Three common measures of success for local churches are worship attendance, annual budgets, and facilities (sometimes referred to as butts, bucks, and buildings). Worship Attendance Congregations vary widely in size. Comparing them based on membership appears attractive until you learn that membership means different things in different traditions, and even within a given denomination individual congregations have different expectations of how one becomes a member and what one must do to Read More …
Faith Communities Today
Spiritually Vital Congregations (#1776)
Is spiritual vitality the same across denominations and even religions or does it look differently within each of these contexts? Common Ground According to the Faith Communities Today American Congregations 2018 report titled Vital Congregations, there is significant overlap in what makes a faith community a spiritually vital congregation. Authored by Linda Bobbitt, creator and manager of the Congregational Vitality Project, this new research builds on the Faith Read More …
Small Congregations – Big Challenges (#1607)
While I have spent most of my life affiliated with large congregations, I realize that there are more small congregations than large ones and that small congregations increasingly face big challenges. The FACT The 2015 FACT (Faith Communities Today) research (American Congregations 2015: Thriving and Surviving) was published earlier this month. It is the latest survey in a series that started in 2000, and was repeated in 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2015. Read More …
Worship Practices (in the USA) (#0687)
"FACTS on Worship: 2010," the latest Faith Communities Today (FACT) report, provides insight into the current worship practices in churches by means of an aggregated data set that includes responses from over 11,000 congregations affiliated with over 120 denominations. Worship is changing. The latest research shows increasing diversity in several areas, including: Time: Most services are held on Sunday morning (74%), but other weekend options are significant: Sunday Read More …
Churches That Grow (#0618)
Warren Bird, Research Director for Leadership Network and co-author of 24 books on various aspects of church health and innovation, recently blogged about factors that are correlated with church growth. According to the FACT – for Faith Communities Today 2010 survey the following factors are Location (downtown or central city congregations are more likely to be growing than those in other locations) Age of the congregation (newer congregations are more likely to be Read More …