A recent study of growing and declining churches found location and age of the church are not major factors I determining a church’s future.
The research, “A Study of the Differences Between Growing, Declining, Plateaued and Erratic Growth Southern Baptist Churches in Texas” by Terri Stovall, used results from 169 churches. Measurement tools used were the Annual Church Profile, demographic reports and a survey mailed to pastors of the sample churches.
The study found:
*”Church growth is a multivariate issue and cannot be accounted for by single cause explanations.”
* Growing churches recognize the changes in their neighborhoods and adapt to them.
*”Worship style should be viewed as a possible barrier to church growth rather than a cause of church growth.”
*”Growing churches tend to be larger churches.”
*”Growing churches have a larger percentage of resident members who attend worship than other church types.”
*”Growing churches have a larger baptism-to-membership ratio than other church types.”
*”Neither the median age of the population nor the number of children in the neighborhood plays a significant role in whether a church is growing or declining.”
(BP)
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