In Sermon Illustrations: "Be The Church"

Reshaping The Church Researcher George Barna Has ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Reshaping The Church Researcher George Barna has identified 4 factors he describes as “indicative of the reshaping of the church in the U.S.” They are: (1) The priorities embraced by church leaders. Most local churches essentially ignore: ministry to children, ministry to families and prayer. (2) ...read more

Tags: Church General

10 Things You Never Hear In Church  PRO

Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Oct 12, 2005

10 Things You Never Hear in Church 1. Hey! It’s my turn to sit in the front pew! 2. I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over time. 3. Personally I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf. 4. I’ve decided to give our church the $500 a month I used to send to TV ...read more

Tags: Church General

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

48% Of Church-Goers Attend An Average Of Once A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Dec 15, 2005

48% of church-goers attend an average of once a month. ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of

Denominational Threat: Half Of All Church Going ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 5, 2006

Denominational Threat: Half of all church going Americans are attending only 12% of the nation’s 400,000 churches. This has to be quite troubling to denominations, the many of the largest churches are either not denominationally affiliated, or if they are ...read more

Tags: Church General

The Fastest Growing Churches In America Since ‘80 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 6, 2006

The fastest growing churches in America since ‘80 have been the mega-churches. According to Leadership Network’s NetFax there are about 20,000 of them, while traditional denominations are steadily shrinking. Why? Experts credit it to the pastoral mega-churches asking “What is value?” to a ...read more

Tags: Church General

Soft Landing: Church Seating Companies Say That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

Soft Landing: Church seating companies say that 50% of their orders today are for cushioned seating, compared with only 20% just 5 years ...read more

Tags: Church General

Mega-Churches (1,000+ Members) Account For ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Mega-churches (1,000+ members) account for between 5% and 10% of all U.S. churches and attract between 2 and 5 million attenders. ...read more

Tags: Church General

Church Attendance Surge Over: For The Last Three ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Church Attendance Surge Over: For the last three decades, Gallup Poll has found the percentage of Americans who attend church or synagogue weekly to hover between 39% and 43%. In May ‘01, the figure was 41%, in the 10 days after 9/11, it climbed to 47%—a noticeable rise, but no more than what is ...read more

Tags: Church General

The United Methodist Church Is Losing 40,000 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

The United Methodist Church is losing 40,000 members a year in the U.S. as it gains roughly 100,000 a year in the 13 African nations where it is thriving. There are now 11.2 million Methodists worldwide including 8.3 million in the U.S. Africans are having a growing ...read more

Tags: Church General

More Than 50% Of The Churches With 100 Or More In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006

More than 50% of the churches with 100 or more in attendance offer classes for new believers and youth outreach activities compared to 33% with less than ...read more

Tags: Church Purpose Of

Faith Without Church: Barna Research Reports That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Faith Without Church: Barna Research reports that in the U.S. about 10 million self-proclaimed, born-again Christians have not been to church in the last 6 months, apart from Christmas or Easter. Yet, nearly all born-agains say their spiritual life is very important. About a third of Americans are ...read more

Tags: Church General

45% Of American Adults Attend Church On A Typical ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

45% of American adults attend church on a typical weekend. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Church General

53% Of Married People Attend Church On A Typical ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

53% of married people attend church on a typical weekend vs. 37% of singles. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Church General

Church Plants: This Year (2005), The 16.4 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Church Plants: This year (2005), the 16.4 million-member Southern Baptist Convention plans to plant 1,800 new churches using by-the-book niche-marketing ...read more

Tags: Church General

18% Of Churches Now Create Their Own Christian ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

18% of churches now create their own Christian education curriculum vs. 10% in ’02. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Church General

Only 58% Of Churches Now Offer Midweek ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Only 58% of churches now offer midweek programming for children compared to 64% in ’97. (Foster ...read more

Tags: Church General

95% Of Churches Offer A Sunday School Program. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

95% of churches offer a Sunday school program. But just 5% of pastors consider it to be the church’s highest priority compared to 22% in ’02. ...read more

Tags: Church General

More Mega-Churches: New Research Reveals That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

More Mega-Churches: New research reveals that their may be 1200 or more mega churches in the U.S. rather than the widely assumed 850 count. A cooperative project by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Leadership Network discovered the discrepancy when the two groups, each of ...read more

Tags: Church General

Inflatable Church: A British Designer Has Created ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Inflatable Church: A British designer has created what he believes is the world’s first inflatable church. Standing 47 feet high to the tip of the steeple, the gray plastic structure, which can be carried around on the back of a truck, includes a blow-up pulpit, organ, ...read more

Tags: Church General

Help For Historic Churches: A New Policy Approved ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

Help For Historic Churches: A new policy approved by President Bush will lift the ban on using federal grants for the preservation of historic churches. Since ‘95, historically significant structures that were also used for religious purposes have been ineligible for federal grants ...read more

Tags: Church General