 Christian churches.
Division into Evangelical and Mainline Protestant is taken from the Glenmary
decadal study of church membership.
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A list of evangelical denominations can be found at
http://www.thearda.com/RCMS/2000/Denoms/evangelical.html;
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A list of mainline denominations are at
http://www.thearda.com/RCMS/2000/Denoms/mainline.html.
This study does not include non-orthodox Christian groups or non-Christian
religions in America.
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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For More Information . . .
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Presentations such as this are available for the largest
100 metropolitan areas, for each state and for the
nation as a whole, as well as other presentations to
show what is happening in the American church.
Presentations are available either by direct download,
CD or print. Please go to www.theamericanchurch.org
for ordering information.
Dave Olson is the Director of The American Church Research
Project as well as the Director of Church Planting for the
Evangelical Covenant Church. He has been collecting research
information on American Churches for the last 17 years. For
more information, please go to www.theamericanchurch.org or
contact Dave at [email protected].
© 2006 by David T. Olson
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