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The Pew Forum has released new report on American religious life. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans, the 140 page Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the US is both diverse and fluid.

The Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country. 51% of Americans [...]

Turned up this interesting finding from the Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS).

Church plants are more likely to attract three groups: young people, males and overseas immigrants.

All three groups are under represented in established churches.

“Young” of course is anyone under 50. After that you’re “mature”.

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Peter Kirk is asking questions about the accuracy of recent research into British church decline: Christian Research Confusion.

No one is questioning the reality of decline, just the accuracy of the figures.

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Here’s the link if you want to purchase the full report: Christian Research: Religious Trends No 7 (2007/2008)

ChristianityChurch declineTrends

If current trends continue in Britain, by 2050 there will be three times the number of active Muslims to Christians attending church. The ratio of church attendance to the active Hindu population will be about 1 to 1.

British church on its knees.

Church declineTrends

The Times reports on new research that shows church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation.

The fall – from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today – means that the Church of England, [...]

Declining organizations don’t want to know the truth about their demise. They deceive themselves and others. They hide from painful reality. Until it is too late.

The exception is the Presbyterian Church (USA). They are to be commended for the courage to confront the brutal facts and to publish them online.

But do they have the right [...]

David Olson has been keeping track of 200,000 US churches. This is what he has discovered:

Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church — half of what the pollsters report.American church attendance is steadily declining.Only one state (Hawaii) is growth in church attendance outpacing population growth.Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches [...]

The Christian Century has some bad news for the US church. . .

Every year about 3,700 churches close their doors in the US. That’s one in one hundred churches. That makes 3,700 new churches required each year in the US just to maintain the status quo—if you forget about population growth.

Now for the good news [...]

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I’ve been collecting historical and statistical data on church planting in Australia for the next1000 initiative.

It’s scary.

Not just the findings. . . . What is really scary is the flight from reality by so many denominations. They are intentionally that are hiding from the reality of their decline. Not only do they hide the data [...]