Measures of Faithfulness

Even in a season of challenge, we can be confident in the Church, the body of Christ. And, one huge reason is because Jesus is confident about the Church. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1:
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Why can the Church be effective to do the work God has called us today, to live out our purpose?  It is because of the power and position of Christ relative to His Church, His body.  Jesus said if He is lifted up, He will draw all people unto Himself.  So we can consider whether or not we are lifting Jesus up, exalting Him in our actions and attitudes, displaying the love of Christ into a world that has a deficiency in hope.  The Church is powerful, and has great potential to impact this world for God.

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God has a glorious plan for His Church - we are the body of Christ, we recognize Him as the head, and where Jesus is exalted, we can see His mission carried out through His people. Ephesians chapter 2 states:
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord...

For years, the Hartford Institute for Religion Research has provided statistics relative to church size, and it has just released its latest Faith Communities Today, or FACT, survey, from the year 2020, according to a recently published report at ReligionNews.com, which says that the Institute has been conducting these surveys every five years since 2000.

The overarching theme of the survey is decline in church attendance among Protestants, including evangelicals, and indicates some warning signs for small churches.  The article says that...

It found that mainline Protestants suffered the greatest decline over the past five years (12.5%), with a median of 50 people attending worship in 2020. Evangelical congregations declined at a slower rate (5.4%) over the same five-year period and had a median attendance of 65 people at worship. Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches declined by 9%.

That median of 65 is a drop of over half since the first survey in 2000, when the median evangelical church worship attendance was 137.  It was at 80 back in 2015. Religion News quotes Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute, and the author of the survey, who said: “The dramatically increasing number of congregations below 65 attendees with a continued rate of decline should be cause for concern among religious communities.”  By the way, this survey was conducted prior to the lockdowns due to the coronavirus.  Overall, the decline of "religious congregations" in the U.S. is down 7% since 2015.

But smaller churches still have a chance of survival.  The article notes:

Allen Stanton, director of the Turner Center for Rural Vitality at the University of Tennessee Southern, said smaller congregations need to be judged on their own metrics.

“We’re asking rural churches to be more like large and suburban churches and they’re not designed to be,” said Stanton, author of “Reclaiming Rural: Building Thriving Rural Congregations.”

Thumma warns, though, that median-size churches have a challenge ahead, saying: “These congregations were built in the post-World War II era,” adding, “They’re struggling to have enough staff to satisfy everybody. And they don’t have all the programs of larger churches.”  Churches between 100 and 250 in attendance had a 12% median decline.

Another finding of this most recent study, according to Religion News: "Congregations are becoming more racially diverse. In 2000 only 12% of congregations were multiracial. In the latest survey, the figure climbed to 25%." A congregation is considered "multiracial" when 20% or more of participants are not part of the dominant racial group.

So, here are my takeaways:

First of all, there may be a scarcity of financial and human resources in churches today, but the good news is that God's resources are unlimited.  We can trust Him to provide His resources in order to further the ministry that He intends.

We also recognize that churches can determine how best to serve the areas to which they are called - for starters, serve the people.  We have each been given a mission, and He gives the power and direction in order for us, and the churches of which we are a part, to complete it.

Overall, from an ecumenical standpoint, median church attendance was down 7%.  That is certainly not a death knell, but numbers don't tell the whole story.  Numbers can be an indication of the health of a church, but if we are simply watching the numbers, we may be missing the point.  We are called to be faithful, and allow God to handle the results.