True or not?

From Edward E. Nigma to You (with love)

Okay, so post one we said we'd be honest. Post two we looked at statistics which reveal that less and less Americans are going to church. From 1990 to 2006 the percentage dropped from about 26% to somewhere between 18 and 20%. The number continues to decrease and it’s expected that in 2050 there will be 10% or less of Americans in church.

So today it all comes together. Ready? (You’re not. You really don’t want to read this.)

* Question: How many churches grew into the thousands between 1990 and 2006?
* Answer: Tons of them. (For instance, from 2000 to 2005 the number of churches with attendance over 5,000 doubled).

* Question: How many churches were started between 1990 and 2006?
* Answer: Tons of them. (Approximately 21,000)

So riddle me this: If, since 1990, hundreds of churches have blasted into the thousands (some into the tens of thousands), and over 20,000 new churches have been started (many of them growing into the thousands) … how is it possible that there are less people going to church now than in 1990 in every single county in the United States? And how is it possible that there are 8% less people going to church cumulatively? (If you do the math, the number of people in church is down since 1990 by over 8 million). Answer that one Batman!

Here’s what I think: Our churches aren’t reaching lost people. Or, as I said it on day one of this blog: “We absolutely suck at reaching people who are far from God. There are lots of things our churches do well, but if we’re being honest, leading lost people to Jesus is not one of them.” (I just quoted myself. How cool am I?)

Sure, some people who were going to church back in 1990 have stopped, and others have died, and some babies have been born since then who aren’t showing up on Sundays, but still … if we were bringing in people who weren’t going to church the numbers couldn’t look like this. Seriously – think about it - there are hundreds of thousands of people now attending churches they weren’t attending sixteen years ago (many in churches that didn’t even exist) and yet 8 million less people are in church.

Our churches are almost exclusively reaching people from other churches.

Want more proof? I’ll give you some next time, and then we’ll start thinking about how we might be able to turn the tide on this and really start helping people who are far from God find their way to Him.

Until then don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.


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