GROWING THE POST-PANDEMIC CHURCH & Adding online worship options is preferred by 57% of people 55 and under. Here is a chart that shows how the harvest fields have moved.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel, 8/11/22. Take a look at the chart below from my seminar, Growing the Post-pandemic Chruch. On the fourth line you will find research which research reveals two important points:

• Churches offering only onsite worship are preferred by 50% (of all ages)

• Churches offering both onsite AND online worship: are preferred by 57% (of ages 55 & under)

© the seminar, Growing the Post-Pandemic Chruch by Bob Whitesel PhD

This chart shows the harvest field has moved with the majority now preferring churches that offer both online and on site options. In my seminars (and book) I give many reasons for having onsite AND online options. Here are just a few:

• People who “move away” can still enjoy and participate in the worship service to which they have become accustomed.

• People with a disability may be able to attend an online church expression and participate more effectively.

• People who are home-ridden due to illness or age can attend.

• People who simply resonate with your “church’s personality” can attend your church.

• Typically people will only drive 15 minutes to a church. But with an online option people from “anywhere on the globe, for any of the above reasons” can join you for worship.

For more reasons and ideas see Growing the Post-pandemic Church: A Leadership.Church Guide.

DECLINE & Most church attendance less than 80 & over 55% are not growing #HartfordInstitute

By Aaron Earls, Facts & Trends, LifeWay, 3/21/16.

Most American churches have 80 or fewer worshippers each week and fewer than 45 percent of churches have grown more than 2 percent in the last five years, according to a study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (American Congregations 2015 study).

Ultimately, it is God who brings growth to churches, but research shows several factors that are common in growing churches.

Read more at … http://factsandtrends.net/2016/03/17/7-statistics-that-predict-church-growth/#.Vu_fmEX3aJI

DENOMINATIONS & Mainline Protestants make up shrinking number of U.S. adults #PewResearch

by MICHAEL LIPKA, Pew Research, 5/18/15.

Most of the Founding Fathers of the United States – not to mention a majority of U.S. presidents – were members of Christian denominations that fall into the mainline Protestant tradition. But in recent years, the share of Americans who identify with mainline Protestantism has been shrinking significantly, a trend driven partly by generational change.

Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study finds that 14.7% of U.S. adults are affiliated with the mainline Protestant tradition – a sharp decline from 18.1% when our last Religious Landscape Study was conducted in 2007. Mainline Protestants have declined at a faster rate than any other major Christian group, including Catholics and evangelical Protestants, and as a result also are shrinking as a share of all Protestants and Christians.

Indeed, despite overall U.S. population growth between 2007 and 2014, the total number of mainline Protestant adults has decreased by roughly 5 million during that time (from about 41 million in 2007 to 36 million in 2014).

Generational replacement appears to be playing a significant role. Older generations have larger shares of mainline Protestants, including 26% of members of the Greatest generation (those born before 1928) and 22% of members of the Silent generation (those born 1928-1945). Mainline Protestant adults in the U.S. have a median age of 52, higher than the group’s median age in 2007 (50) and older than any other major religious tradition.

While older generations die out, the young Americans rising into adulthood are significantly less likely to identify with mainline denominations. Among Millennial adults (born since 1981), 11% are mainline Protestants. By contrast, 16% of Millennials are Catholics, 21% are evangelical Protestants and 35% are religiously unaffiliated.

Read more at … http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/18/mainline-protestants-make-up-shrinking-number-of-u-s-adults/

DEMOGRAPHICS & Which States Attend Church the Most? New Map Has the Answer #PewResearch

Read more at … http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/which-states-attend-church-the-most-new-map-has-the-answer/

CHURCH ATTENDANCE & Quotes from “American Religion: Contemporary Trends” by Mark Chaves

(Compiled by Warren Bird from American Religion: Contemporary Trends by Mark Chaves, Princeton University Press.)

Relevant points:

– The U.S. ranks as one of the most pious and religious of any Western countries (p. 1-2)

– For most of the past 300 years, 35%-40% of the population has participated in church with some degree of regularity (p2)

– Despite what people SAY about weekly attendance, the true weekly rate is closer to 25% (p 45). If we use lesser frequencies, more than 60% of American adults have attended a service at a religious congregation in the last year (p 55).

– While it’s debatable whether the attendance is going down or remaining level, the data is unambiguous that overall church attendance is attendance not increasing (p 47). More specifically, religious service attendance declined in the several decades leading up to 1990 and seems to have been essentially stable thereafter (p 49).

– However, the percent who say they “never” attend church has risen steadily over the last 30 years as people shift from infrequent attendance to nonattendance (pp 46, 48).

– Finally, the Protestant portion of the U.S. population is in decline, due to the rise in “nones” (no religious preference), decline of mainline denominations, and rise in the percent of recent immigrants claiming a religion other than Christian (pp 17-24). The Protestant makeup was 62% in the early 1970s to just over 50% today (p 24). If that trend continues, we will soon be a Protestant-minority country.

Read more at … http://www.christianbook.com/apps/product?item_no=146850;product_redirect=1;Ntt=146850;item_code=WW;Ntk=keywords;event=ESRCP

CHRISTMAS & Christmas A Non-Religious Holiday For Half Of Americans #PewResearch #InfoGraphic

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel: “This research shows that Christmas is increasingly becoming a cultural holiday and that most people say their church attendance on Christmas has declined almost 25% since they were children. This is a reminder to the church that marketplace forces are eroding our primary celebratory occasions. To offset this it’s important for church leaders to understand and to increase market differentiation. This means reminding people about the difference between the cultural holiday and the religious one, e.g. maybe fewer singing Christmas trees and more focus of the manger scene.”

By Pew Research, 12/3/13Nine-in-ten Americans say they celebrate Christmas, and three-quarters say they believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. But only about half see Christmas mostly as a religious holiday, while one-third view it as more of a cultural holiday. Virtually all Christians (96%) celebrate Christmas, and two-thirds see it as a religious holiday. In addition, fully eight-in-ten non-Christians in America also celebrate Christmas, but most view it as a cultural holiday rather than a religious occasion.

… But fewer Americans say they will send Christmas or holiday cards this year than say their families typically did this when they were children.

The share of people who plan to go caroling this year also is lower than the share who say they typically did so as children. And while about seven-in-ten Americans say they typically attended Christmas Eve or Christmas Day religious services when they were children, 54% say they plan to attend Christmas services this year.

Read more at … http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/