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Home/Churches and Ministries/Major New Research On Declining, Plateaued, And Growing Churches From Exponential And Lifeway Research

Major New Research On Declining, Plateaued, And Growing Churches From Exponential And Lifeway Research

Seven of ten churches in America are declining. That is the challenge.

Written by Thom Rainer | Thursday, March 7, 2019

In addition to the categorization of churches as declining/subtracting (Level 1), plateauing (Level 2), and growing/adding (Level 3), the study looked at two other supplemental categories. A Level 4 (reproducing) church places a high value and priority on starting new churches. A level 5 (multiplying) church takes church planting to multiple generations of congregations.

 

I love solid research. This new release is absolutely incredible.

I am grateful to Exponential for engaging LifeWay Research to discern current levels of church health according to a number of factors. While worship attendance trends over a three-year period were a primary indicator of health in this study, the Exponential research also included conversions, income, and staffing in the data.

In addition to the categorization of churches as declining/subtracting (Level 1), plateauing (Level 2), and growing/adding (Level 3), the study looked at two other supplemental categories. A Level 4 (reproducing) church places a high value and priority on starting new churches. A level 5 (multiplying) church takes church planting to multiple generations of congregations.

The accuracy of this research cannot be overstated. LifeWay Research phoned 1,000 Protestant pastors. Quotas were used to maintain the correct population of each church size. Responses were weighed by region to reflect more accurately the total U. S. population. The sample provides a 95% confidence that the sampling error does not exceed +/- 3.2%. This information from the statistical nerds assures us the study is very accurate.

Here are some of the fascinating findings:

  1. 70% of churches are subtracting/declining or plateauing. Only 30% are adding/growing. This data is largely consistent with other research we have done. The period covered is three years.
  2. There are relatively few reproducing churches. The research categorized only 7% of the churches as reproducing (Level 4). The numbers of churches considered multiplying (Level 5: multiple generations of church plants) was 0% in the sample, indicating a negligible number in the total U. S. church population.

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