Sermon Illustrations

Small Church Study: A Barna new survey discovered that small churches (defined as average weekend attendance of 100 or fewer adults) are more likely than either mid-sized (301-999 adults) or large churches (1000 or more adults) to draw people who are not college graduates and are more likely to appeal to people with lower household incomes. Surprisingly, the research showed that adults under 35 years of age are more likely than are older adults to attend small churches. The research finds that the typical Protestant church has 89 adults in attendance during an average weekend. In total, 60% of Protestant churches qualify as small, while slightly less than 2% have 1000 or more. The statistics show that 41% of church-going adults go to small churches with 100 or fewer adults while 12% can be found in large churches. The data reveals small churches have a lower proportion of attenders who are spiritually active. Adults affiliated with small churches are less likely to be born again. 25% of church-going Boomers attend churches of 500 or more adults, compared to just 17% of church-going Busters—and Boomers are infamous for equating success with growth and large-scale operations. On average mid-sized churches have the highest proportion of born again believers. Adults attending mid-sized and large churches are more often conservative theologically, socially and politically. Small churches often grow into larger churches once they develop significant internal leadership and creatively overcome their resource limitations. (Barna Online 9/2/03)

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