In the Sunday paper, I encountered a half-page AP article written by Calvin Woodward and Christopher S. Rugaber that offers incredible insight into our changing nation. Consider these facts:
- Closer Together: Cities and closely surrounding suburbs are growing faster than farther-off suburbs for the first time in over 20 years
- Less Mobile: Mobility (defined by the percentage of population that moved in the last year) is at lowest it has been since the Census Bureau started tracking it 60 years ago
- Wireless: Those with wireless/cell phones only and no landline phones have quadrupled since 2005 (now accounting for 32% of all households)
- Fatter: Since 1990 the average woman’s weight is up 18 pounds and the average man is up 16 pounds
- Older: Median age has risen to 37.2
- Earning Less: In today’s dollars households average just 93% of the peak wage (1999)
So What?
I write more about the changes in the American church than on any other topic. Many of those shifts are related to the larger changes in our nation. Any vision of the future church (whether a local congregation, a network or denomination, or all Christian communities of faith) must be contextual, including an understanding of the shifts in the larger culture.
What are the implications of the data above for your denomination? Are you aware of what the statistical changes look like in your local community? If so, how do those impact your congregation’s planning for the future?