And now for a bit of history from a great source for learning such things...

And my personal favorite:

Happy Independence Day!

The National Congregation Study has been released via Duke University, and it contains helpful information to those of us trying to understand what is happening in and around churches in North America. The publication gives bullet points of the "most important observations."

Check it out:

• Most congregations are small but most people are in large congregations.
• Worship services are becoming more informal.
• Congregational leaders are still overwhelmingly male.
• Predominantly white congregations are more ethnically diverse.
• Congregations embrace technology.
• Congregations and clergy are getting older.
• Congregations' position in the social class structure remains unchanged.
• Congregations' involvement in social service activities remains unchanged.
• Only a small minority of congregations describe themselves as theologically "liberal," even within the Protestant mainline.
• Congregations are more tolerant and inclusive than we might expect them to be, even when it comes to hot-button issues.
• There has been no significant increase in congregational conflict since 1998.
• Congregations' involvement in political activities is largely unchanged since 1998.

This is fascinating research and very well presented.

You can download the entire PDF here where the observations above are unpacked.
Check out the NCS blog here.

The Barna Group has completed some research that I think you will find interesting. They are reporting that most Americans do not default to the Christian religion.

You okay? Maybe you should sit down.

While many will continue to debate whether or not America ever was a "Christian nation," one thing is increasingly clear; most Americans today see the Christian faith as one spiritual option among many, and not the most desirable one at that. The Barna Group says,

From the Foster Letter (see www.garydfoster.com)

The 2008 Harris Poll of American leadership confidence has measured the confidence finds 15 of the 16 items listed show a fall in confidence from '07. They are leadership in medicine down from 35% to 28%, the White House down 22% to 15% and small business leaders from 54% to 47%,. Wall Street, major educational institutions, the courts and the justice systems also saw significant declines.

The 6 institutions enjoying the highest confidence of Americans are:

The military (51%); Small business (47%); Major educational institutions (32%); Medicine (28%); Organized religion (25%): The Supreme Court (25%).

The lowest levels of confidence are in:

The Congress (8%);
The press (10%);
Organized labor (11%);
Wall Street (11%);
Major companies (14%).

(Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08, cited in the Foster Letter).