Bruce Wydick, professor of economics at the University of San Francisco and visiting professor at the University of California - Berkeley, wrote the cover story for the February 2012 edition of Christianity Today. In this piece, he ranked the effectiveness of the most popular ways Christians seek to overcome global poverty. Rather than taking on the task himself, he recruited sixteen researchers to respond to a survey he developed. Each respondent ranked each option Read More …
Trends
Just How Small Are Most Congregations? (#0627)
Recently the Presbyterian Church (USA) released information about the distribution of its congregations by size. The chart below provides the data in a manner that clearly displays the prevalence of small congregations. Put differently, 51.9% have 100 or fewer members 83.7% have 300 or fewer members 3.6% have 800 or more members So What? Since completing my education I have served exclusively in mainline congregations with well over 800 members, including a PC Read More …
Imams, Pastors & Rabbis – Holy Compensation (#0626)
During the month of January, I read several articles outlining the differing average pay for clergy in the United States, including Brian Palmer's very direct approach: "What Type of Clergy get the Highest Salary". He lists the following average compensation: Rabbis - $140,000 Pastors - $40,000 Imams - $30,000 Other research suggests these numbers are most accurate: Rabbis - $80,000 Protestant Pastors - $40,000 Imams - $30,000 Roman Catholic Priests - Read More …
Less Religious Charitable Giving (#0625)
According to William G. Enright, Executive Director of the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, leaders in American congregations should be aware of a challenging trend in charitable giving: When we look at the data we have from our own center, if you look at about 1970 to about 1995 and if you look at all charitable giving, giving to religion was roughly half of all charitable dollars. Since 1995, what was one-half has 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 …
Taking Advantage of Mainline Decline (#0617)
Emmy Award winning journalist Chris Yaw is an Episcopal priest who effectively blends his expertise in media and ministry with his passion for building healthier congregations in his new creation: ChurchNext. Recently he interviewed me on the topic of the continued decline of mainline Protestantism in America. You can view the video or download a mp3 here. So What? Yaw asked me the kind of questions congregational leaders should be discussing as they consider what it Read More …
Declining Biblical Literacy (#0616)
Almost everyone agrees that Americans are not very religiously literate. While lacking basic knowledge of the world's great religions, Americans typical know more about Christianity. Last week the Barna Group reported on research it undertook for a noteworthy client: the American Bible Society. The following snapshot shows how people responded to some basic questions about Christianity: So What? John 3:16 has been among the most popular signs at American professional football Read More …
Stop Sitting (#0615)
Tim Sanders is a former Yahoo! executive and author of four books, including the New York Times bestsellers Love is the Killer App (2003) and The Likeability Factor (2006). Recently he blogged about the health risks associated with sitting. According to an infographic created by MedicalBillingandCoding.org, people who have sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as those with standing jobs. Since January is traditionally the month of Read More …
2012 Trends to Ponder (#0613)
Sociologist Bradley Wright teaches at the University of Connecticut. I have mentioned his work on several occasions, including reviews of his two most recent books: Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (2011 – my review here) and Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (2010 – my review here). Earlier this month he blogged Read More …
Help Stop SOPA/PIPA (#0612)
I talk about many issues on my blog, but politics is not typically a part of that diverse mix. Today, I feel it necessary to share a little about an issue that has become quite political. A few weeks ago SOPA or PIPA were acronyms known by a select few; today a majority of Americans will learn more about them. Two bills -- SOPA in the House (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA in the Senate (Protect IP Act) -- seek to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Read More …