Articles for tag: Church Attendance

December 17, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

‘I’ll Be (Living at) Home for Christmas’

By Kent E. Fillinger This Christmas, you might be looking forward to your adult children returning home. Or maybe they’re home already. A Pew Research Center report found that 15 percent of millennials (ages 25 to 37) were living at home in 2018, nearly double the rate of older baby boomers when they were in that age range. In fact, a smaller percentage of people in the rising generations are checking off the four major life events that historically have signified “adulthood”: leaving home, getting married, becoming a parent, and getting a job. And the percentage of adults in the

May 20, 2019

Christian Standard

Changing the Scorecards

What statistics really count in the church? Baptisms? Attendance? Or something much more vital? By Jim Putman I have been in many meetings over the years with so-called “big dogs” in the American Christian world . . . and I have left these gatherings feeling very dissatisfied. These meetings often sound spiritual and may even come from good hearts, but they often leave me feeling like something big was missed. The purpose of meeting usually is good: How do we win people to Jesus? Most everyone acknowledges our culture is falling apart, that many Americans are leaving the faith and

April 25, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

Is Your Church Ready for Generation Z?

By Kent Fillinger It might seem hard to believe, but the millennial generation is approaching middle age! The oldest millennials will turn 38 this year, which means they were entering adulthood before today’s youngest adults were born. Many researchers and demographers are now shifting their attention from millennials to generation Z to learn more about them. Researchers quibble about when the millennial generation ends and generation Z begins—the years range from 1996 to 2002—but a Pew Research Center article from January indicates people in the two age groupings aren’t all that different. Here’s the article’s headline (so judge for yourself):

November 23, 2018

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

How Changing Shopping Trends Affect the Church

By Kent Fillinger Eight of the 10 biggest shopping days of the year occur in December. The other two take place in November. Sales spike in December at retail stores, online stores, and even grocery stores. Based on my research, church attendance also spikes during December due to special events and Christmas Eve services that attract more people than any other time but Easter. Despite a strong economy and low unemployment, the retail industry is undergoing a major repositioning as legacy stores and brands that were once customer favorites fall victim to shifting consumer demands. Stores like Nine West, Toys

June 10, 2018

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

Monthly Attendance: The New Norm?

By Kent E. Fillinger “Is monthly attendance the new norm?” asked the headline of a recent article by Warren Bird, director of research at Leadership Network. The trend for several years is that regular churchgoers attend less frequently. Bird said his research shows the typical church reaches 1.8 times its average weekly attendance in a month. He said the average doesn’t change much regardless of the size of the church, age of the church, or age of the lead pastor. Therefore, a typical church can determine how many different people attend each month by multiplying the average weekend worship attendance

January 2, 2018

Jerry Harris

The Tyranny of Numbers

By Jerry Harris I live every day with the tyranny of numbers. It’s everywhere I look, around every corner, in every closet, reminding me of the truth, the oftentimes painful truth. When I get up in the morning, the tyranny of numbers is waiting on the bathroom scale display. It’s in my Weight Watchers app on my phone, in my budget, my bills, and my bank balance. As a pastor, I face the tyranny of numbers when I see last week’s attendance, the offering number, and the number of baptisms. I live with the tyranny of numbers when I look

November 26, 2017

Christian Standard

The Blessing of Daily Faithfulness

By Kyle Idleman Initially I was reluctant to write this tribute. I was hesitant not because my parents are undeserving or because I”m ungrateful. I was reluctant mostly because I”ve already written to my parents most of the things I”ll write here. I”ve already expressed my appreciation to them. And this is the sort of thing that makes my parents feel awkward. If you asked them to tell you about passing on “the blessing” to the next generation, they wouldn”t point to their example, but would be quick to speak of God”s goodness. They would tell you his grace is

September 8, 2017

Christian Standard

If We Want to Reach Millennials, We Must Think Like Veronica

By Haydn Shaw My writing collaborator and I put together most of my book Generational IQ while occupying a corner table at a local Smashburger restaurant. We spent so much time there that the entire staff got to know us. One afternoon, the manager, Veronica, asked how the book was coming along. She said she reads business books, so we talked about my first book, Sticking Points. When I told her Generational IQ was a look at the spiritual lives of the generations, she lit up and told us her grandmother was a devout Catholic. Her mother had been raised

April 4, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

My Read on a Surprising Remedy

By Mark A. Taylor Readers of a certain age can”t resist a bold, red headline that says, “Live Longer!” And when the caption below it promises “50 Proven Ways to Add Years to Your Life,” an almost-retired guy like me knows he wants to know more. You could probably guess several of the live-longer tips offered by the March 2017 AARP Bulletin: get your sleep, drink water, eat whole grains, exercise. But some of it is less intuitive: get rid of throw rugs (they cause falls), find a woman doctor (statistically their patients have better results), watch your grandkids (regular

June 3, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Getting a Jump on the Summer Slump

By Michael C. Mack Don”™t simply accept the habitual warm-weather wane in church attendance and activities. Instead, find creative ways to minister this summer in ways maybe not possible the rest of the year. Here are just a few starter ideas. “¢ Make this a “Block Party Summer.” Encourage individuals and small groups to conduct neighborhood events to help neighbors get to know one another and have fun together. Use it as a simple opportunity for God to work through relationships to reach people where you live. “¢ Go outdoors with worship. This one may seem risky with potential inclement

March 29, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

After Easter: the Challenge Remains

By Mark A. Taylor   Churches and church leaders around the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief this week. Easter is over. All the hard work anticipating big Easter attendances is finished. Larger numbers of volunteers were recruited. Worship services were added (some megachurches began Easter services on Thursday evening). Musicians practiced harder and longer; choirs and worship teams prepared their best. Preachers gave special effort to make sure their sermons were polished and ready. New churches and multisites launched on Easter Sunday, with the hope to attract newcomers on the one Sunday when tradition prods the largest

June 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Missed Turns

By Eddie Lowen Three college buddies and I decided to attend a conference that was 1,200 miles away. Inadequate budgets didn”t allow us to book a hotel along the way. Inadequate brains didn”t allow us to consider anything other than a 24-hour marathon drive. During the early morning hours of our journey, as three of us napped, our on-duty driver missed a turn. About an hour later, I awoke and asked, “Where are we?” The answer: 50 miles off course. That”s how missed turns are discovered. Someone wakes up and says, “Hey, this is not where we intended to be.”

April 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Ideas for Reaching Mom”s Family on Mother”s Day

Did you know churches see the third-largest attendance of the year on Mother”s Day (see graph)? Do you know why? It”s not because more moms are there. No, attendance swells on Mother”s Day because family members who love the moms choose to show their love by attending on that special day. That means Mother”s Day is a great day to reach many unchurched people with the message of Christ. So instead of (or, perhaps, in addition to) doing the traditional Mother”s Day message and handing out roses to moms, it”s time to strategically love on those whom these moms love.

September 15, 2014

Christian Standard

The Church of the Future

By Matt Smay One thing is certain as we contemplate all the changes the church is facing. Tomorrow”s church won”t look like the church we remember from days gone by. I try to keep things as simple as possible. When we overcomplicate things, we extend the time it takes to learn and become proficient at something new. It might explain why I”ve become enamored by one-room churches and schoolhouses that were established in small towns as people moved west across America, in a time when everything seemed so much simpler. (My ancestors helped establish one of those towns: Browns, Illinois.)

September 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Thinking Big

By Jennifer Johnson I looked forward to speaking with Robert Bess because of the similarities between his church and ours. (See Related Article.)  Like Robert”s church in Tennessee, Levittown (PA) Christian Church, where my husband, Matt, serves as pastor, has grown from just a few families to about 100 people. And like Robert, Matt is not content for LCC to stay so small when so many thousands in our community still need Jesus. He spent much of this summer meeting with other local pastors, casting vision with the influencers and leaders in our own congregation, and reading widely to see

August 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Racehorses, Plodders, and Mules

By Jim Tune The words of James Denney ring true to me: “No man can give at once the impression that he himself is clever, and that Christ is mighty to save.” You can impress people with your cleverness or you can impress them with Jesus, but you can”t do both. It”s a common practice in church planting circles to search for a particular “type” of church planter. Competence, calling, giftedness””these characteristics matter when it comes to selecting a lead planter. The organization I lead uses a thorough assessment process to screen candidates for attributes that are useful in predicting

August 1, 2014

Michael C. Mack

The Sunday Night Shift

By Michael C. Mack Sunday night service attendance is plummeting in many churches. One option, of course, is simply to discontinue this longtime tradition. Other churches are finding new ways of using Sunday evenings effectively. Bobby Ross Jr., chief correspondent for The Christian Chronicle, provided five ideas for reforming Sunday nights: 1. Small group meetings. Meet in homes or other locations in smaller groups. Some churches have found that more people are involved in small groups on Sunday nights than previously attended services at the church building. 2. Sunday school on Sunday night. One church found that Sunday evening attendance

May 13, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Proud, but Not Satisfied

By Mark A. Taylor Don”t count CHRISTIAN STANDARD among today”s crop of church bashers. Even when we don”t headline our cover with “I love the church,” we make a point of encouraging the local church and its leaders. But posts at our site this month give special reasons to feel positive. For example, we couldn”t agree more with Bob Russell”s local-church cheerleading. Think of all the dysfunction and distress our world would face without the healing and help the church has extended through the centuries. Then there”s Kent Fillinger”s annual update on the state of megachurches and other churches among

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