Chapter One

I'm starting with the bad news, in part because I'd rather save the good news for later, and get the hard stuff in front of us and out of the way to start . . .


It does not get better after 2013; the trend lines are, if anything, worse through 2018 data, and either way, you can see the endpoint of all three trend lines hitting the zero axis around 2035. That's the current situation in a nutshell for the general church, and also for the regional church of which we're a part.

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Chapter Ten

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  Jeff's experiment What does “Breaking the 150/200 Barrier” look like in practice? How do you find those who have “Broken the 150/200 Barrier”? Yearbooks, that's how. Good news and bad news . . . • Between 1990 & 2000, almost 20% of Disciples churches showed meaningful growth. Looking specifically at churches already bigger than 85 average worship attendance (AWA) which grew to 150 AWA or larger, I found about half a dozen each in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and a few other regions. • Between 2000 & the present, I found . . . None. Zero. • “The In-Between Church” was written in 1997; Alice Mann’s work was valid. Good news within the bad news • There ARE growing churches out there . . . However. • Since 2000, if a church has shown any amount of significant growth, one of three things (or two, or all three) are true:   + It’s a New Church Plant   + They built a new worship center/sanctuary ...
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Chapter Nine

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Let's review: • Our wider context in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and among churches generally in the United States, is one of decline. • There are faith groups with slower current rates of decline, but we are all under pressure, with some communions shrinking at an alarming rate. • The Christian Church in Ohio is shrinking at an alarming rate, as are Protestant mainline/traditional churches across Licking County. • The only apparent growth currently is in contemporary style worship. [next slide] • There is a great deal of literature and advice out there about the church life “150/200 barrier” – it is a common & widely understood challenge around changing the culture of a congregation. • The pastoral or family-style church of 150 and less is more directly relational & personal; to get to and above 200 a Sunday requires a church become more program-centered & managerial. • Newark Central has been above 200 average Sunday attend...
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Chapter Two

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You can see the Disciples of Christ . . . we're the bottom-most line, but it's cold comfort that the general trend lines are pretty much all the same. And below, we can see that while geography and demographics have insulated the Southern Baptist Convention somewhat, they are moving into much the same territory of general decline and losses since 2013 of actual total numbers.
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