GROWING THE POST-PANDEMIC CHURCH & Comparing onsite vs. online churches regarding giving, attendance, who prefers each and how the “great barrier to Church Growth” has disappeared.

by Bob Whitesel D.Min., Ph.D., 11-1-21.

In the studies of how churches grow, we’ve always known that most (actually 68%, Kevin D. Dougherty, Baylor Univ., 2017) of chruch attendees will only drive 15 minutes or less to a church. I’ve called this the “great barrier to Church Growth” because it is a barrier churches have not been able to overcome … until now!

This is a chart from my seminar on “Growing the Post-pandemic Church” (contact me to schedule an onsite or online seminar).

Full notes are available here: https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2021/11/07/growing-the-post-pandemic-church-here-are-the-handouts-notes-from-my-recent-november-seminar-in-orlando-fl-for-the-hybrid-church-seminar/

NEED-MEETING CHURCH & Researchers find almost 75% of the population suffer one or more of these crises each year.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel, 9/21/21. A colleague of mind, Flavil Yeakley, found that crises often lead a person to making a commitment to Christ and accepting Him as their savior.

But, how many people go through these crises every year? Almost 3 out of 4 people (almost 74%) according to the Findings from the Baylor Religion Survey, Wave 5:

B. Faith in Times of Stress
By Renae Wilkinson

“We asked survey respondents about events in their lives in order to gain some insight into how troubled times affect the stress and resilience of Americans. Over a third of our respondents experi- enced the death of a loved one in the past 12 months (Figure 47 (next page)). The next most preva-lent stressful event (13%) was the experience that one ‘failed at something important’ last year. Few people had a crisis of faith and even fewer respondents got a divorce last year.”

“Interestingly, while many Americans experienced the death of a loved one last year, many did not find this is extremely stressful (Figure 48). Perhaps the death was expected or even welcome depending on the health and age of the loved one. While divorce was rarer, it ranked as the most stressful of events for Americans who experienced it.”

Download the entire report here: https://www.baylor.edu/baylorreligionsurvey/doc.php/292546.pd

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DRIVE TIMES & Baylor University researchers discover most churchgoers will only drive less than 15 minutes to a church. #BaylorUniversity #GrowingThePostPandemicChurch #Seminar

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: Previously geography dictated a church’s size and potential for growth as per this research on face-to-face churchgoers.  

Not any more.

Now churches everywhere can overcome the “geographic wall” to attendance by developing their online ministry. In my book Growing the Post-pandemic Church I list tools and plans to accomplish this.

Drive times to church for face-to-face attendees are:

5 min or less = 21 %

6 – 15 min = 47 %. 

16 – 30 min = 22% 

30+ min = 9 %.

AMERICAN VALUES, MENTAL HEALTH, AND USING TECHNOLOGY IN THE AGE OF TRUMP, Findings from “Church Commuting” by Kevin D. Dougherty, Baylor Religion Survey, Wave 5 , 9/2017 (https://www.baylor.edu/baylorreligionsurvey/doc.php/292546.pdf)

Find more ideas in the book Growing the Post-pandemic Church available in paperback and Kindle …

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Post-pandemic-Church-Leadership-church-Guides/dp/B08FK8VMWS

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