Watch Tim Keller, Don Carson, and Ben Peays discuss the past and future of TGC.… Read More
Managing Editor of The Gospel Project at LifeWay Christian Resources, husband to Corina, father to Timothy and Julia More…
Clear Winter Nights
A Journey into Truth, Doubt, and What Comes After
by Trevin Wax
Gospel-Centered Teaching
Showing Christ in All the Scripture
by Trevin Wax
Counterfeit Gospels
Rediscovering the Good News in a World of False Hope
by Trevin Wax
Holy Subversion
Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals
by Trevin Wax
Jun
15
2012
Links for your weekend reading:
1. Kindle Deal of the Day: The Soul-Winner : or How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour
2. SBC Church Plants: Up 27% in 2011
3. Becoming Well-Spoken: How to Minimize Your Uh’s and Um’s
4. Generational Values and Desires
5. Twenty Ideas for Dating Your Wife
One Comment
Hi Trevin,
I looked up the article on SBC church plants up 27%, from 780 to 990. How good is that? Not very. Of those 990 at least 880 will be non-functioning very soon.
Did you notice the article mentioned the rate at which SBC churches close: “…an average of 880 SBC churches per year ceased to exist from 1999 to 2009.”
Which means for 2010 the SBC lost 100 churches (880-780) but in 2011 gained 110 churches (990-880), for a net gain of 10 churches in 2 years. In other words, SBC churches stay in business at a rate of .005, or 5 in a 1000 church plants survive.
So how much did it cost to plant 10 successful churches over 2 years? Over 42 million dollars, USD (http://www.namb.net/annualreport/#NewCongregations), or over 4 million each.
The real story here is not a 27% increase but the number of church plant failures in terms of people’s disillusionment, the massive expenditures of millions of dollars, and the reality of this testimony to the world. The other aspect of course is that no responsible Christians are theologically analyzing the massive failure most church planting really is in North America.
And Trevin, these are the stats for the SBC, maybe the strongest and best funded church planting entities ever!
Moving beyond the SBC….
If we extrapolate out the numbers we can arrive at a semi-responsible number for just how many churches close in the US every year.
There are an estimated 300,000 evangelical churches in America, 40,000 of which are SBC, or 13%. Not all denominations plant as agressively as the SBC, but still, the rate of church closures based on SBC data in North America comes out to around 6800 per year.
In my little town churches are being set and torn down every month. A sign goes up only to be replaced in a little while by a whole new sign from another group. Strip malls and Masonic lodges cycle through ever more group with a supposed call from God.
Trevin, the real article here is not “how many” but “how come?”