© 2006 by david t. olson1 quick facts about the american church 29 interesting facts about the...

© 2006 by David T. Olson 1

Quick Factsabout the

American Church

29 Interesting Facts about the American Church


Fact #1

The Lowest States in the percentage of the population attending a Christian church

in 2000 were:1. Utah

2. Nevada3. Maine4. Idaho

5. New Hampshire


Fact #2

The Highest States in the percentage of the population attending a Christian church

in 2000 were:1. Louisiana

2. North Dakota3. South Dakota

4. Alabama5. Mississippi


Fact #3

The only stateto grow in church attendancefaster than population growth

from 1990 - 2000 wasHawaii

The other 49 declined.


Fact #4

On any given weekend in 1990, 20.4% of the American population attended an orthodox

Christian church.


Fact #5

On any given weekend in 2000, 18.7% of the American population attended an orthodox

Christian church.


Fact #6

In 2003 the Christian church

attendance percentage was

17.8%


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.


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.


Fact #9

3,200 churches close their doors

each year.


Fact #10

3,660 new churches are started each year

that survive


Fact #11

There was a net gain of 4,600 churches in the

United States from1990 - 2000.


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.


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.


Fact #14

The United States church planting rate is one half of what it was in the 1950's.


Fact #15

Out of every 10 new Protestant churches

(church plants), 9 are evangelical;

1 is Mainline.


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.


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.


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.


Fact #19

Catholic churches went from 7.2% of the

populationin attendance in 1990 to

6.2% in 2000,a decline of 16 percent.


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%.


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.


Fact #22

From 2000 - 2003, six representative Evangelical denominations grew 1% faster than population

growth.


Fact #23

The average size of a Protestant church in

2000 was 127, 6 more than in 1990.


Fact #24

The average size of a mainline church grew

from 112 to 115

from 1990 to 2000.


Fact #25

The average size of an evangelical church grew

from 124 to 131

from 1990 to 2000.


Fact #26

The average size of a Catholic church was

794 in both 1990 and in 2000.


Fact #27

Evangelical churches are growing fastest

in high median income counties.


Fact #28

Denominations that close the highest percentage

of churches grow the most;

those that close the least almost always are in numerical decline!


Fact #29

There were 843 Americans for every

Christian church in 1990; that increased to 939 Americans for every

Christian church by 2000.


Information on the Information

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%.


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.

A list of evangelical denominations can be found at http://www.thearda.com/RCMS/2000/Denoms/evangelical.html;

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.

This Presentation


For More Information . . . 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. olson1 quick facts about the american church 29 interesting facts about the...

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