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If You Count the Money, Count the People
…a “low attendance Sunday” suddenly had the largest attendance of the summer, the pastors discovered the power of involving young people in the leadership of worship. Numbers and records represent…
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…a “low attendance Sunday” suddenly had the largest attendance of the summer, the pastors discovered the power of involving young people in the leadership of worship. Numbers and records represent…
…figured on attendance, membership, or number of donors) went up. Isn’t this good news? In the short term, yes. But for the long term, it is a frightening trend. As…
…attendance was a good indicator of how many lives had been transformed. Active members attended less often, making attendance figures less useful. How to measure a congregation? The pandemic certainly…
…all United Methodist churches. The median worship attendance of disaffiliating churches and those remaining is identical. The percentages of churches showing an increase in attendance are similar in the two…
…in 2024. Many of these trends are daunting, reflecting the long-term decline in worship attendance and the increasing percentage of Americans who claim no religious affiliation. But there are also…
…small discipleship group led to increasing frequency of worship attendance, the opposite — that increasing frequency in worship attendance leads to discipleship growth — was not always true. Therefore, we…
…trends and challenges. Do you feel barraged by the discouraging trends and challenging circumstances defining church life today? Aging clergy. Denominational struggles. Decreasing average worship attendance. Worrisome giving trends. The…
…The United Methodist Church (UMC) reports personnel spending in categories that permit detailed comparisons across size tiers of churches. The table and chart are based on the average worship attendance…
…we are not where we want to be, but so that we learn from our work what is good, bad, and neutral. Regular attendance was once considered a standard measure…
…Super Bowl parties. On Super Bowl weekend, the 5:00 p.m. Sunday worship attendance drops by as much as 70%. Many attend one of the other services, but many of the…
…9 Top Trends Impacting Church Leadership). These trends are: Changes in church attendance patterns including decreasing worship attendance across the theological spectrum and less frequent worship attendance among “regular attendees”…
…know are dealing with attendance issues in one way or another. Either they are struggling with declining attendance or they are dealing with space issues from increased attendance. Live streaming…
…the past. Many are more open to participating in a class, reading a book tied to a sermon series, or committing to attendance and other goals because it is Lent….
…for church school attendance to run higher than worship attendance. In fact, the Sunday School sometimes seemed to receive more loyalty than the worship experience. This was particularly true on…
…United Methodist Church, the number of churches with fewer than 100 in attendance has increased each year. Likewise, the number of churches with 50 or fewer in worship increases each…
…two churches within churches. They had a combined Easter worship attendance of just over 3,800. In Florida, this strategy has resulted in several strong new church starts and over 230…
…of churches with fewer than 100 in attendance has increased each year. Likewise, the number of churches with 50 or fewer in worship increases each year despite church closures that…
…A majority, six out of 10, Latino congregations have experienced growth or remained stable in attendance over the past five years. That is a very different picture than for other…
…church attendance should no longer be the assumed starting point in the process. Are you sensing a new level of challenge when it comes to engaging congregants in ministry and…
…a sense of how many people are in attendance because they can look around and count, but those who are worshipping online do not always have a sense of who…
…school class. A typical Sunday would have an attendance of about 20 at the largest of the four churches and exactly two at the smallest. After a couple of years…
…it’s because you realize that something about the life of your church that you or a previous generation envisioned is not going according to plan. Maybe attendance and giving are…
…outdated digital presence and a lack of diversity top the list. Read more now. Why Attendance and Revenue Figures Don’t Tell the Whole Story Worship attendance and revenue figures don’t…
…declining weekend service attendance that shows a 20-point decrease in median attendance every five years. Our present 2020 survey effort will likely show a median size around 60 attenders. This…
How can you position your church for increased attendance and growth? John Zehring, author of Get Your Church Ready to Grow, suggests six strategies that can make your worship more…
…2017, our physical attendance grew, but our weekly online ‘attendance’ for the first time became bigger than our physical attendance. And a majority of first time guests at our church…
…Chicago whether to put our weekend service online or not. Some were concerned that this would decrease our weekend attendance; others were concerned about protecting our brand and that our…
…to church growth. Indeed, in some denominations and regions, Sunday school attendance exceeded worship attendance until the mid-20th century. Instead of writing off the Sunday school as a relic of…
…or more worship attendance), 45 percent were mid-size (126-349 attendance), and 10 percent were small (125 or fewer attendance). Among the large and mid-size churches, about half made changes in…
…is much slower. The average attendance at satellite sites across surveyed churches is 361. Most report they need 100-150 people in attendance to be self-sustaining. Finances, Facilities, and Leadership The…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.