This is the first in a 3 part series on why we need to plant new churches in churched cultures. These answers come from a resource I received last year during a local weekend conference from George Ross, pastor of Lifepoint Church in Senatobia, MS. I’m often met with many questions, when I share with people that I moved to help with a new church plant. Most of these come from individuals who have been a part of a church for most of their life and really don’t get why anyone should put so much effort in to starting a new church. Hopefully these facts will help
ANSWER: Older Churches are dying while the population is still growing.
Churches in the first decade of the twenty-first century are closing at a phenomenal rated. Around 85% of local churches are on the downside of their life-cycle.
Churches often die because people move out of rural areas to the urban and suburban settings. Yet new churches are not often started in the new areas because they are too close to other established churches of the same denomination. In short there are many more people living in areas where only a few churches exist. See the following church to population ration by Thomas Clegg and Warren Bird:
- In 1900, 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
- In 1950, 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
- In 1996, 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
While the number of churches in the US has increased b just over 50% over the past 100 years, the populations has increased by 300%! There are fewer churches today (per population) than there were in 1906.
