Tag Archives: Growth

Growth stalls, falls for largest U.S. churches

Posted on February 16, 2011 by in Research

According to Richard Yeakley, of the Religion News Service, Mainline Protestant denominations in the United States continue their decades-long membership decline, while the membership in Pentecostal churches is on the rise. This is based on new figures compiled by the National Council of Churches.

The largest Religious groups are:

1. The Catholic Church: 68.5 million, up 0.57%

2. Southern Baptist Convention: 16.1 million, down .42% (Membership fell for a third straight year)

3. The United Methodist Church: 7.8 million, down 1%

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: 4.5 million, down 1.96%

9. Assemblies of God: 2.9 million, up .52%

10. Presbyterian Church (USA): 2.7 million, down 2.61%

Mainline Protestant churches continue the decline in memberships that began in the 1970s. The newest numbers show that the membership drop in mainline churches led to a 1% decrease in total U.S. church membership, to 145.8 million.

–According to the 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches published this week

Helping Your Congregation Get Into the Bible

Posted on December 22, 2010 by in Idea Sharing

As we approach a new year, what is your church doing to help your congregation get more into the Bible?

A few options include:

1.   Encourage the congregation to read through the Bible together. Wayne Cordeiro and New Hope Oahu church have developed a Life Journal that the congregation does together. To find out more about this visit their web site: http://www.lifejournal.cc/

2.   Preach through books of the Bible this year. Many churches are finding that people are hungry for messages that are based on Bible books. I am finding a big increase in this practice in growing churches.

3.   Provide people a model for daily devotions. Many people do not know how to have a daily time with the Bible and prayer. Considering having several people share briefly in a service their practice of doing daily devotions and how it is helping them grow.

4.   Provide classes on Bible books. A number of large churches are finding great success in offering classes on Bible books and theology; examples are Willow Creek and Rock Harbor.

5.   Consider having your small groups be sermon based. Larry Osborne shares about this in his book Sticky Church.  You can find out more about how to do this at http://www.northcoastchurch.com/pastors/

People will not know the Word of God if they do not read or study it. I encourage you to be proactive in helping your congregation get into the Bible this year.

Mel