Ministry News

FACT 2008 Study Reveals American Church’s Vital Signs

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Friday, 11 September 2009 10:19

If the American church were a patient on the operating table, its current vital signs would be cause for serious concern. According to the latest Faith Communities Today 2008 (FACT 2008), which released in part this week, only 35 percent of all congregations in the country reported being spiritually vital and alive. That’s compared to 42 percent in 2005.

In addition, most congregations say they’re in the worst financial shape they’ve been in years, with only 19 percent indicating excellent financial health, compared to 24 percent in 2005 and 31 percent in 2000. In terms of pure numerical growth among worship service attendees, 48 percent of all churches say they’ve grown by at least 2 percent, which marks a full 10 percent decline in only three years.

The massive survey, which includes churches of all types—old line Protestant, evangelical Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and other world religions—factored in results from more than 2,500 randomly selected congregations.

For leaders, FACT 2008 will reiterate what most already know: The healthiest churches are those who reproduce. Among the congregations surveyed, those whose leadership spent the most time recruiting and training other leaders were the healthiest. Similar results came from leaders who promoted a clear vision and emphasized evangelism. Interestingly enough, the study also revealed no significant correlation between a church’s spiritual vitality and its emphasis on administration or representing the congregation within the community. What it did show, however, was the advantage of standing out as a unique church. Those congregations who identified themselves as “very different” from others in the community showed a high spiritual vitality, whereas those who didn’t see themselves as offering anything particularly unique were less vibrant.

“It is a story of concern, but also a story of hope,” concluded FACT 2008’s authors. “It is the story of an emerging, persistent and broad based downward trend in congregational vitality. But it is also a story of pockets of vitality that are suggestive of the potential for moving forward.” [fact.hartsem.edu, 9/9/09]