Church Membership and Participation in the U.S. is Shrinking – Should We Care?
1. “Mainline Protestant denominations in the United States continue to a decades-long decline, while the memberships of Pentecostal traditions are on the rise, according to new figures compiled by the National Council of Churches. The figures in the 2011 yearbook, compiled by churches in 2009 and reported to the council in 2010, show that mainline Protestant churches continue the decline in memberships that began in the 1970s. The newest numbers show that the membership drop in mainline churches led to a 1% decrease in total U.S. church membership, to 145.8 million.” – USA Today, 2/15/2011
2. “The 78th annual edition of the Yearbook reports a continuing decline in membership of virtually all mainline denominations. And the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s second largest denomination and long a reliable generator of church growth, reported a decline in membership for the second year in a row, down 0.24 percent to 16,266,920.” – National Council of Churches
3. “68% of churches in the West-South Central U.S., and 64% of churches in the East-South Central U.S. have expenses exceeding income. These are the best regions in the country.” – Church Finance Today, October 2011.
We believe church membership and participation should be growing – not shrinking, and we believe churches that care can do something about it.
We are committed to the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus also said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” – Matthew 9:37
At RDS Advantage we are dedicated to help churches accomplish the plentiful harvest can be reaped. We offer an outreach plan that has been proven to help increase membership and participation. Contact us for information.