“Most churches are Small
churches”
“Most People attend
Large Churches”
Which is true? Both. Statistics can give us facts that seem to
contradict themselves. Sometimes DSs tell me I need
to be preparing graduates to pastor churches under 70 because “almost all churches
are small churches.” They are right—the
vast majority of churches in
What is
most startling in the statistics are the trends over time. Take my own
denomination—The Wesleyan Church. We maintain an ongoing list of the largest 25
Wesleyan Churches at our headquarters. So
you can tract the trends in attendance at the top 25 churches. In 1970 one out
of twelve Wesleyans attended these largest 25 churches. Ten years later in 1980
one in ten Wesleyans attended the largest 25 churches. By 1990 one in seven
Wesleyans attended these 25 local churches. The trend continued so that by 2010
one out of four Wesleyans attended these largest 25 churches.
Wesleyans attending the largest 25
Wesleyan Churches
1970 1 of 12
1980 1 of 10
1990 1 of 7
2010 1 of 4
What I’m thinking about this
week is the trend here. Will this trend continue or has it peaked? Will there be a day when half of all
Wesleyans attend 25 mega churches? Or is the era of the mega church over and
people in the future will want smaller churches?
So, what do you think?
The
discussion of this column is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=161502633
Keith Drury
www.TuesdayColumn.com