The FACT 2008 study shows signs of what many expected-- mainline churches are in decline, but also upward signs of growth and vitality among certain kinds of congregations.

What is FACT? "Faith Communities Today is the public dissemination effort of a group of researchers and religious leaders who were responsible for, in 2000, the largest survey ever of congregations." A press release released on Sept. 9th explained,

According to FACT surveys, between 2005 and 2008 fewer congregations report that they are spiritually vital and alive, that they have seen worship attendance growth of 2 percent or more, or that they have a clear mission and purpose. Just 19 percent say their current financial health is excellent, down from 31 percent in 2000 (note the FACT2008 survey predates the market collapse that began late in 2008). The down tick in vitality holds across faith families.

Keep in mind that these are all kinds of congregations and that impacts the research.

The 2008 study also showed some growth trends as well. Congregations that have a strong sense of identity and a shared mission, making them distinct from the congregations around them, reported greater growth and spiritual vitality than congregations and less conflict than other congregations.

Most discussions of congregational identity focus on content. But what most organizational theorists say is that strength of identity or distinctiveness of identity is equally, if not more, important.

To test this insight, FACT 2008 asked congregations whether or not they were different than other congregations in their community. Just under a quarter felt they were very different than other congregations in their community (i.e., had a very distinct sense of self), another quarter felt they were somewhat different, just under a third felt they were somewhat or very much the same and nearly 20 percent were not sure.

More importantly, as shown in Figure 6, having a very distinct sense of self is dramatically related to spiritual vitality, this being true within each of FACT 2008' s faith
families. Similarly, although not quite as strong, there is also a significant positive relationship between strong FACT 2008 sense of self and other measures of congregational vitality like financial health, worship attendance growth and lack of conflict.

This relationship between vitality and sense of self is consistent with other FACT findings that show a similar relationship between identity items and vitality. Perhaps most notable of these are the strong relationship between clarity of mission and purpose and vitality, and the fact that vitality peaks at both the conservative and the liberal extreme of theological orientation.

Head over to the FACT website and download the Fact 2008 preliminary report for free, and then head back here to talk about it. Why do you think a strong sense of identity has a connection to congregations that experience greater vitality and growth?

Megachurches are growing both in the number of churches qualifying as megachurches, and in the size of megachurches themselves. Back in 1992, if your attendance was 3,315 or higher, you got put in the "100 largest" list of churches in America. We just compiled the list for 2009 to be published this fall by Outreach Magazine, and the the cutoff for the "100 largest" was about double what it was in 1992.

So, when most people think of megachurches they not only think of mega-numbers, but also mega-sanctuaries. But you'd be surprised. While megachurch size (in number) has increased, sanctuaries have not grown in size. According to a national study co-authored by Warren Bird of Leadership Network, "Changes in American Megachurches", (see page 6), attendance in megachurches is growing but sanctuary size is the same. In fact, the average main sanctuary seating capacity in the typical American megachurch is only 1,400 (median), according to Warren's report.

That means only a few dozen churches can seat more than 5,000. Warren listed all the churches he knows of with a seating capacity of 5,000 or more, and if you're curious, that list-in-progress can be downloaded here. Do you know of any U.S. church that got left out? Please take a look and add a comment if you know of a church that's missing.

So, who would you know that needs to be on this list. Let us know and we can check and follow up.

I find that many people who are not currently in a mega church have certain ideas about the "kind" of people in such churches. An interesting new study by Warren Bird and Scott Thumma has been released via The Hartford Institute for Religious Research titled, Not Who You Think They Are: A Profile of The People Who Attend America's Megachurches. Below are the bullet points of the more prominent findings:

• Young and single adults are more likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches.
• Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less.
• Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven't been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch.
• Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in church, in their spiritual growth, and in their needs being met.
• Forty-five percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.
• New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or co-workers invited them.
• What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church's reputation.
• These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.
• Attenders can craft unique, customized spiritual experiences through the multitude of ministry choices and diverse avenues for involvement that megachurches offer.

This is a large document, and you would do well to download the entire report as a PDF.

Check it out and come back to discuss. Are you surprised about the findings? What are you experiencing in your church?

Scott McConnell has been researching the beliefs, behaviors, needs and preferences of church leaders, laity, and the unchurched for over 12 years. He is the Associate Director of LifeWay Research and has written the new book, Multi-Site Churches: Guidance for the Movement's Next Generation. It seems like everyone is going mulit-site these days. But is it for everyone? Can any church go multi-site? Should every church set up multiple campuses? Check out this interview with Scott as he addresses these questions and much more. Then jump into the comments and ask questions. Scott will be around today interacting with the readers.

What classifies as a multi-site church?

Continue reading Church Leadership Book Interview: Multi-Site Churches w/ Scott McConnell.

Updated: You can find the PowerPoint with the questions and data at LifeWayResearch.Com.

Yesterday I talked with Cathy Lynn Grossman for USA Today about Americans' receptivity to evangelistic contacts and outreach from a church. I pointed to some recent research done by Lifeway Research and the North American Mission Board where we surveyed over 15,000 people (read more on this report via Lifeway Research). It turns out most people said they would be willing to receive information about church in a personal conversation with a family member, friend or neighbor.

I just came across the National Congregation Study Wave II via the Christian Post and it's definitely worth noting. This study, directed by Mark Chaves, Professor of Sociology, Religion, and Divinity at Duke University, compared over 1,505 congregations in 2006-2007 with 1,234 in 1998 revealing some noteworthy changes American churches have experienced in the last 10 years. Here a few points worth thinking about.

Style
The study shows that our American churches have become less formal in worship style over the past 10 years. "More worship services include drums, jumping and shouting or dancing, raising hands in praise, calling out "amen," visual projection equipment, applause, and speaking by people other than leaders compared to 1998, the National Congregations Study shows."

These stylistic changes have not robbed or replaced the biblical components of worship. The Christian Post summarizes, "But the numbers for some features have remained about the same, including a sermon... singing, greeting time, silent prayer or meditation, reading or reciting Scripture." So worship tends to still include preaching, praying and singing while our churches adapt to a very interactive and tech-driven culture.

Tech
I've blogged on the issue of tech in the church on several occasions (here for example), and while we should always be intentional and careful when adopting new practices, as pointed out above much of what this study revealed was the embrace of tech culture-- not the abandonment of biblical components of worship.

In 1998, the number of congregations with Web sites was only 17 percent. The number has since risen to 44 percent in 2006-07. In other words, since 1998 another 10,000 congregations created Web sites and now 74 percent of service attendees are in congregations with Web sites.

Meanwhile, the number of those using email to communicate with members increased from 21 percent to 59 percent during this time period. Nearly 80 percent of attendees as of 2006-07 are in congregations that communicate with members via email.

While it's hard to imagine church life in 2009 without websites and electronic communication, 10 years ago it simply wasn't an issue.

Ethnic Diversity
Simply put, our churches are more ethnically diverse today than they were even 10 years ago. More specifically, "the diversity occurred mostly among white churches; the majority of black churches still remain predominantly racially homogeneous."

Age of Leadership
Yet while cultural diversity becomes more of a reality in our churches (a very good thing), leadership in American churches appears to be aging. With all the talk about younger leaders and church planters this is not what some would expect.

The median age of the head clergy has increased from 49 in 1998 to 53 in 2006. Furthermore, congregations across the religious spectrum have fewer younger leaders. Today, only 39 percent of congregations are led by someone 50 years old or younger, a drop from 48 percent in 1998.

Size of Congregation
Also worth noting, in the midst of all this change, is that the median congregation is the same size today as it was in 1998 (75 participants). Additionally, "the median person still attends a congregation that is the same size as it was in 1998 (400 regular participants)."

This study is broad, including all kinds of congregations. You can find more information at the Christian Post's article, or you can go directly to the study at Duke University.

I've spent some time with Mark and consider him a solid researcher and I believe the research is well done and helpful.

Back in August, I was invited to record a television program and shoot some video for the Assemblies of God. Both programs were videotaped at the Total Living Network in Aurora, IL.

Larry Griswold and Gary Blanchard from the Illinois District of the Assemblies of God interviewed me for the video. They then took the videos as part of a bigger program and showed it to over a thousand leaders in different meetings throughout the region.

To load them on YouTube, I combined them based on length so each video (after the introductory one) is between 5-10 minutes.

Brady Cooper is the pastor of New Vision in Murfreesboro, TN. Brady and I recently met at The Standard, a restaurant in downtown Nashville and had a little too much fun.

Just under a year ago, I received a phone call from Warren Bird at Leadership Network. Warren was having a party and I was invited to join the fun.

It has been a long time since I have been invited to "parties." This one involved flying to Dallas, staying overnight, and meeting some new friends.

Warren had just finished his Ph.D. dissertation and the folks at Leadership Network threw him a soirée. We had dinner with toasts by Bob Buford at a fancy restaurant. (I don't mean to sound like a yokel here, but it was VERY fancy.)

In honor of Warren's dissertation (which I will share later this week) they brought together a who's who of megachurch research, including:

o Elmer Towns
o John Vaughan
o Carl George
o Bill Easum
o Scott Thumma
o Mark Chaves
o Samuel Chand
o Gary McIntosh

In addition, the fine folks from Leadership Network (Bob, Dave Travis, Linda Stanley, and Greg Ligon) were there.

You probably recognize many of the names, but I want to point out three of them who are most active in megachurch research. To do that, a short history may be helpful.

The first person who started listing megachurches was probably Elmer Towns, which he did as a column in Christian Life magazine. The editor indicated it grabbed people attention. He would list the largest Sunday Schools (since they had larger attendance than churches until the mid-60s) and later the largest churches. Among his many books on themes of church growth were America's Largest Sunday Schools (1969) and America's Largest Churches (1972).

He turned that mantle over to John Vaughn. John has devoted his life to studying megachurches. He speaks and consults on the subject. His organization is called Chruch Growth Today, and the tagline puts it well, "America's Megachurch Research Center... since 1985." (It is important to note that he also does research on international megachurches.)

When you are in a megachurch, there is a very good chance John has already been there... and a pretty good chance he has consulted with the church. Megachurches are a labor of love for John-- and this is his specialty. Be sure to visit his site. You can't really know megachurches without some of the resources on John's site. See Church Growth Today.

Warren Bird and Scott Thumma are also frequently engaged in megachurch research. I mentioned them earlier this week related to research they just released.

They recently completed an in-depth 12 church study that includes questionnaires from 25,000 megachurch attendees which they will begin releasing in February 2009. This data parallels other broad national data so we will be able to compare small evangelical churches to the large evangelical megachurches. The study will also have considerable information about where mega attendees are coming from and the depth of their spiritual life and personal practices.

Warren jokes that he attends a support group for people who can't resist stopping anytime he spots a big church. He usually co-publishes with others, co-authoring 21 books to date, many of them with megachurch pastors. Warren works for Leadership Network, which works with many megachurches and releases a lot of research on megachurches, all for free download. Check out leadnet.org/megachurch and leadnet.org/salary. He wrote his dissertation on megachurches that I will share soon.

Scott's interest is more academic as a seminary professor and researcher at the Hartford Institute. Scott has a very helpful web page here and a searchable database here. He co-authored a book with Dave Travis, Megachurch Myths, which is one of the most comprehensive analyses of the phenomenon.

If you want to know megachurches, hearing from these three is important.

And, if you are a megachurch, I would encourage you to submit your data to John Vaughn and the Hartford Institute.

We're moving through Megachurch Week here at the blog and I wanted to draw your attention to the article I wrote for Outreach Magazine called, Learning from America's Largest and Fastest Growing Churches.

As we talked with churches and gathered the information for the OUTREACH 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America, we saw several dichotomies, including the one developing between small and large churches. If current trends continue, the number of medium-sized churches will continue to decrease, and the bulk of U.S. churches will tend to be very large or very small. While most churches have always been small, large churches getting larger...

While churches are getting larger, attendees are often not unified in one location as more megachurches add satellite sites...

While last year we highlighted a growing interest in churches on the lists becoming multicultural, this year we found a heightened interest in churches becoming multigenerational. As Baby Boomers age and the number of senior adults in America reaches record highs, leaders are recognizing the need to be a church for all ages...

Regardless of your church's size or shape, Christ calls each of us to seek out fresh ways to contextualize the Gospel for a dying world.

You can read the whole article at Sermon Central.

The folks at Outreach Magazine have created helpful landing pages which provide access to more information about the churches on the lists: FASTEST / LARGEST

I first met Kerry about 8 years ago. We invited him in to Louisville to speak at a church planting conference and he did an amazing job. (I still have the evaluations on my computer and his marks were higher than mine... but who's counting.)

Kerry Shook and his wife planted Fellowship of the Woodlands in 1993, which is now one of the fastest growing churches in America. They average over 16,000 people at their their 3 campuses and operate with over 4,000 volunteers. They are looking to start additional sites in the future as they continue to grow. In the midst of all this extraordinary growth Kerry understands that what is happening at Fellowship is the result of God's activity among his people as he changes their lives. Lifeway Research interviewed him for the blog, and I think you'll find the discussion encouraging as he talks about the book he wrote with his wife, One Month to Live, and how God has used this emphasis in the life of his church.

LifeWay Research: Pastor Kerry, could you tell us a little about what's been happening at Fellowship of the Woodlands?

Pastor Kerry Shook: Last year we presented our staff with a challenge. I challenged them to live the next 30 days as if it was their last, not because they were going to die in a month, but, because, Lord willing, they were going to live many more years. I believe if you live the next month as if it is your last then you will really want to do something that makes a difference for eternity. You will want to leave a legacy. All of the stories that came out just from our staff team were amazing. Then my wife and I wrote this book and presented the whole campaign to our church in February and it was just amazing what it did. It really impacted the community.

I asked everyone in our church if they would ask their neighbors and friends to come over to their house and just experience this challenge with them. I said, "Just invite them over and, you know, maybe it is three or four of you or four or five of you and just talk about what you would do if you had one month to live. And throw out some refreshments." We gave them some DVDs and the books. It was amazing. We basically grew by 9000 in small groups just during that month. And then after the campaign ended we went down to about 7300 new people in small groups from the community. It was just crazy.

The end result was after our people really started inviting their friends to their house and then bringing them to church and really being a witness to them. We had 1500 people this summer who were baptized because of the study and we've never seen anything like that in our church over the last 15 years. This has really just sparked amazing life change and stories.

We had one woman in our church whose son had been murdered at college, and right as she took the challenge the young man who had committed the crime was convicted of the murder and she was able to speak to him in the sentencing phase because of victim's rights. And the judge warned her, "No cursing, no shouting, but you can say whatever you want to say." And this woman, Terry Lynn McDonough, stood up and read this beautiful letter of forgiveness. She said, "If I had one month to live I would want to forgive everyone including you, and I choose to forgive you for my sake because I see Jesus standing next to you begging me to forgive you. And if you become a saver of life instead of a destroyer of life then maybe my son's death won't have been in vain." She used the next 30 days to go visit him in prison. And he made a faith promise to Christ. He was baptized. And it is the kind of forgiveness that I can't even fathom.

LWR: Kerry you have talked about 1500 baptisms and the tremendous growth of your small groups. What did you have to do to realign your church to meet the needs of so many more people?

Shook: We are scrambling, but what is really exciting about it is that we have been praying and preparing for this for a long time. We knew it was going to be amazing when we started this campaign and that God was going to do some really great things because of it. It was a real passion on my heart but I didn't expect this to happen. And so once we had so many new people in small groups we have been scrambling to fill positions and we have also been raising up leaders and training leaders. But one thing this experience has done for our church, it has really called our people to a new level of leadership. We have also discovered that people want to be challenged.

You know, our people want to be challenged to make a difference in the world and they want me, as their pastor, to challenge them. And so I am constantly challenging people to step up to leadership. I have had hundreds of people come up to me and say "Thank you, Kerry, for challenging me. I am stepping up to lead and I am scared to death, but it is really rewarding." I love to hear that and so we constantly challenge.

We welcome the problems because they are just really opportunities. The cool thing is our staff sees it as that. We just celebrate the baptisms, the lives that are changed, and the spiritual growth that is taking place and all the missions trips. We had 200 students go on a mission trip this summer. I gather the whole staff together once a month and we just praise God. We celebrate and thank him for what he has done.

LWR: What was Fellowship at the Woodlands like before you began the "one month to live" campaign?

Shook: This church has been a wild ride since day one. We are only fifteen years old and we started with eight people. There have been a lot of exciting things that God has done, but there was just something about the one month to live campaign. I think one of the things we saw as a church was that it is not just about us. It is not just about church growth or what is happening in our church but it is about what God does in the community with lost people and it is also about what God does through other churches around the world. And this is one of the first things that we have done that has impacted a lot of other churches around the world to impact their communities.

So I think it was one of those things where we can never thank God enough for what he has done over this first 15 years, but this was just something really special and amazing and it really helped us move beyond just ourselves and God blessing our church to we have 1000 churches this fall who are doing the campaign. This is something that our people are just thrilled about because we are helping all these other churches.

LWR: How does it make you feel when USA Today and the Press Register compare the Next Thirty Days campaign to the secular mover The Bucket List.

Shook: We think that's great. You know there has been a lot of people who have thought about the idea of what would I do if I knew my time on earth was short. And so we just really took some time to formulate how a person could take that challenge in 30 days or how a church could take that challenge in 30 days with that central question, what would I do if I knew I had one month to live. I will tell you in the movie The Bucket List they did a lot of crazy things like skydiving and race car driving. But the thing that the character played by Jack Nicholson has the problem with is the toughest thing and that is reconciling a relationship. And that's what we have with so many people now who have taken the one month to live challenge is that it is in our relationships that we have our greatest regrets. And that is why I think that God has used it in churches because we have seen a lot of healing take place in churches and we have seen a lot of healing take place in families.

LWR: How important has this campaign been to the families of your church?

Shook: Very important. When I, personally, started living this one month to live challenge and this one month to live lifestyle, I started asking myself what I would do if I had one month to live. One of the first things I did was to go to my teenage sons and I said, "Guys, we got a great relationship, but I come home from work and you say, 'How was your day, dad?' And I say, 'Great.' And I say, 'How was your day, guys?' 'Great.' And that's about it. You know, we are guys and this is as deep as it got."

And I said, "I want to know your struggles and your stresses and your problems because I know you are going through stuff as teenagers." They replied "Well, dad, you never tell us your struggles and stresses. You just always say things are great." And I said, "Well, I didn't think you wanted me to dump all my stuff on you." And they said, "We can handle it." This conversation really took our relationship to a new level. I started every Thursday meeting them at their favorite restaurant and I would have the chili cheese fries on the table waiting for them when they got out of school. We would just meet and talk about stuff going on in their lives and in mine.

LWR: In our conversation you have briefly talked about how this campaign has changed the churches involvement in the community. I know that before the campaign your wife was involved in missions and women's ministry but what is different now about the church's involvement in the community and around the world?

Shook: Really the ultimate product of one month to live was that it has helped us want to leave a legacy. There are four principles we really taught: to live passionately, love completely, learn humbly and then lead boldly. The last principle is key. It's about doing something that is going to be here after you are gone and it really helped our whole church go to a new level and get excited about doing mission work and making a difference overseas and making a difference right here. For example in our community we did a huge feeding campaign where we gathered 20,000 pounds of food and filled up the local food pantries. We have really been focusing on Kenya and Malawi in Africa and Indonesia and Costa Rica and Sweden. Only one percent of the people go to church in Sweden. We have been partnering with churches to help them make some changes.

LWR: What would you say the "secret" is to your church's growth?

Shook: We always say that the secret to our church's growth is life change. When God changes someone's life, then they tell everyone and it is contagious. We use a lot of creativity and new technology, cutting edge things to use in our church, but really what it comes down to is God changing a life. And then, you know, they just want to tell everybody.

LWR: What's next, Kerry?

Shook: It seems like God is always up to something next. One of the things that we feel is real important for us is the satellites that we are starting. We are staring our third campus... and it is only about 25 minutes away from our main campus... We have a campus in East Houston where we had 1500 people come day one and we started that just last year. The influence that we have in Houston is totally from God but we have to step in and take advantage of it. Also the television ministry coming together to help us form these satellites is something that is real important to us because one of the things that God has given us a passion for is creative content and putting together creative campaigns for churches like a creative sermon series or other things that can really help churches and take them to the next level.

LWR: Pastor Kerry, what do you think is important for other pastors to know about your church or what encouragement/advice would you have for them?

Shook: I would encourage every pastor to ask this question. What would you do if you knew your church only had one month to live? How would you make decisions? Would you make them differently if you knew your church was only going to be here another month?

I think we would all take more risks to make a difference for the kingdom. We would all be in prayer more. We would all see the Lord more and his wisdom. We would want to do something that would be here after we are gone. I encourage pastors to make those one or two little changes that could make a huge difference.

Another thing I would say to other pastors is that only God can grow a church and there are principles that we need to follow to reach people for Christ from God's Word. But ultimately I will have to blame God for the growth of our church. There are churches that do the same things that we do but they have not experienced the growth that we have for whatever reason. Maybe they are in area where there is not as many people, but I do know that God will sort it out when we get to heaven. It is just being faithful that matters.

My research team is working on the 100 Largest and Fastest Growing church lists and we don't want to miss any churches. Finding them can be a challenge, particuarly the fastest growing.

What churches do you know of that have grown significantly in the past year (numerically or percentage wise)?

If your church has experienced significant growth in the past year or you know of a church that has, please email my team at research@top100churches.com (give us at least the church name, city, state, and pastor's name if you don't know anything else like a phone number or website address). My team will take it from there.

To motivate those of you in the know... if you are the first person to mention a church that 1) we don't already have on our list, 2) makes it to one of the top 100 churches, I'll send you a free book and thank you on the blog when they are published in Outreach Magazine comes out this fall.

Help us out! Tell us about the churches who are reaching people.

I am at the annual conference of the American Society for Church Growth at Biola University.

I have been visiting with friends and listening to a couple of seminars.

George Hunter, Art McFee, and I ended up on the same flight. I offered to drive them to the meeting and George bought lunch. We had a good time talking about books and projects, past and future.

George wrote The Celtic Way of Evangelism and a bunch of other books. Art wrote Friendship Evangelism before other people put those words together (and has written several other books as well).

Tonight we had an Executive Committee meeting with George Hunter, Chip Arn, Elmer Towns, Gary McIntosh, and several others. These men have written so many of the books that adorn my shelves, it is intimidating to serve with them. But, they have a great love for the church and a passion to reach the lost.

This year's theme is "Church Growth and the Real World: Leadership Successes, Failures, and the Future." I'll be leading a session on "Leadership Lessons from Comeback Churches" on Friday.