“In many ways, I see 2016 as a pivotal year for thousands of congregations. Unfortunately, many church leaders and church members will elect not to change anything. Those congregations will be among the 100,000 rapidly declining churches.”   In my previous post, I shared trends 1 to 8. Today, I conclude with trends 9 to... Continue Reading

“After going through the correct process of discernment, voting and obtaining enough yes votes to leave the PC (U.S.A.) the session of Journey Church in Folsom received an e-mail with an attachment telling us that the church buildings and name would be given to those who voted against leaving.”   We live in a time... Continue Reading

When pastors begin ministry in a church, they are the newest people at their respective churches. Relationships are already established among the members. That is why I’ve heard from many church members that a pastor did not seem like “their pastor” until about five years passed.   “I wish I had stayed.” I’ve heard that... Continue Reading

“I am aware that a few objections can be raised about considering our shared heritage through this one book, one that it is written from a PCA perspective. Fair enough, and if I find it too heavily biased I will report that back to you when I write my final review. But based on the... Continue Reading

The session of Rutgers Presbyterian Church is horrified by Mr. Trump’s call to deny people entry to our country based solely on their religion. As a church, we remain neutral in terms of political candidates and campaigns, but we cannot be neutral with respect to fundamental human rights…. We ask appropriate bodies of Presbyterian Church... Continue Reading

Fewer segregated churches. For most of American history, 11:00 am on Sunday was the most segregated hour of the week. That is changing. A church that is not racially and ethnically diverse will soon become the exception instead of the norm.   I have been writing on trends in churches for two decades. I certainly... Continue Reading

Just ten years ago, you could count on 99 percent of churches to have a singular address. All of the church’s buildings were at one location. Most churches had their groups or Sunday school classes at that same location. Though it was biblically errant to say so, many people referred to the one location as... Continue Reading

Yes, we agree that the Confession and Catechisms are our only constitutional standards, but there are differences over the interpretation of what those standards mean.  Such differences almost destroyed our Presbytery about twenty years ago.  The Conflict Resolution Committee Report brought peace to our Presbytery by stating our interpretation of the standards without creating new... Continue Reading

“They think ‘regular attendance’ is ‘I get there when I can,'” Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the study’s other co-author, said. “We found many of these large, successful congregations still have many of the same challenges of smaller congregations. They are not immune to the cultural dynamics in society.”... Continue Reading

“The decreasing numbers have had an effect upon the ability of smaller congregations to employ full-time clergy. In a first, a plurality of Episcopal congregations in 2014 (34.5%) have only a part-time or unpaid priest, outnumbering those with a lone full-time priest.”   The Episcopal Church continued its membership and attendance decline in 2014, but... Continue Reading