THE BIG PICTURE

Many are surprised to learn that most Americans are unchurched. In fact, this year, that number is expected to reach 65%.

There is certainly a need to help some of our plateaued or declining churches in Iowa. But there is also a need to start new ones.

The good news is that there are three new churches a day starting in the US. The bad news is that there are ten churches closing their doors everyday. Therefore, there is a need to start new churches.

Leaders at TeAMerica, our cooperative national church planting efforts in the Baptist General Conference, are proposing that we double the number of new church starts during the first five years of the next millennium.

Here's why:

195 million Americans have no faith involvement at all in their lives which makes the U.S. the third largest unchurched nation following China and India.

There is not one county in America with a greater church population today than ten years ago.

In the last ten years the combined membership of the Protestant denominations has declined 4.5 million while the population of our nation has increase by 24 million.

Half of all the 368,000 churches in America did not report one new convert in 1998.

In 1900 there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans; in 1950, 17 churches per 10,000 Americans; in 1998 there were only 11 churches per 10,000 Americans.

The average size of all churches in America is 78.6 people.

Only 12% of all churches showed growth over the decade of the 1980s.

Approximately 3,750 churches close each year in the USA which is 72 churches per week or 10 churches per day.

Approximately 1,350 successful churches are planted each year in the USA giving us a deficit total loss of 2,400 churches per year, 200 churches per month and 6.6 churches per day.

The largest Christian church in the world is in Seoul, S Korea (a Buddhist nation) while the largest Buddhist Temple in the world is in Boulder, CO.

The second largest Christian church in the world is in Leagers, Nigeria (a Moslem nation) while the largest Moslem training center in the world is in New York City, NY.

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