The Christian Standard Church Report for 2024: Continued Growth (Part 1)
Christian Standard Church Report for 2024. This is a representative sample of our movement that provides important historical data, current trends, and valuable insights.
Articles for tag: Baptism Ratio
May 31, 2023
SPOTLIGHT: Ocala Christian Church’s New Building, Baptistery Paying Dividends
A baptistery can make a world of difference. Ocala Christian Church discovered this during 2022 when the small church in central Florida baptized 31 people. That translated into a 27.9 percent baptism ratio (baptisms per 100 in average attendance). . . .
Ministry in a (Post) COVID World
The 2021 Church Report
Coaching Matters
By Kent Fillinger A lead minister serves as a sort of head coach of the church team and has a major influence on the church’s health and growth. There are many reasons for this influence, but surveys indicate much of it involves the minister’s communication skills and ability to explain Scripture. That said, a 2019 Lifeway survey found that more churchgoers say their minister preaches longer than they prefer (27 percent) than shorter than they prefer (13 percent). This article examines findings from our 2019 survey of 439 churches to explore several factors related to the lead minister’s impact on
The Role of Women from the Resurrection to Today
By Kent E. Fillinger The greatest and most important event in the history of the world—Jesus’ resurrection—was announced first to a small group of women who had loved and followed Jesus. These women then communicated the news to the rest of Jesus’ disciples. In subsequent years, as the young church grew, women like Lydia, Phoebe, and Priscilla played notable roles. Fast-forward to today. Where do we find women serving in the church? The short answer is—it depends on the church! Our 2018 annual church survey sought to determine how women are serving in ministry leadership today. Please note: My intent
The Debt Debate
By Kent E. Fillinger September is a prime time for churches to start planning next year’s budget, as most use a calendar year (January to December) budget cycle. To assist in your church’s budget projections, I’ll share some statistics and summaries on giving and debt from our 2018 church survey. Among church leaders, there are two distinct schools of thought about debt. Some are anti-debt and make being debt-free a primary goal of their church, while others see debt as a strategic tool to help finance the church’s vision. Whatever your thoughts, my hope is this data will help guide
April 24, 2019
2018 SPECIAL CHURCH REPORT, PART 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches
By Kent E. Fillinger When I started conducting megachurch and emerging megachurch research 15 years ago, there were a total of 255,179 people attending these churches on a given weekend. That number has grown 52 percent to 388,243 in 2018, which is a cause for celebration! For me, this statistical journey has always been about sharing and celebrating how God is at work in churches of all sizes in many different ways. My focus continues to be on helping churches learn from one another and providing context and clear metrics for church leaders to make better decisions based on research
July 5, 2018
Special Church Report Part 3: Small and Very Small Churches
By Kent Fillinger This is the final installment in a trilogy of articles from our annual church survey. If you missed the updates on megachurches and emerging megachurches from May and large and medium churches from June, I suggest you backtrack and read those articles—and view those charts—as well. For the first time, our survey included churches with attendances of fewer than 250. We received responses from 77 small churches (average weekly worship attendance of 100 to 249) and 51 very small churches (attendance of fewer than 100). Click here to access “The 2017 Charts: Small and Very Small
April 14, 2018
Special Church Report Part 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches
By Kent E. Fillinger This marks my 14th consecutive year of staying up late for weeks on end crunching numbers, looking for trends, and jotting down insights about our Restoration Movement churches to share with you. This year is special because it’s the first time Christian Standard opened up the annual survey to churches of every size. More than 400 churches from 39 states ranging in size from 12 to 28,216 responded to the survey, and I’m grateful for each one! I’m going to share in-depth results from the survey and analyze the data in my next few monthly articles.
September 3, 2017
An Inside Look at Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities and Churches
By Kent Fillinger To reflect the themes this month and next””urban ministry and rural ministry, respectively””I”ve written a two-part article that captures the present realities for both and adds some insights on suburban areas as well. I”ve examined our recent church survey data and other relevant research to identify notable differences and national trends for each type of ministry location. I don”t intend to proclaim one location type as better than another, but rather to share some commonalities and differences based on research findings and facts from the larger story taking place in our country. My goal is to help
May 18, 2012
Multisites & Mergers
By Kent E. Fillinger Multisites are being created and church mergers are happening everywhere. Are they a certain path to church growth? Can they help a church evangelize better than it could from a single campus? What must a church do to successfully launch a second site? Multisites now outnumber megachurches, and the number of multisite churches is growing faster than the number of megachurches, according to a Leadership Network survey.1 One factor driving the increase is church mergers. The same Leadership Network survey found that one in three multisite campuses is the result of a church merger. One notable
May 15, 2012
Megachurches: The 2011 List
Our annual megachurch chart is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s most popular features. This year there are more than 100 churches listed as megachurches (those with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance) or emerging megachurches (those with average attendance of 1,000 to 1,999). Click here to look at the chart of the 2011 Megachurches and Emerging Megachuches.
April 6, 2011
God Is Giving the Increase
By Kent E. Fillinger A Dilbert cartoon recently featured Dogbert, the consultant, standing in front of a projection screen asking, “Where does your company fit on this comprehensive list?” The list on the screen included, in order: “Facebook, China, Irrelevant.” The next frame showed three bug-eyed employees, followed by a third frame in which Dogbert says, “Now let”s form breakout groups to fantasize about being relevant.” Just as Dilbert”s mythical company is identified as being irrelevant in the business world, the church has been declared irrelevant by our culture, and even by other Christ followers for decades. A quick scan
September 15, 2010
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Measuring Growth at Medium-sized Churches
Kent E. Fillinger reports on growth, baptisms, senior ministers, worship venues, finances, and outreach trends among 32 medium-sized Christian churches/churches of Christ.
September 8, 2010
LARGE-SIZED CHURCHES: A New Name and New Numbers
Kent E. Fillinger reports on 2009 data from large-sized Christian churches, noting slower attendance growth, increased baptisms, younger senior ministers, worship venue trends, multisite ministry, and finances.
April 11, 2010
Megachurches: Mega See, Mega Do
Kent Fillinger reports how special baptism services at megachurches and emerging megachurches led to thousands of baptisms in 2009 through prayer, clear preaching, planning, and follow-up.
April 7, 2010
It”s About More Than Just Size
Mark A. Taylor reflects on megachurch growth statistics and encourages smaller churches to see opportunity, not inferiority, in their own growth and baptism potential.
April 19, 2009
Megachurches: Church Unique
Kent Fillinger highlights survey findings from megachurches and emerging megachurches, urging leaders to pursue unique vision while learning from growth, recession, and baptism trends.
April 13, 2008
The Best Indicator of Church Growth
Baptisms reveal whether churches are reaching the lost or just shifting believers. This article examines megachurch baptism ratios, giving-per-baptism figures, and why retaining new disciples matters for long-term growth.
By the Numbers (Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches)
Kent Fillinger and Ben Simms summarize 2007 megachurch attendance, growth trends, Easter attendance, baptisms, state-by-state counts, and leading churches by growth and baptism ratio.
