Study: Unprecedented Growth Possible in Next 30 Years

church plantingToday’s goes post comes to us from Stephanie Martin for ChurchLeaders.com.

In America, the fields are ripe for harvest but there aren’t enough churches to meet people’s needs. That’s the key finding of a report titled “The Great Opportunity,” commissioned by the Pinetops Foundation.

During the next three decades, it predicts, America’s church planting rate must double to maintain current levels of churchgoing. Reasons include the high rate of church closures, continued population growth, an increase in unaffiliated worshipers, and a wave of young people leaving Christianity.

“The next 30 years will represent the largest missions opportunity in the history of America,” the report states. “If we return to retention and evangelism like we saw just 20 years ago, more people will be saved than during both Great Awakenings, the African-American church growth after the Civil War, the Azusa revivals, and Billy Graham outreaches—combined. The numbers are just that big.”

Beginning as a countrywide listening tour, “The Great Opportunity” gleaned insights from a wide variety of pastors, theologians and other leaders from a variety of denominations. People’s responses focused mainly on current needs rather than on how to grow the church during the next 30 years. Sensing that the church’s “fruitfulness in America was not what it once was or could be,” researchers started conversations about “how we might do better in that mission.” In the process, they countered arguments that the American church could benefit from some pruning, noting that “a contracting church is very unlikely to be a fruitful church.”

Church Planting in a Shifting Religious Landscape

Although 4,000 new churches are launched in America annually, a staggering 3,700 churches close each year. Meanwhile, the U.S. population is expected to top 400 million by 2050. By the same year, the number of unaffiliated believers in America could nearly double, from 17 percent to 30 percent. And an estimated 35 million young people raised in Christian homes will walk away from the faith. The return to church that typically occurs when people begin their own families will be “more than offset by departures” from Christianity, the report warns.

The projections aren’t all bleak, however. “If we can return the church’s retention back to Gen X rates, we will see over 16 million more youth begin or continue a life with Jesus,” the report says. For that to happen—and for the religious needs of an increased population to be met—America must “at least double the annual rate of church planting from 4,000 new congregations to over 8,000 per year over the next 30 years.” That requires church planting rates that were common in this country until the 1930s.

Diverse and efficient strategies for beginning congregations are required, too. “The church will need to find new models for lowering the cost of planting while increasing the number of leaders who reflect the increasing diversity of urban populations, all without sacrificing historic orthodoxy,” the report says. “We must engage in a culture that has a substantial portion of its people who no longer think the church is relevant to them, or increasingly, are ignorant of Christian context and language.”

Click here to read the rest of the original article.

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About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.

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