By Paul S. Williams
It was my recent pleasure to receive a coffee-table book that had a picture of every Christian church in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. John Eldon Cornett, the author of In Search of Heaven on Earth in Kentucky, considered the task a labor of love.*
As I looked through the pages I was taken by how aggressively our forefathers planted churches almost 200 years ago in what was then one of the fastest-growing areas in America. Christian churches sprouted all across the Midwest, South, and West as America pursued its “Manifest Destiny.”
As a result, the Restoration Movement became a major force in 19th- and 20th-century America. But the United States has changed dramatically, and one wonders if we are creating a bright future for our movement of churches. The signs are encouraging.
Where the Churches Are
One of the states with the highest number of Christian churches per capita is Kentucky. There are almost 400 Christian churches for the commonwealth”s 4.2 million people. But Kentucky has not experienced significant growth for decades. An article in The Wall Street Journal on May 8, 2007, indicated the Louisville area, one of the healthier regions in the Bluegrass State, was classified as a “static city” in the current decade, with domestic inflow of less than 3 percent and outflow no higher than 1 percent.
Another state with a large number of Christian churches is Indiana, with almost 600 churches for 6.3 million residents. No city in the nation has a stronger array of Christian churches than Indianapolis. Unfortunately, Indianapolis is another “static city,” with less than 3 percent growth.
Other strong Christian church areas including St. Louis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Columbus all fall into the “static city” category. Six metro areas have had an even more precipitous decline. With the downsizing of the American auto industry, Detroit has seen the biggest exodus with a domestic outflow of 10 percent. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Rochester are not far behind. Of those cities, only Pittsburgh has a strong Christian church history.
The bottom line? Where Christian churches currently exist is not where our nation is growing.
Where the Growth Is Occurring
So what American regions are on the population fast track? Domestic inflow this decade has totaled 19 percent in Las Vegas and 15 percent in Riverside County, California. And the good news? Both have become strong areas for the Christian church, with three of our largest megachurches and a number of healthy new churches in those two areas.
Another region in which Christian churches are strong is Phoenix, which has enjoyed 12 percent domestic inflow during the current decade. There are currently four Christian church megachurches (more than 2,000 in attendance) in the Phoenix area, and again, lots of rapidly growing new churches.
Orlando has experienced 13 percent domestic growth since 2000. While there are several Christian churches in the area, only one averages more than 1,500 in attendance, and the rate of church growth and church planting has not kept pace with the growth of the region as a whole. While the churches started in the last few years have done quite well, like River Run in Osceola County, the problem is quantity. Simply not enough have been planted.
Three booming high-tech centers””Sacramento, Richmond, and Raleigh””have never been significant strongholds for the Restoration Movement. Yet all three are benefiting from an aggressive church-planting focus. Two have seen new “homegrown” churches, planted by churches and associations in the state, while the Raleigh area has also been “seeded” from supporting churches in other regions.
As the center of population shifts, a number of surprising changes are occurring. Dallas is now larger than San Francisco. Houston has overtaken Detroit, Atlanta is bigger than Boston, and Charlotte is now larger than Milwaukee. While the Christian church has a presence in all of those growing cities, it is nowhere near as strong as it is in the previously mentioned “static cities.”
Immigrant Growth
None of the statistics take into account immigrant growth during the current decade. Both Los Angeles and New York have had immigrant growth of 6 percent this decade. San Francisco”s has been 7 percent, and Miami”s is holding at 8 percent. Similar numbers are reported for Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and Orange County, California. All have had significant domestic outgrowth of between 6 percent and 8 percent.
According to the Journal report, these coastal cities are becoming increasingly two-tiered societies, with large comfortable and affluent populations, as well as a growing immigrant working class that struggles to make ends meet. In fact, the immigrant divide in New York and Los Angeles is beginning to mirror that already existing in cities like Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
Among all of these coastal populations, Christian churches have never been strong. Thanks to aggressive church planting in the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, that trend is changing in the Northeast. Unfortunately, the other coastal regions of the United States are not showing the same level of church-planting activity, particularly not among immigrant groups.
How Are We Doing?
Christian churches enjoyed 18.5 percent growth during the 1990s, but we cannot expect those numbers to continue unless we increase our presence in these new growth regions. As already indicated, we have done well in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Riverside County, California. Relatively speaking, we have not done nearly as well in Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, and Seattle.
It is not that we are not planting new churches in these regions. There is at least one rapidly growing new Christian church in all but one of the aforementioned cities. We are just not planting enough new churches.
One strategy being used in the Northeast is the planting of “regional impact” churches. These churches are well-funded and adequately staffed to bring about rapid growth. From their inception they are also charged with the task of starting a church-planting movement in their respective regions.
The Orchard Group in New York has taken this approach in Manhattan, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, and Pittsburgh. The results are promising, as each of these churches devises an aggressive plan for blanketing their city with an orchard of fruit-bearing churches.
The bad news is that we need to be starting at least five times as many churches in each growing region to even think about equaling our growth in the 19th century.
Unfortunately, there are still pockets of resistance to planting churches a long distance from one”s home congregation. Many churches in “static cities” continue the rust belt mentality of the 1970s, refusing to see the migration patterns clearly impacting the future. They focus only on their own region, while they idly wait for things to get “back to normal.”
Unfortunately for many of these cities, “normal” is never returning. Those congregations need to become involved in starting new churches outside of their own regions.
Rolling Up Our Sleeves
East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis was one of the first churches to look beyond its “static city” designation to see the importance of planting churches in New York, Portland, Denver, and many other growing areas of influence. Recently many other churches have caught the vision.
Owensboro (Kentucky) Christian Church has planted churches from Milwaukee to Raleigh.
Westside Christian Church in Springfield, Illinois, has made a significant commitment to the New York City area.
Southeast Christian in Louisville has targeted the entire Northeast coast, from Washington to Maine.
Journey Christian Church in Orlando has two areas of focus. It understands the need to plant many new churches in its home city and state, but it is also looking north of the border, to the growing city of Montreal, Canada.
Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Colorado has started churches on both coasts, as well as keeping its focus on the continually growing Front Range of Colorado.
In the Phoenix area, Christ”s Church of the Valley has planted several new churches in mushrooming communities in the East Valley. Central Christian in Las Vegas has done the same from its strong position as the largest church of any kind in the state of Nevada.
Both Central and CCV have also seen their own growth continue unabated, which is typical of new churches that give birth to daughter congregations.
On the other side of the country the same has been true for Mountain Christian Church in the growing suburbs north of Baltimore. Its own growth has continued at a rapid pace while Community Christian Church, its daughter in White Marsh, Maryland, is averaging more than 600 at one year of age.
Church and Parachurch Working Together
Church-planting associations are also working together at unprecedented levels. New Thing Network, birthed by Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois, has started several churches outside of its region, including New Thing churches in Colorado, California, and Manhattan, New York.
New Thing Network, Stadia, Orchard Group, and New Life Christian Church in Centreville, Virginia, have coordinated with others to form the Church Planting Network, encouraging cooperative church planting all across the nation.
New Life Christian, a relatively new congregation, has taken a strong lead in this venture through the work of Todd Wilson. As an example, with Todd”s direction and the oversight of the Church Planting Network, the National New Church Conference has grown from an event of 300 to one with more than 2,000 in attendance this past April in Orlando!
Other church-planting ministries are also partnering together for “distant” church-planting efforts, like the Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan partners who targeted London, Ontario, for a new church.
Where From Here?
The overall task we have been given is significant. We have been commissioned by God to do nothing less than reconcile all things to him across a constantly shifting globe. The church”s task includes evangelism, benevolence, education, social outreach, and a plethora of other ministries of reconciliation. None of them can be initiated without healthy new churches.
If we will continue to plant growing and reproducing churches in the emerging regions of America, there won”t be a coffee table in existence that can hold the book picturing all of the churches that will be planted. When we reach that stage, we will know we are well on our way to restoring every man, woman, and child to our Creator.
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*If you are interested in a copy of In Search of Heaven on Earth in Kentucky, contact John E. Cornett, 210 Laurel Hill St., London, KY 40741.
Paul S. Williams is president of Orchard Group and editor-at-large with CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
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