Articles for tag: Metrics

Church Leadership

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):

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

April 24, 2019

The 2018 Charts: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

Our annual megachurch listing is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD?™s most popular features. This year scores of churches participated, including 55 megachurches (those with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance during 2017) and 70 emerging megachurches (1,000 to 1,999). Come back in August for articles and charts from large churches (those that averaged 500–999) and medium churches (250–499). In October, we will post data and have feature articles from small (100–249) and very small churches (less than 100). Click here to view and download the 2018 Charts, or click on them individually. • 2018 Megachurches • 2018 Emerging Megachurches Click here

April 24, 2019

2018 Fast Facts about Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

These statistics from 2018 are gleaned from megachurch and emerging megachurch data collected by Kent Fillinger. Be sure to read Fillinger’s article, “2018 Special Church Report, Part 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches,” and look at the accompanying tables, “The 2018 Charts: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches”. Compiled by Kent Fillinger _ _ _ AVERAGE ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 5,363 Emerging Megachurches: 1,332 Combined average weekly attendance (125 churches): 388,243 _ _ _ GROWTH RATES Megachurches: 6.6% (up from 5.7% in 2017); overall, 74% of the megachurches grew (up from 71% in 2017) Emerging Megachurches: 4.1% (unchanged from 2017); overall, 71% of emerging megachurches

February 27, 2019

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Christianity in Confusion: What Happens When We Forgo Reading the Directions

By Kent E. Fillinger A year or so ago, one of my teenage daughters had several of her friends over for a sleepover. During the night, the girls decided to play a game. My daughter pulled Scattergories, which was new to her, out of the closet, and in the girlsâ™ rush to play, they decided to forego reading the directions. Instead, they came up with a way to play based on what they thought made sense. Not reading the directions first resulted in a hodgepodge game with no winner. There were a few arguments along the way, due to the

February 2, 2019

Church & Ministry Church Planting

Church Multiplication Scorecard

By Kent Fillinger A new question on our last annual church survey asked, “Using the scale created by Exponential.org, which of the following best describes your church in 2017?” Level 1: Declining (attendance going down) Level 2: Holding Even (attendance largely unchanged) Level 3: Growing (attendance growth by 5 percent or more) Level 4: Adding/Reproducing (we directly launched another new campus or church plant) Level 5: Multiplying (a campus or church we helped to start has itself become a reproducing church) In Exponential’s e-book Becoming a Level Five Multiplying Church Field Guide, Todd Wilson, Dave Ferguson, and Alan Hirsch provided

January 29, 2019

Culture & Public Square

Transformational Trends

By Kent Fillinger Since transformation is a main theme of this issue, I decided to explore three trends that are reshaping culture and will likely re-create the look and feel of our churches. My goal is not to stir up controversy but to change the questions we are asking in order to spark new conversations among church leaders. The Single Situation “Half of Americans ages 18 and older were married in 2016, a share that has remained relatively stable in recent years but is down 9 percentage points over the past quarter-century,” according to the article “8 Facts about

January 3, 2019

Giving & Fundraising Stewardship & Generosity

Giving Insights for the New Year

By Kent Fillinger Sermon series on giving, stewardship, and generosity are often popular to start a new year. To help church leaders gain a broader perspective on giving, here are some important research results. The State of Charitable Giving According to Giving USA 2018: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2017, Charitable giving reached record levels for the fourth consecutive year in 2017. Total giving in the United States rose 5.2 percent, ringing in a new all-time high of $410 billion. Over the course of a decade, charitable giving increased by nearly $100 billion. Studies show the

November 23, 2018

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

October 29, 2018

Mission & Evangelism

Survey Sheds Light on Our Missionaries

By Kent Fillinger To coincide with this issue’s focus on global missions, I partnered with the International Conference on Missions to conduct a survey to learn more about our Restoration Movement missionaries. The survey was sent out via ICOM’s email distribution network in August and a total of 118 people completed it. While the sample size is small, the focus of the survey is significant. To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone has gathered this type of information about our missionaries. I hope we can build on this foundation as more and more missionaries participate in the future.

September 19, 2018

Restoration Movement History

A Snapshot of Rural America and Restoration Movement Churches

By Kent E. Fillinger Nonmetropolitan or “rural” counties make up 72 percent of the land area in the United States and are home to 14 percent of the nation’s population. The landscape of small towns and rural America is changing in distinct ways. Using U.S. Census Bureau data, Brookings Institution researcher William H. Frey reported, “Not only has the nonmetropolitan population remained much whiter than the rest of the nation, it is also getting older faster and shrinking in size” (www.brookings.edu). Almost three-fourths of these rural counties are at least 70 percent white, according to Census Bureau data. The age

August 11, 2018

Worship Worship & Prayer

Does Your Church’s Worship Style Matter?

By Kent E. Fillinger Worship music is a key part of a church’s overall worship experience, and a church’s style of worship remains a key differentiator, even as the “worship wars” of the 1980s and 1990s have subsided. Research shows that worship or music isn’t a priority for people in choosing to attend a church or in deciding whether to remain at a church (see my article “What Are Your Church’s Push and Pull Factors? Part 2” from March). Still, music remains one of the most talked about elements of a worship service. I wanted to learn more about worship

July 14, 2018

Knowing Where You’re Going Pays Off

By Kent Fillinger I love quotes and short sayings. A favorite of mine is, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there,” from Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger adapted it slightly as, “If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.” But the best mutation of the saying comes from baseball icon (and celebrated linguist) Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Regardless of which version you prefer, here’s the point:

March 28, 2018

Church Life

Easter and the Changing Nature of Belonging

By Kent E. Fillinger “Every modern brand that inspires intense passion—from Apple to Nike to SoulCycle to WeWork—has a spiritual underpinning,” writes Nicole LaPorte in the July/August 2017 issue of Fast Company. She tells the story of shared community, social connections, and a common purpose for those who participate in Tough Mudder obstacle course competitions. Will Dean, CEO of Tough Mudder, believes their events can provide people with these same types of spiritual rituals. Dean told the magazine, [Tough Mudder races] are the pilgrimage, the big, annual festivals, like Christmas and Easter [emphasis mine], if you use Christianity as an

March 9, 2018

What Are Your Church’s Push and Pull Factors? (Part 2)

By Kent Fillinger Last month we looked at “push” factors that cause a person to leave a church or religion. This month we look at conditions that “pull” someone into one church or faith over another. Common “Pull” Factors A LifeWay Research survey asked about 2,000 “unchurched” Americans (those who have not attended a worship service in the last six months, outside of a holiday or special occasion) what, if any, life experiences would make them more open to consider turning to the church for help. The top three life experiences (as reported in Facts & Trends, Fall 2016)

January 26, 2018

What Are Your Church’s Push and Pull Factors? (Part 1)

By Kent Fillinger My three daughters and I went to New York City for the first time last October. Our visit to Ellis Island was a definite highlight! I was amazed to learn what more than 12 million people encountered at Ellis Island. One part of the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration had the history of migration and the peopling of America. I found one display titled “Push and Pull Factors.” The sign said, “Historians talk about the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that influence migration. ‘Push’ refers to the reasons people leave one place to go to another. ‘Pull’

January 16, 2018

Money & Debt Stewardship & Generosity

2017 Ministers’ Salary Survey

By Kent Fillinger In a typical workplace, and in churches, workers don’t publicly discuss salaries and certain benefits they receive. But this trend is changing among millennials. Benefits consultant Mary Ann Sardone recently told the Wall Street Journal, “Pay and promotions are not secretive topics anymore. Companies are spending more time ensuring their pay decisions are fair and highlighting career paths under the assumption that the information is going to be widely shared.” Recent research showed “roughly one-third of U.S. workers ages 18-36 say they feel comfortable discussing pay with their co-workers, more than any other age group and about

December 12, 2017

Christian Standard Updates News & Updates

Parting Thoughts for the End of the Year

By Kent E. Fillinger I want to share three statistical thoughts that challenged me, plus a final word of encouragement, as we conclude 2017 and prepare for another year of ministry. I hope these insights cause you to stop, reflect, and dig a little deeper as you continue to lead your church. The Golfer”s Delusion Imagine the recreational golfer eyeing the green. He may have laser-guided binoculars that tell him the exact distance to the flagstick. Or he may have a GPS that indicates the precise distance to the front, middle, and back of the green. Armed with all

October 17, 2017